Barney Josephson
Encyclopedia
Barney Josephson was the founder of Café Society
in Greenwich Village, New York’s first integrated nightclub. It was opened in 1938 by, among others, Billie Holiday
and it was here that the singer first publicly performed the song Strange Fruit
in 1939.
, New Jersey, the youngest of six children. His Jewish parents immigrated from Latvia in 1900. His mother was a seamstress and his father a cobbler, who died shortly after his birth in 1902. Two of his brothers, Leon and Louis, became lawyers. Josephson graduated from Trenton High School. He then went to work in his oldest brother David’s shoe shop. After the store went bankrupt during the Depression, Josephson got a job as a buyer, window trimmer and orthopedic fitter in an Atlantic City shoe store.
Although he had no experience in entertainment or nightclubs, he moved to New York in the mid-1930s with a vague plan to open a club. He was a jazz fan and had visited Harlem’s Cotton Club. He had also become intrigued while holidaying in Europe by the political cabarets of Berlin and Prague.
Using $6,000 borrowed from two friends of his brother Leon to start the club, he rented the basement of 1 Sheridan Square. He commissioned prominent Greenwich Village artists, including Sam Berman, Abe Birnbaum, Adolph Dehn, William Gropper, John Groth, Syd Hoff, Anton Refregier and Ad Reinhardt, to decorate the walls with murals. When he opened the club Josephson was in his mid-thirties with no experience in the nightclub or entertainment fields.
Cafe Society brought recognition to a number of key jazz performers including Billie Holiday, Teddy Wilson
and Alberta Hunter
. Josephson’s music adviser and talent scout was John Hammond
.
In October 1940 Josephson opened Cafe Society Uptown on East 58th Street, New York.
Café Society and Café Society Uptown were consistent nurturers of new talent, supporting and showcasing many singers, jazz musicians, dancers and comedians. Other singers who were featured include Lena Horne
, Sarah Vaughan
, Nellie Lutcher, Rose Murphy, the Golden Gate Quartet, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Hazel Scott, Josh White
and Susan Reed.
The blues singer Big Joe Turner appeared in Café Society's first show along with boogie-woogie pianists Albert Ammons, Meade Lux Lewis and Pete Johnson and carried on there for four years. Other musicians who played there included Art Tatum
, Teddy Wilson
, Mary Lou Williams, Red Allen, Joe Sullivan, Edmond Hall and Eddie Heywood.
Dancers Pearl Primus and the Krafft Sisters performed at the two clubs.
Comedian Jack Gilford
was the master of ceremonies in the opening show. He stayed on for two years in that role. He was succeeded by Zero Mostel
, who made his professional debut at the club. Other comedians who performed there included Imogene Coca, Jimmy Savo and Carol Channing
.
Billie Holiday sang in Café Society’s opening show in 1938 and performed there for the next nine months. Josephson set down certain rules around the performance of Strange Fruit at the club: it would close Holiday’s set; the waiters would stop serving just before it; the room would be in darkness except for a spotlight on Holiday’s face; and there would be no encore.
. Within weeks of these attacks, business at the two clubs dropped by nearly half. In 1948 Josephson was losing money badly and forced to sell both clubs.
He subsequently opened a small chain of restaurants in New York, the Cookeries. By late 1969 he had reduced the chain to a single restaurant at University Place and 8th Street. He then began to feature live music in the restaurant, starting with the jazz pianist Mary Lou Williams
who had played at Café Society. In her wake, many of those who had once performed at the club appeared at the Cookery, including the singer Alberta Hunter, Nellie Lutcher, Eddie Heywood, Teddy Wilson, Sammy Price, Susan Reed, Ellis Larkins and Helen Humes. Live music continued there until The Cookery closed down in 1984.
Josephson was married four times. His fourth wife was Terry Trilling-Josephson. He had two sons, Edward and Louis, and a step-daughter, Kathe Trilling.
Café Society
Café society was the collective description for the so-called "Beautiful People" and "Bright Young Things" who gathered in fashionable cafes and restaurants in New York, Paris, and London beginning in the late 19th century...
in Greenwich Village, New York’s first integrated nightclub. It was opened in 1938 by, among others, Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...
and it was here that the singer first publicly performed the song Strange Fruit
Strange Fruit
"Strange Fruit" is a song performed most famously by Billie Holiday, who released her first recording of it in 1939, the year she first sang it. Written by the teacher Abel Meeropol as a poem, it exposed American racism, particularly the lynching of African Americans. Such lynchings had occurred...
in 1939.
Early Years
Josephson was born and raised in TrentonTrenton
-Canada:*Trenton, Nova Scotia*Trenton, Ontario*CFB Trenton, a Canadian Forces Base near Trenton, Ontario-United States:*Trenton, New Jersey, the capital of the state of New Jersey and most well known city with this name.*Trenton, Alabama*Trenton, Florida...
, New Jersey, the youngest of six children. His Jewish parents immigrated from Latvia in 1900. His mother was a seamstress and his father a cobbler, who died shortly after his birth in 1902. Two of his brothers, Leon and Louis, became lawyers. Josephson graduated from Trenton High School. He then went to work in his oldest brother David’s shoe shop. After the store went bankrupt during the Depression, Josephson got a job as a buyer, window trimmer and orthopedic fitter in an Atlantic City shoe store.
Although he had no experience in entertainment or nightclubs, he moved to New York in the mid-1930s with a vague plan to open a club. He was a jazz fan and had visited Harlem’s Cotton Club. He had also become intrigued while holidaying in Europe by the political cabarets of Berlin and Prague.
Café Society
Josephson opened Café Society in a basement room at 1 Sheridan Square, New York in December 1938. He set out to break the norm for nightclubs in the city by making it non-segregated both front of house and behind the scenes, and free of mob influence. I wanted a club where blacks and whites worked together behind the footlights and sat together out front, he said. There wasn't, so far as I know, a place like it in New York or in the whole country. Few nightclubs permitted blacks and whites to mix in the audience. Even the famous Cotton Club in Harlem was segregated, admitting only occasional black celebrities to sit at obscure tables and limiting black customers to the back of the room behind the pillars and partitions. Clubs south of Harlem, like the Kit Kat Club, did not let African-Americans in at all. Josephson's Café Society was the first nightclub in a predominantly white neighbourhood to welcome customers of all races.Using $6,000 borrowed from two friends of his brother Leon to start the club, he rented the basement of 1 Sheridan Square. He commissioned prominent Greenwich Village artists, including Sam Berman, Abe Birnbaum, Adolph Dehn, William Gropper, John Groth, Syd Hoff, Anton Refregier and Ad Reinhardt, to decorate the walls with murals. When he opened the club Josephson was in his mid-thirties with no experience in the nightclub or entertainment fields.
Cafe Society brought recognition to a number of key jazz performers including Billie Holiday, Teddy Wilson
Teddy Wilson
Theodore Shaw "Teddy" Wilson was an American jazz pianist whose sophisticated and elegant style was featured on the records of many of the biggest names in jazz, including Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald.-Biography:Wilson was born in Austin, Texas in...
and Alberta Hunter
Alberta Hunter
Alberta Hunter was an American blues singer, songwriter, and nurse. Her career had started back in the early 1920s, and from there on, she became a successful jazz and blues recording artist, being critically acclaimed to the ranks of Ethel Waters and Bessie Smith...
. Josephson’s music adviser and talent scout was John Hammond
John Hammond
John Hammond may refer to:* John Hammond , English cricketer* John Hammond , American politician* Johnny Hammond , British...
.
In October 1940 Josephson opened Cafe Society Uptown on East 58th Street, New York.
Café Society and Café Society Uptown were consistent nurturers of new talent, supporting and showcasing many singers, jazz musicians, dancers and comedians. Other singers who were featured include Lena Horne
Lena Horne
Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was an American singer, actress, civil rights activist and dancer.Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood, where she had small parts in numerous movies, and more substantial parts in the...
, Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century."...
, Nellie Lutcher, Rose Murphy, the Golden Gate Quartet, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Hazel Scott, Josh White
Josh White
Joshua Daniel White , better known as Josh White, was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor, and civil rights activist. He also recorded under the names "Pinewood Tom" and "Tippy Barton" in the 1930s....
and Susan Reed.
The blues singer Big Joe Turner appeared in Café Society's first show along with boogie-woogie pianists Albert Ammons, Meade Lux Lewis and Pete Johnson and carried on there for four years. Other musicians who played there included Art Tatum
Art Tatum
Arthur "Art" Tatum, Jr. was an American jazz pianist and virtuoso who played with phenomenal facility despite being nearly blind.Tatum is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time...
, Teddy Wilson
Teddy Wilson
Theodore Shaw "Teddy" Wilson was an American jazz pianist whose sophisticated and elegant style was featured on the records of many of the biggest names in jazz, including Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald.-Biography:Wilson was born in Austin, Texas in...
, Mary Lou Williams, Red Allen, Joe Sullivan, Edmond Hall and Eddie Heywood.
Dancers Pearl Primus and the Krafft Sisters performed at the two clubs.
Comedian Jack Gilford
Jack Gilford
Jack Gilford was an American actor on Broadway, films and television.-Early life:Gilford was born Jacob Aaron Gellman on the lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, and grew up in Williamsburg, Brooklyn...
was the master of ceremonies in the opening show. He stayed on for two years in that role. He was succeeded by Zero Mostel
Zero Mostel
Samuel Joel “Zero” Mostel was an American actor of stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of comic characters such as Tevye on stage in Fiddler on the Roof, Pseudolus on stage and on screen in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Max Bialystock in the original film version...
, who made his professional debut at the club. Other comedians who performed there included Imogene Coca, Jimmy Savo and Carol Channing
Carol Channing
Carol Elaine Channing is an American singer, actress, and comedienne. She is the recipient of three Tony Awards , a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination...
.
Billie Holiday sang in Café Society’s opening show in 1938 and performed there for the next nine months. Josephson set down certain rules around the performance of Strange Fruit at the club: it would close Holiday’s set; the waiters would stop serving just before it; the room would be in darkness except for a spotlight on Holiday’s face; and there would be no encore.
After Café Society
In 1947 Josephson's brother Leon was subpoenaed by the House Committee on Un-American Activities and found guilty of contempt when he refused to answer any questions. As a result, Josephson was attacked by columnists like Dorothy Kilgallen, Lee Mortimer, Westbrook Pegler and Walter WinchellWalter Winchell
Walter Winchell was an American newspaper and radio gossip commentator.-Professional career:Born Walter Weinschel in New York City, he left school in the sixth grade and started performing in a vaudeville troupe known as Gus Edwards' "Newsboys Sextet."His career in journalism was begun by posting...
. Within weeks of these attacks, business at the two clubs dropped by nearly half. In 1948 Josephson was losing money badly and forced to sell both clubs.
He subsequently opened a small chain of restaurants in New York, the Cookeries. By late 1969 he had reduced the chain to a single restaurant at University Place and 8th Street. He then began to feature live music in the restaurant, starting with the jazz pianist Mary Lou Williams
Mary Lou Williams
Mary Lou Williams was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. Williams wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements, and recorded more than one hundred records...
who had played at Café Society. In her wake, many of those who had once performed at the club appeared at the Cookery, including the singer Alberta Hunter, Nellie Lutcher, Eddie Heywood, Teddy Wilson, Sammy Price, Susan Reed, Ellis Larkins and Helen Humes. Live music continued there until The Cookery closed down in 1984.
Josephson was married four times. His fourth wife was Terry Trilling-Josephson. He had two sons, Edward and Louis, and a step-daughter, Kathe Trilling.