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October 18, 1985 - Image 54

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1985-10-18

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

.4.ititaMINIANAMM . 4
- 1a

56 Friday, October 18, 1985

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

'

ROCKY'S

BEST OF EVERYTHING

Italian-American Food

DANNY RASKIN

PIZZERIA

10517 W. 7 MILE, East of Meyers

WHAT MAKES KINGSLEY
INN'S SUNDAY BRUNCH
SO GREAT ANYWAY?

(Voted Detroit's No. 1 Sr ndaOrwch in Metropolitan Detroit
magazine's reader s poll, Nov. '84 issue.)

•White linen and silver service.
•Elegant ambience of the Kingsley dining rooms.
•NO compromise is ever made with quality or freshness.
•A dazzling, ever-changing array of breakfast, luncheon and
dinner favorites, and pastries from our own pastry chef, too
numerous to mention.
• Sane prices: only $8.95 for adults, $4.95 for children age 7
' and under.

1Kingsleg Jinn

Selected to serve at the U.S. Presidential Inaugurals
in Washington, D.C., 1981 and 1985.

WOODWARD AT LONG LAKE ROAD
BLOOMFIELD HILLS • 642-0100

8644553

STILL SERVING THE
BEST FOOD IN TOWN!

I TRY OUR GREAT PriZA
WITH CORNED BEEF

KEEGO TWIN

Where Movies Cost Less
Orchard Lake & Cass Lake Rds.
11/2 Mlles West of Telegraph
582-1900

This od will entitle bearer to '

ONE FREE ADMISSION

When a second admiselon Is purchased
Rt. Sum, Wed. & Thurs.

ALL SEATS
SIM. TIMU THURS.

$1 50

I - "COCOON" (P8)

' Weekdays 7:00 & 9:35
Sat. N Bun. 2:00, 4:30, 7:00, 9:35

II - "TEEN WOLF" (P0)

Weekdays 7:15 & 9:15
Sat. & Sun. 1:45, 3:45, 5:45, 7:45,
9:45.

Next: kiss of the Spider Woman

Our excellence
is crystal clear.

a glass with
unusual brilliance.
The Crystal Swan
is an exceptional
restaurant which'
follows suit.
Situated at the
Novi Hilton. the
Crystal Swan offers
you fine cuisine in
an elegant setting.
The Crystal Swan...the
perfett choice for a
business lunch or an
anniversary dinner.
Elegance is a part of
every occasion at
the Novi Hilton.

Crystal is

et.

Lunch hours:
11:30 a.m: to 2:30 p.m..
Monday through Friday
Dinner hours:
6 p.m. to I I p.m..
Monday through Saturday

Complimentary Valet Parking.
Reservations are suggested.
Jackets are required.

CRYSTAL
SWAN

NOVI HILTON

Haggerty. Road .
(105 at 8 Mile Exit)
Novi. Michigan 45050
313/349.4000

21 1.1 1

"Hard times brought a boom
for at least one profession —
crime. While legitimate
"'Ladies and gentlemen of the
Boulevards of Paris cafe — in- businesses closed and farms lay
troducing that stellar singer of barren, an alarming number of
songs you love — Mr. Harry persons looked for easy money
by robbing, kidnapping and
Harris.'
"Jack Teagarden signaled the even killing. America's number
band in that St. Paul, Minn. one desperado. was John Dil-
prohibition days' night spot. linger.
"Out of the economic rubble
Harris reminisced about the
night before he opened at the emerged survivors who joined a
cafe. He went to the club to look pack of movie stars- af_d gossip
it over and was invited into a columnists to create a new and
private room to sing a couple of glittering set called 'Cafe
Society.' The .group sported in
songs for $100.
"'So there were four couples, cafes which were the old
the guys in the tuxes and the speakeasies. After prohibition
women in ermine, real high was repealed, they were• reborn
class,' Harris recalled. 'I sang as chic restaurants.
"The big bands broke lose. 'It
and sang until one of the guys
suggested moving on to another makes no difference if it's sweet
spot. They paid me. ft was four or hot, just give that rhythm ev-
erything you got. It don't mean
in the morning.
"'I had my car, a Nash 400 a thing, if it ain't got that
and offered to drive one of the swing.' That was written by
guys and the club hat check girl Duke Ellington and Irving
home. A car with no lights crept Mills.
"Everyone was swept by
behind us. The streets were
empty. The car came beside me swing fever. Actually, swing
was nothing more than jazz
and forced me to the curb.
" 'All of a sudden, the guy in under a new name. Black
my car fired his .38 smack groups in the 1920s developed
across the had check girl and jazz. In 1934, Benny Goodman
me. The fellows in the other car formed a band to play jazz to
fired back. I slammed into the mass audiences.. Artie Shaw had
curb and ducked down. The hat a band many fans rated as sw-
check girl was yelling and the inging as Benny's. Guy Lom-
guns were going. I crawled out, bardo Popularized the schmaltzy
got away and ran like anything sound. The Big Apple was the
in the rain. I slipped a couple of dance craze.
"The fast-moving world of
times before I saw a streetcar
and jumped on. My luck, there swing gave birth to a language
was a cop riding on the street- called 'jive.' Then there were the
car. He saw me looking dirty, nonsense songs like Tutti Frutti,
breathing hard and acting ex- Three Little Fishies, and The
cited. He took me to the station Flat Foot Floogie. Kids were
truckin', jiving it up.
house.'
"The 1980s brought Michael
"Harris said he couldn't re-
member the description of any- Jackson and Madonna look-alike
one or anything except his own contests to the Detroit area. In
car. He didn't know anybody, he the 1930s moppets with care-
said, and all of a sudden he was fully curled hair rehearsed for
Shirley Temple look-alike con-
caught in a lot of crossfire.
"The guy he was driving tests.
"Double-dip cones were a nic-
turned out to be Frank Nash, an
ex-con who later was killed in a kel. Buck • Rogers rocketed
through space, a sign of the fu-
Kansas City gang massacre.
"Harris was around in the ture. Father Charles Coughlin
1930s when Americans were speWed angry tirades with radi-
faced with the bleakest, most cal schemes for sharing the
frightening outlook they had wealth, broadcast every Sunday
even known. Middle-class men from the Shrine of the Little
sold apples on street corners. Flower in Royal Oak. Those
Lawyers and school teachers were the not-so-good old days.
"I remember meeting Harri
went on relief.
"A restaurant advertised • Harris at the 24 Karat Club on
lamb-oxtail stew for 15 cents Telegraph Road. He was a belt-
and roast sirloin of beef for 20 'em-out performer with Mamm,i,
cents, the most expensive item My Melancholy Baby, Mexicali
on the menu. All meals included Rose, and When I Lost You.
coffee, tea or buttermilk.
Harris was then in his late 70s
"A haircut and a shave com- and he later moved to Florida
bination was a whopping 30 with a new'young wife.
cents including bay rum and hot
"Harris.used to recall strolling
towels. Farmers were getting down Broadway in 1924 and
five cents a pound for cotton and stopping in at the Nightingale
less than 50 cents for a bushel Cafe on' 48th Street. He was
of wheat.
asked to sing a few songs, with
"Every weekday from .7 -to the orchestra. The piano player
7:15 p.m. telephone use all over was Jimmy Durante. Eddie
the country dropped 50 percent. Jackson was there too.
Car thieves had easy pickings
"The headwaiter at the cafe
on empty streets and movie convinced Harris, Durante and
theaters shut off their projectors Jackson to open up their own
to pipe in pure radio. Some 30 club. They put up $500 and
million persons tuned into Amos moved to a place on 58th Street
'n Andy. The big box in the liv- off Broadway.
ing room was everyone's ticket
"We flipped a coin to see
to adventure, laughter, music who'd have the club named after
and romance.
him,' Harris told us. 'We had a

MYSTERY
THE
MUNCHER WRITES ...

.

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