Club 82
{{Short description|Historic nightclub in New York City featuring entertainment by female impersonators}}
{{Infobox venue
|name = Club 82
|former names = 82 Club
|type = Nightclub
|genre = Female impersonation
|address = 82 East 4th Street
|city = New York, New York
|owner = Anna Genovese
|architect = Charles B. Meyers
|built = 1926
|opened = 1953
|closed = 1973
|mapframe = yes
|mapframe-zoom = 11
|coordinates = {{Coord |40.7262 |-73.9899 |display=title,inline}}
}}
Club 82, also known as the 82 Club, was a nightclub in Manhattan, New York City that employed female impersonators as entertainers. The nightclub had a second life as a music venue, but was eventually closed.
History
= Predecessors =
The 181 Club was a predecessor to Club 82, and was named for its address at 181 Second Avenue.{{cite book |last1=Takach |first1=Michail |last2=Daniels |first2=B. J. |year=2022 |title=A History of Milwaukee Drag: Seven Generations of Glamor |publisher=History Press |page=66 |isbn=9781467149174}} The club operated from 1945 to 1953, featuring male impersonators as waitstaff, and female impersonators as entertainers. The 181 Club lost its liquor license after being labelled a "hangout for perverts of both sexes".
= Founding =
Club 82 was connected to the Genovese crime family and the Costello crime syndicate. While mobster Vito Genovese was in hiding abroad, his wife Anna Genovese became hostess of Club 82.{{Cite news |last=Kilgallen |first=Dorothy |work=Shamokin News-Dispatch |location =Shamokin, Pennsylvania |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8339179/1953anna_genovese_in_gossip_column_for/|title=Voice of Broadway|date=November 12, 1958|page=6, clip column 2, 3rd para |via=newspapers.com}} The club's tagline was "Who's No Lady," and its drag revues featured both male and female impersonators.
Kitt Russell, dubbed "America's top femme mimic" by Walter Winchell,{{Cite news |last=Anderson |first=Wayne |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/hidden-history-tobi-marsh_b_1592620|title=Hidden History: Tobi Marsh & Club 82|date=June 14, 2012|work=HuffPost}} hosted many of the shows, and countless acts performed in them, such as female impersonators Sonne Teal,{{cite web|url=http://www.queermusicheritage.com/FEMALE/Club%2082/club%2082-gay%20scene.jpg|date=12 July 2016|title=Image: club 82-gay scene.jpg, (679 × 515 px)|website=queermusicheritage.com|access-date=12 November 2019}} Kim Christy,{{Cite web|url=http://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/photography/2011/02/12/kim-christys-lost-world|title=Kim Christy's Lost World|date=February 12, 2011|website=www.advocate.com}} and Mel Michaels.{{cite web|url=http://www.queermusicheritage.com/FEMALE/Club%2082/1969%20Program/club82-1969-19.jpg|title=Image: club82-1969-19.jpg, (1262 × 1658 px)|website=queermusicheritage.com|access-date=12 November 2019}} Revues were long and elaborate,{{cite web|url=http://www.queermusicheritage.com/FEMALE/Club%2082/Program/Image10.jpg|title=Image: Image10.jpg, (904 × 1240 px)|website=queermusicheritage.com|access-date=12 November 2019}}{{cite web|url=http://www.queermusicheritage.com/FEMALE/Club%2082/Program/Image4.jpg|title=Image: Image4.jpg, (904 × 1241 px)|website=queermusicheritage.com|access-date=12 November 2019}} replete with sets and costumes,{{cite web|url=http://www.queermusicheritage.com/FEMALE/Club%2082/fmm1970e.jpg|title=Image: fmm1970e.jpg, (728 × 938 px)|website=queermusicheritage.com|access-date=12 November 2019}}{{cite web|url=http://www.queermusicheritage.com/FEMALE/Club%2082/82%20club%20bunny.jpg|title=Image: 82 club bunny.jpg, (398 × 551 px)|website=queermusicheritage.com|access-date=12 November 2019}} and with titles like Sincapades of 1954,{{cite web|url=http://www.queermusicheritage.com/FEMALE/Club%2082/sincapades1.jpg|title=Image: sincapades1.jpg, (878 × 1186 px)|website=queermusicheritage.com|access-date=12 November 2019}} A Vacation in Color,{{cite web|url=http://www.queermusicheritage.com/FEMALE/Club%2082/82%20club%20program%201953.jpg|title=Image: 82 club program 1953.jpg, (630 × 974 px)|website=queermusicheritage.com|access-date=12 November 2019}} Fun-Fair for '57,{{Cite web|url=https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/files/st74cq69w|title=The Unique Club 82 Presents... Fun-Fair For '57 (1957) - Digital Transgender Archive|website=www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net}} and Time Out for Fun.{{cite web|url=http://www.queermusicheritage.com/FEMALE/Club%2082/82-ac.jpg|title=Image: 82-ac.jpg, (438 × 319 px)|website=queermusicheritage.com|access-date=12 November 2019}}
= Investigation =
In 1953, Club 82 came under police investigation with a potential loss of its liquor license, allegedly orchestrated by vindictive Vito to spite Anna.{{Cite news |last=Desmond |first=James |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22959460/anna_genovese_new_york_daily_news_19/|title=Village Joints Probe Seeks Mrs. Genovese |date=March 19, 1953|page=89 |work=Daily News |location=New York, New York |via=newspapers.com}} In testifying against her own clubs, Anna stated that the Club 82 was gang-owned. Her testimony ostensibly served to shift the blame from solely herself to her husband Vito's associates who had presided over, and allegedly monitored her activities running the club, while Vito was in exile in Italy.
The State Liquor Authority had previously revoked Club 82's liquor license on account of "disorderly conduct," which was code at the time for infractions involving things like serving alcohol to gay people, or people suspected of being gay.{{Cite web |url=https://www.history.com/topics/gay-rights/history-of-gay-rights |title=Gay Rights |website=HISTORY}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/06/before-stonewall-biggest-threat-was-entrapment/590536/ |title=The Forgotten History of Gay Entrapment |first=George |last=Chauncey |date=June 25, 2019 |website=The Atlantic}}
Culture
Although the entertainers were mostly gay, Club 82 catered primarily to heterosexuals.{{cite book |last1=Takach |first1=Michail |last2=Daniels |first2=B. J. |year=2022 |title=A History of Milwaukee Drag: Seven Generations of Glamor |publisher=History Press |pages=67–68 |isbn=9781467149174}}
Entertainers were reportedly overworked, and the club was frequented by wealthy celebrities:
{{blockquote|Management had inhuman expectations of the cast, which performed three Broadway-level productions every night, in glamorous gowns from designer John Wong. Orchestra leader Johnny Wilson and Carnegie-trained show director Kit Russel didn't allow anyone to miss even one beat. Liberace, Burt Lancaster, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, Tennessee Williams and other celebrities behaved badly. It was the type of place where a drunken Errol Flynn might play the piano—with his male member—onstage at two o'clock in the morning.}}
Performers
One prominent performer at Club 82 was Angie Stardust. However, in the 1960s, after she began transgender hormone replacement therapy to medically transition, she was fired from Club 82 by the owners.{{cite book |last=Hilderbrand |first=Lucas |date=2013 |title=Paris Is Burning: A Queer Film Classic |location=Vancouver, BC |publisher=Arsenal Pulp Press |page=49 |isbn=9781551525198}}{{cite book |last=Goodman |first=Elyssa Maxx |date=2023 |title=Glitter and Concrete: A Cultural History of Drag in New York City |location=New York, NY |publisher=Hanover Square Press |pages=98-99 |isbn=9781335449368}}
See also
- Club My-O-My (New Orleans)
- Jewel Box Lounge (Kansas City, Missouri)
- Finocchio's Club (San Francisco)
- The Beige Room (San Francisco)
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.nyhistory.org/blogs/82-club-legendary-new-york-drag-institution New York Historical Society: Welcome to 82 Club: The Naughty Story of a Legendary New York Drag Institution]
- [https://www.nyclgbtsites.org/site/club-82/ NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project: Club 82]
Category:Defunct LGBTQ drinking establishments in New York City