Excavation
I’ve bought a few old Playbills. Not too old. Here’s one from February 10th 1954. Another’s from 1946. The shows aren’t important to me (OK, theater freaks: “Tea And Sympathy,” and “Old Vic”)- I bought them for the ads in the back*.

What the ads tell me is that there was once a place called The Village Barn where The Hal Graham Orchestra played each night; that Horace Heidt and his orchestra played 6 nights a week at the Café Rouge at the Hotel Statler; that over here at The St Moritz there’s Emery Deutsch and his singing violin; don’t forget Tony Bennett and Myron Cohen at The Copa (two shows nightly- three Friday and Saturday!). Jeez, Guy Lombardo’s still at the Hotel Roosevelt. Looking for something international? How’s about George and Nicholas Alexander’s Songs In Many Languages at the Sherry Netherland? Oh man, things are hopping over at The St Regis: Russell Nype with Kay Holley at the piano; Milt Shaw and his orchestra in the ballroom; and The Ray Bari ensemble in the lounge. Nightly. What’s this? Mata and Hari at the Cotillion room at the Pierre! Good thing they alternate with 2 (count ‘em: two) orchestras. Dolores Gray at the Empire Room; Hildegarde at the Persian; Jerry Wald at The New Yorker; Lookie here: Xavier Cugat’s at the Waldorf! I start to realize that the same hotels are listed in a couple of ads- of course; they all have bars, dining rooms, and ball rooms, and naturally there’s music at all three. And what about all these restaurants that advertise dancing? I suppose there’s some ragtag orchestra at each of them too. And how ‘bout all the joints that didn’t shell out to advertise in Playbill?

These were all square gigs. I’ve played with guys who’d have been doing these gigs. With any luck, had I been there, I might’ve had one. But these weren’t the gigs you dreamed about if you wanted to play jazz: A few blocks away from all this there was still 52nd Street, where you could see every style of Jazz, played by its major innovators, 7 nights a week ‘til 4am. After that there was Harlem ‘til dawn. Take it from me. I read the books.

Well, I suppose you know where I’m going with this…and you’re wrong. But let’s get that discussion out of the way, just the same:

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*There were Playbills from the early sixties that had the same ads -and they might have been more effective in making the point I shall eventually be making- but the shows must have been more successful, and the guy at the store wanted more money for them.