The Copa Read online

  In 1942, eighteen of the twenty-five girls who worked as Copa Girls signed a contract with a Hollywood agent or went into a Broadway musical.

  “Jack Entratter hired me and we auditioned for an entire week, starting on Monday, before he made his decision on Friday. As a Copa Girl, we had to be at the club by 6:30 P.M. and didn’t get finished until 3 A.M. or so; we did three shows a night back then. The shows began at 8 and we would do an opening, middle, and closing number for each show. There was one big dressing room and each girl had her own mirror and dressing table, but it was small area. Doug Coudy was the chorographer and he would walk into our dressing room at any time—even when we would be getting dressed; he was the first gay man I ever knew. As far as the pay was concerned, back then, in the early 1950s, we got $125 a week, which was great money,” says former Copa Girl Lynn Kessler.

  Copa Girls Shirley Cutler, far left bottom, and Lynn Shannon with entertainer Jimmy Durante.

  My father was proud of the Copa Girls and over the years did all he could to help mold and enhance their image. Doug Coudy, who was originally hired as a choreographer at the club, looked after the girls and was a mentor to many of them. Coudy, more than anyone else, worked with the girls to help perfect their enduring style. The public-relations man for the club—I believe it was Sy Preston—would boast in a 1960 release, “The Copa Girls caused a delightful revolution in show business. For generations showgirls had been dressed in fantastic scaffoldings of feathers and plumes, or else in silly satin suits like drum majorettes. The Copa Girls began by being the most exciting models in America’s greatest city for beautiful models, and then—they were dressed in the very height of Paris and New York fashion. The Copa Girls are not only the World’s Most Beautiful; they are also the World’s Most Stylish Girls. At the last count, forty-four Copa Girls have gone to Hollywood from the Copa floor. Among the famous names you know who were Copa Girls are Martha Stewart, Lucille Bremer, June Allyson, Olga San Juan, Janice Rule….”

  When I was at the club, especially as a child, I would sneak back to the Copa Girls’ dressing room and talk with them; they were always very friendly to me. I remember how exciting it was to see them all made up and in their costumes, which were amazing. I could never figure out how they were able to be so poised while wearing their large headdresses and high heels. The Copa Girls were all gorgeous; every girl back then dreamed of being one. Their dressing rooms were narrow and full of large mirrors. Their job was difficult because they were on and off the stage due to numerous costume changes required during a show. I never saw the girls mingling with the customers while I was at the club; I believe my father had a strict rule about that. I recall that the comedian Jan Murray met his wife while she was a Copa Girl. I didn’t see my father interact much around the Copa Girls; I think he would talk to Doug Coudy if he wanted something changed or altered in their act. In all the years of shows I never saw the girls make one mistake; they were always perfect.

  Nat King Cole, Roy Campanella, and my father pose for this photo with the Copa Girls. Campanella, a catcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers, was paralyzed in a 1958 auto accident.

  The Copa Kitchen

  My father was a detail-oriented boss and a perfectionist. He was hands-on regarding all aspects and operations involved with the Copa, especially in the kitchens. Above all, he prided himself on the cuisine at the club. In fact, he was so proud of the food that he considered himself as restaurateur instead of nightclub owner. The following would be printed on the Copa handbills:

  The Copa cuisine and the Copa kitchens are under the personal supervision of Jule Podell. The Copa is known as the one nightclub in New York City where the old phrase “night club food” does not apply. Smart New Yorkers are aware that the Copa’s food is equal of that served at the top eating places of this food-conscious town. We wish that we could take every one of you on a tour of these truly fabulous kitchens where the Copa food is prepared. They are huge, exciting, filled with food and drink of the finest quality, and all prepared by master chefs. The astonishing thing about the Copa is that it costs less to eat here than in most of New York’s fine restaurants—and the show, the dancing, the beautiful girls, the atmosphere, the excitement, is not even added to your check. It adds up to the smartest entertainment buy in New York.

  Unless you were a waiter, captain, chef, or entertainer—not many were allowed to enter the sanctuary of the Copa kitchens, which my father ruled with an iron fist.

  My father also had a kitchen dedicated to Chinese cuisine. “The Copa is famous in New York for its Oriental dishes, and there’s a good reason why. We maintain a separate Chinese unit in our kitchens, staffed by the finest native chefs. If you are a lover of Chinese food you will agree with those who have said that there is no better Chinese food served anywhere!”

  The captains and waiters in the Copa kitchen preparing for the evening dinner crowd.

  Dad was also pleased that not only the customers but the press raved about the food at the Copa. Columnist Martin Burden wrote in the New York Post, “When you visit the Copa you’re in for a treat. It’s a great buy, a comparatively inexpensive way to sample the best nightlife our city has to offer, and the Copa kitchens turn out some of the best food in town.” And New York columnist Robert W. Dana filed this review on June 13, 1949 headlined FOOD IS TOPS, TOO, AT THE COPACABANA:

  In all the years it has gained a nationwide reputation for its excellent shows, fine music and gilt-edged atmosphere, the Copacabana, 10 E. 60th St., has been doing an outstanding job of preparing food in immaculate kitchens behind the scenes. So often I have heard the remark: “We never knew a night club could serve such food” that I decided to meet the chefs.

  That entails too much meeting during the busy dinner hour, what with 20 chefs and cooks in all—15 preparing a French cuisine and five a list of Chinese dishes. So it was restricted to a fast handshake with Marcel Jougier, head French chef, who has been there six years, and a nod to Lum On, head Chinese chef.

  The rest of the time was devoted to watching Jules Podell, the club’s supervising director and a restaurant man for 30 years, watching each waiter like a hawk to make sure that each order is as near perfection as possible. Down the line they came, bearing their trays of edibles. Quickly the stocky man in the brown suit lifted each cover, made sure the size of the portion and the general appearance of the plate was right, otherwise back the waiter went to the back of the line to try all over again.

  Mania for Cleanliness

  You’d think that running the one gauntlet would suffice, but, no, the waiter has to satisfy the head checker before leaving the kitchen for the final trip to the customer. Mr. Podell has a mania on the subject of cleanliness. Let him see a piece of lettuce staining the floor and he’ll stop everything to have it cleaned up. Let a waiter show a spot on his white jacket with the crimson collar and a quick change is ordered.

  Out front, Jack Entratter, the quietly efficient manager, watches the customers’ satisfaction, exemplified, perhaps in a group of women having a dinner party on the balcony.

  They not only are going to see one of the town’s best night club shows, but they’re going to eat a tasty, filling table d’hôte dinner, with entrees ranging in price from $2.50 for filet of lemon sole Breteuil to $4.25 for roast stuffed Vermont tom turkey. Some of the other fishes are scaloppini of veal (always excellent), emince of capon with spaghetti Tetrazzinni, baby lamb steak béarnaise and such Chinese dishes as white meat chicken chow mein and pepper steak with bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, mushrooms and fresh tomatoes.

  Menu Memos: Copacabana, 10 E. 60th St. Excellent French and Chinese cuisines. Joe Lopez, headwaiter, Table d’hote dinners served from 7 to 10 p.m., $2.50 to $6.50 for filet mignon. Also an extensive à la carte list. Current floor show stars Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, the fine comedy team, in their seventh week. Mary Raye and Naldi, the dancers, have just joined the show as featured performers, with the Copa girls youthful singers and dancers comprising the rest of
the entertainment.

  My father, Mack Gray, Dick Stabile, Dean Martin, and Jerry Lewis pose with the chefs in the kitchen. Gray worked for Dean while Stabile was the musical director for Martin and Lewis.

  Prom Season

  One of the highlights every year was prom season at the Copa. It soon became a tradition; the hip place to go after your school prom was the Copa. Teenagers would line the streets in order to make sure they could get a table for their special night. The way to impress any girl on a date was to take her to the Copa after the prom. One evening during prom season I stopped by the club—of course the lines were around the block—to see my father. I obviously did not have on a prom dress and was not there with a date; I was by myself. I usually knew the bouncer at the front door, but this night it was a new person, and he stopped me as I was heading into the club. I explained to him that I was not crashing the line and was not there as part of any prom group. He said, “No, go to the end of the line like everyone else.” I said, “Excuse me, my father is Mr. Podell.” So he looked at me, laughed, and said, “Sure he is.” Now, you can imagine, the kids in line started heckling me and told me to get in line like everyone else. I finally told the doorman to go ask Raymond, the captain, to come to the front door and verify that I was Mr. Podell’s daughter. After a few minutes, Raymond appeared and set the man straight. That night, my father fired the bouncer. Afterward, I felt bad about the entire incident and would always use the back entrance of the club to avoid something like this happening again.

  In the early 1960s, Chubby Checker released a song called “The Twist” and the single along with the dance became a hit with teenagers around the country. Around this time I was planning my prom party and my father said, “It’s your prom and you can have anyone you want to perform,” so I said, “I want Chubby Checker.” Dad looked puzzled, as Chubby had never appeared at the Copa, and he had never even heard of him or the twist. I dragged my mother to the Peppermint Lounge to see Chubby’s act. Mom enjoyed the show and told Dad, who, in turn, contacted Chubby’s people to let him know I had requested him to perform for my prom party. This would be the first of Chubby’s many appearances at the Copa. It was a very exciting night and the prom kids loved his show; I’m not sure it was Father’s cup of tea, but he saw the crowd reaction and hired Chubby to work again at the Copa many more times as a headliner.

  Another shot taken outside the club during prom season.

  Comedian Rip Taylor said, “I was booked during prom season several times at the Copa and I would change my act because there were high school kids in the audience. Not that I worked dirty but I would tailor the jokes for the students. One night I told a joke about an Indian that drinks too much tea and the punch line was ‘he gets caught in his tea pee.’ I heard Mr. Podell tap his ring on the table after that line. Once I finished my act, Mr. Podell flew back and said, ‘I don’t want no filth in the Copa.’ I explained that it was an innocent play on words, but he insisted it was risqué and filthy and not appropriate for his club. Jules Podell was very meticulous about clean material and naturally I obeyed him. I still don’t think the line is dirty!”

  A group of high school seniors, after their prom, inside the Copa attending a performance by Paul Anka. Anka was a huge draw, especially, for the younger set.

  “As a performer, be it a singer, dancer, comic, musician, you name it, working at the Copacabana was the pinnacle of everyone’s desire as a star—there’s no doubt about it. The Copa was glamorous, had great entertainment and was a wonderful place to spend an evening. The food was also excellent because Jules Podell supervised everything that went on in the kitchen; that is where he spent most of his time each night. I don’t believe anyone ever complained about the food or service at the club. I look back on my days at the Copa and it was the happiest and most exciting time of my life. The celebrities I met and worked with were wonderful and I met my husband, Danny, there…it was a great time!” says Lynn Kessler.

  An ad for one of the many appearances at the Copacabana by Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Without question, the duo was one of the most popular comedy teams of all time.

  CHAPTER 3

  Martin and Lewis and Friends

  My father’s inner sanctum consisted of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Sammy Davis Jr., Joe E. Lewis, and Jimmy Durante, mainly because they were the big money-makers for the club. Many celebrities would come to our house over the years; they would wait for my father and then go behind closed doors in his den.

  Dean Martin came together with Jerry Lewis, or they would come over separately. My father liked Dean better than Jerry; Jerry could be loud and obnoxious. I didn’t think Jerry was funny; I thought he was mean and didn’t really like kids. Dean, on the other hand, was always nice to me and I had a crush on him because he was so handsome. My father got along with most of the entertainers who played the Copa through the years. Frank Sinatra, I would have to say, was his favorite singer and performer. I remember Sinatra as more of a man’s man; when he came to our house he would talk mostly with my dad about business or they told jokes to each other. Jimmy Durante and Joe E. Lewis were probably my father’s best show-business friends; they were the ones who came over to the house the most often. I don’t think my father ever socialized with anyone who was not in one way or another associated with the Copacabana.

  The “Rat Pack” consisted of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford. The Rat Pack never appeared together as a group onstage at the Copacabana, as they did at the Sands Copa Room in Las Vegas. However, each performer did, at various times, play the Copa. Sinatra, Martin, and Davis eclipsed both Bishop and Lawford and were top attractions whenever they played the club.

  Another photo of me and my cousin Natalie with Martin and Lewis during one of their Copa engagements.

  Me with my cousins, Jackie and Natalie, pose for a photo with Dean and Jerry in the Copa kitchen with my mother.

  Peter Lawford and my father pose with a chef in the Copa kitchen. Besides being a movie star, Lawford would also attempt a career as a nightclub performer; it was short lived.

  Me, Peter Lawford, and my friend, Tobey Holzer, pose for a photo in the Copa kitchen.

  Sammy Davis Jr., Dad, and Dean Martin. My father liked both Sammy and Dean, as performers and friends.

  Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis

  Next to Sinatra, the most famous act to play the Copa was Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Today, it is hard to imagine the meteoric rise and popularity of this comedy team. At the time, Laurel and Hardy were all but forgotten, and Abbott and Costello were coasting on their earlier fame. Martin and Lewis filled the void and captured the public’s fancy, becoming successful on radio, television, and movies and through personal appearances.

  It would be two years after they joined forces that Martin and Lewis would play the Copacabana. Their agent, Abby Greshler, had pitched the duo to Jack Entratter previously and he passed on them, but in 1948 he decided to give them a shot at the club. At first, Martin and Lewis balked, as they would be taking a pay cut and backseat—opening for the star attraction Vivian Blaine. Abby Greshler convinced Martin and Lewis that if they were a hit at the Copacabana they would be on the road to superstardom. That was all it took—aside from Greshler threatening to quit as their manager—and the comedy team signed to play to Copa for a two-week engagement beginning on April 8, 1948.

  Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis do one of their zany comedy routines with their musical director Dick Stabile at the club.

  Dean Martin waiting to catch an object being thrown by Jerry Lewis as Dick Stabile cracks up over the duo’s antics.

  What happened on their opening night at the Copacabana was so surreal it now sounds as if it were scripted. Martin and Lewis were such a smash with the Copa audience that poor Vivian Blaine literally left the stage in tears after the audience kept calling for more of the duo during her act. In between shows, my father informed Martin and Lewis that he was going to make some change
s with the billing; they would now be the headliners. When Ms. Blaine was told of the new billing, she abruptly quit, leaving Martin and Lewis as the headline act for the rest of the scheduled engagement.

  Variety summed it up best in their review: “Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis really hit the big-time at their opening last Thursday at the Copa. Both have been around singly and jointly, recently at the Capitol on Broadway, but not until their Copa bow did they truly arrive as potential comedy stars.”

  Along with radio and print praise, such was the word of mouth and positive buzz on their act that my father extended Martin and Lewis’s two-week engagement to six weeks; he also raised their salary to $5,000 a week. But even that wasn’t enough—Dad would keep extending their engagement until they eventually closed eighteen weeks after they first opened. Perhaps the most important patron seeing Martin and Lewis during their run at the Copa was movie producer Hal Wallis. Wallis was so impressed with the comedy team that he eventually signed them to a production deal with Paramount Pictures and would help turn the duo into bona fide movie stars.

  My father with Jerry Lewis, Jimmy Durante, and Dean Martin getting ready to cut a cake that had an image of Durante drawn on it.

  Martin and Lewis would play the Copacabana many times during the next eight years and both became friends and guests of Jules Podell at his home. Thus, it was only fitting that when they decided to end their career together as a team, it would be at the Copacabana, the venue where they were first catapulted into superstardom. Their July 1956 engagement was the hottest ticket in town—if not the world. According to Arthur Marx, who recounted the following in his book Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime: