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Billie Holiday first sang “Strange Fruit” at Café Society.
The Greenwich Village hot spot Café Society was an integrated nightclub frequented by regulars like Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan. Today: the story of a groundbreaking jazz venue inspired by Berlin cabarets. Later: Grammy-award winning singer and songwriter Judy Collins.
Guests:
Judy Collins"The Wrong Place for the Right People"
Inspired by Berlin's cabaret culture, New Jersey shoe salesman Barney Josephson founded the Greenwich Village nightclub Café Society in 1938. Unlike the Cotton Club, it welcomed African-Americans at the door, as well as onstage. Today: the founder's widow, Terry Trilling-Josephson, shares her new memoir about a legendary jazz club.
Judy Collins
Grammy-award winning singer and songwriter Judy Collins has reached a folk-goddess pedestal in a career that spans almost 50 years. But lately, she has also emerged as a funny Irish-American storyteller. She joins us to talk about her songs, show-tunes and social activism.
The Wrong Place for the Right People
The story of Cafe Society, and its sister club, Cafe Society Uptown, is a remarkable one - an intentionally integrated club in New York at a time when even here, such things did not exist. Founder Barney Josephson's memoir, Cafe Society: The Wrong Place for the Right People, tells ...