July
23, 2007
Last
Call
The year was 1963. From Vietnam
to the Kremlin to the Berlin Wall to Birmingham to Washington, D.C.,
the world was in the insufferable throes of governmental convulsion
and historic change. That same year, what we now refer to as "the sixties"
began. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton burned up the screen as the
on and off camera saga of "Cleopatra" unfolded in headlines around the
globe. Other movies that year included, Fellini's "8 1/2," Hitchcock's
"The Birds," "Tom Jones" and "Curse of the Living Dead." On Broadway,
the likes of "Oliver," "She Loves Me," "110 in the Shade" and "One Flew
Over the Cuckoo's Nest" ruled. Beatlemania had begun (although the Fab
Four wouldn't arrive here until February, 1964.) Andy Warhol was painting
soup can labels on silk screen and calling it art. President Kennedy
was assassinated. It was the age of Aquarius.
Down in New York's pulsating Greenwich
Village, another kind of history was unfolding with vigor. It had nothing
at all to do with the state of politics or armies, the Berlin Wall,
demonstrations, Liz Taylor's bedroom or Jackie's wardrobe. It had everything
to do with art. The seeds of a thousand dreams had been planted. An
orgy of riches was about to flower.
At 55 Grove street, a dusty club
called The Duplex, was alive and living well. A golden age of performances
and future stars had begun in a dumpy club that looked like a basement.
It really got started in 1948 when Bret Morrison, a.k.a: "The Shadow,"
on radio, rented the upstairs room so that his wife, Sylvia Syms, would
have a place to sing. At the time, Syms was appearing with Mae West
in a revival of "Diamond Lil" on Broadway. As the late Bob Harrington
would point out years later writing in Back Stage, "That (club) launched
what would become the most fertile breeding ground for new talent in
the history of show business." He was arguably right.
After
all, what do Joan Rivers, Hal Holbrook, Richard Pryor, "Nunsense" and
Barbra Streisand have in common? Add to that: Karen Akers, Liz Callaway,
Dick Cavett, Nathan Lane, Nancy LaMott, Karen Mason, Sharon McNight,
Sally Mayes, Joanne Worley and later, wunderkind Jason Robert Brown.
They all lived at the same address. Well, sort of. You see, along with
a plethora of familiar names from the sixties through the eighties,
they're all strongly rooted to the much loved and weathered 55 Grove
Street address, the location of Rose's Turn; which was the original
location of that fabled watering hole known as The Duplex (which, under
new ownership, has now relocated across the street.) There was magic
in the air.
Well folks, it's about to become
a much needed real estate office.
Ending months of speculation and
denial, the owners of Rose's Turn closed its doors permanently on Sunday,
July 22. It was sold for $3.5 million. It is the third Manhattan cabaret-piano
bar to shut its doors in the last 6 months; Danny's and Helen's being
the others. What is happening?
Why is this village club different
from all other clubs? For starters, it opened as a legend. It was a
field of dreams - built on talent and a two-drink minimum.
MORE
- page 2 3 4
5 6
Back to NYC CABARET REVIEW
Index Page
Back
to CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE Home Page
