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Café Society was aNew York Citynightclub open from 1938 to 1948 onSheridan Square inGreenwich Village. It was managed byBarney Josephson.[1][2]
Josephson created the club to showcaseAfrican American talent and to be an American version of the politicalcabarets he had seen in Europe earlier. As well as running the first racially integrated night club in the United States,[3] Josephson also intended the club to defy the pretensions of the rich; he chose the name to mockClare Boothe Luce and what she referred to as "café society", the habitués of more upscale nightclubs, and that wry satirical note was carried through in murals done byAnton Refregier, a Russian immigrant who created the San FranciscoRincon Annex murals. Josephson trademarked the name Café Society, a phrase coined but not trademarked byMaury Paul, a society columnist who wrote as "Cholly Knickerbocker" for theNew York Journal American. He also advertised the club as "The Wrong Place for the Right People".[4] Josephson opened a second branch on 58th Street, betweenLexington andPark Avenue, in 1940. After that, the original club was known as Café Society Downtown and the new club—intended for a different audience—as Café Society Uptown.
The club prided itself on treating black and white customers equally, unlike many venues, such as theCotton Club, which featured black performers but barred black customers except for prominent black people in the entertainment industry. The club featured many of the greatest black musicians of the day, often imposing a strongly political bent.Billie Holiday first sang "Strange Fruit" there; at Josephson's insistence, she closed her set with this song, leaving the stage without taking any encores, so that the audience would be left to think about the meaning of the song.Lena Horne was persuaded to stop singing "When it's Sleepy Time Down South" written byClarence Muse,Leon René andOtis René,Pearl Bailey was fired for being "too much of anUncle Tom", andCarol Channing was fired for an impersonation ofEthel Waters.[3]
Relying on the keen musical judgment ofJohn Hammond, the club's "unofficial music director",[3] Josephson helped launch the careers ofRuth Brown,Lena Horne, dancerPearl Primus,Hazel Scott,Pete Johnson,Albert Ammons,Big Joe Turner, andSarah Vaughan, and popularized gospel groups such asthe Dixie Hummingbirds andthe Golden Gate Quartet among white audiences. Many of these acts had first been presented at Hammond'sCarnegie Hall concerts,From Spirituals to Swing, in 1938 and 1939. Its defining star in the early 1940s wasJosh White, who first appeared there with a gospel group, the Carolinians, then went on to head the bill as a solo performer for four years.
As part of the challenge to integrate America's segregated society, Josephson's club was the scene of numerous political events and fundraisers, often forleft-wing causes, both during and afterWorld War II. In 1947, Josephson's brotherLeon Josephson wassubpoenaed by theHouse Committee on Un-American Activities, which led to hostile comments from columnistsWestbrook Pegler andWalter Winchell. Business dropped sharply as a result, and the club closed the following year.[1]
In Summer 1948, jazz pianistCalvin Jackson played with singerMildred Bailey and dancerAvon Long.[5] On December 5, 1948, dancerPearl Primus closed a successful return engagement before heading off for a year's research in Africa on research as a Rosenewald Fellow.[6]
1940s Manhattan telephone directories list Cafe Society, 2 Sheridan Square, CHelsea 2-2737. Today the location is Axis Theatre Company.
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