It's sad that when the average person thinks of Northern Kentucky's Beverly Hills Supper Club they recall it, if at all, as the site of one of the major fires in 20th Century history. In 1977, just days before my high school graduation,at least one of my fellow graduates lost her parents there. My own future mother-in-law had been there earlier in the evening for dinner but had left before the entertainment began and the fire started. It was a sad, sad night but its memory has supplanted the memories of the decades when the Beverly Hills was one of the great entertainment showcases of the United States.
Author and friend Allen Singer met Earl Clark who had worked in the band at the Beverly Hills during its heady days. Clark had taken hundreds of snapshots of visiting celebs big and small over the years and the two decided to share the best of these in the book seen here, due out next week. If you're from the Greater Cincinnati area, if you're a nightclub act connoisseur, if you just like rare shots of celebrities, you should check out this book!
Below is Allen's text for the video trailer he put together for YouTube, followed by the trailer.
This is a trailer I made for my newest book, Beverly Hills Country Club, being released January 25, 2010.
The club was known by more recent generations as the Beverly Hills Supper Club, in Southgate, KY, which burned down in 1977. A major tragedy, and one of the nation's worst nightclub disasters. However, the club had a long legacy, and was known as the Beverly Hills Country Club in the 1950s. This book features over 200 pictures taken behind the scenes during the 1950s. Movie stars, recording artists, Broadway actors, comedians, even dog acts. Much of the world's greatest talent played at this little club just south of Cincinnati.
Here's the list of names in the photos in order of appearance:
Constance Towers (book cover)
Dorothy Dandridge
Marie McDonald
The Ritz Brothers
Ben Blue, in center, with stooges
Milton Berle
Martha Raye
Frank Fontaine
Rose Marie
Liberace
The Andrews Sisters
Tony Bennett
Abbe Lane and Xavier Cugat
Jimmy Durante with house musician Andy Jacob
The first music cut came Stravinsky's Firebird symphony, the second was "Shoo Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy" by June Christy. Christy appeared at Beverly Hills, and her photo is in the book. I thought it was a great song and appropriate for the trailer.
This is a wonderful book. My older sister was in the bookstore saw it and had to have it. You see, my mother was a dancer at Beverly Hills and she recalls it as the happiest days of her life. Upon reading it, to her amazement the unknown dancer on page 28 is our mom. Jody Saalfeld was her stage name then. Her real name was Mary Joanne Saalfeld. It is said the her father, my grandfather, was a rum runner back in the early days. Mom danced there several years until she married and had us children. We have numerous photos of her and other dancers as well as photos signed to her by the entertainers, a menu and we even still have a few of her costumes that we used on Halloween as kids. One in particular is a red lace spanish dress. It is a tradition in our family that each granddaughter has her graduation picture taken in this dress, posed the same way. It is a tribute to our mom. Mom passed away July 31, 2008. We would love to share our memories and photos with the authors. Do you know how to get reach them. If so, my email is domesticqueen@ymail.com
ReplyDeleteThanks so much
Julie Flaig