From Broadway To 52nd Street
On November 8, 1926 The Imperial hosted the opening night of this new musical “Oh Kay!” starring Gertrude Lawrence, Oscar Shaw and the Fairbanks twins. The show ran for 256 performances and with the assistance of George and Ira Gershwin gave the world a Broadway melody destined to become a jazz standard – Someone To Watch Over Me.
The Story: It is 1926, the Jazz Age and the era of Prohibition. Jimmy Winter is very popular among the young ladies, and in the imaginary town of Beachampton, they are cleaning the living room of his Long Island, New York estate, declaring that “The Woman’s Touch” is exactly what his home needs. Jimmy Winter spends so little time on his Long Island estate, Kay Denham, posing as a cook, helps her rum-running brother, a titled English bootlegger, cache his illegal booze there. When Jimmy returns unexpectedly to get married, he falls in love with Kay. As a result, he helps Kay outmaneuver revenue agents and after renouncing his numerous other promises of marriage, agrees to marry Kay.
Jazz History: West 52nd Street is best known as the “Street of Jazz” or “The Street That Never Sleeps”. It ran east to west from 5th to 6th Avenues and was renowned in its heyday during and after Prohibition from 1925 to 1960. 52nd Street hosted such celebrated establishments as the Hickory House, Jimmy Ryan’s, the Famous Door, the Iron Gate, Leon & Eddie, 21, Tony’s, The Onyx, The Three Deuces, Downbeat, The Yacht Club, The Wing Club and Kelly’s Stable.
From 1935 to 1945 this monochrome of five story brownstone buildings in whose drab and cramped street level interiors – once known as English basements – flourished as speakeasies and jazz clubs and by 1936 it became also known as “Swing Street” and served as the launching pad for more singers, more hit songs and more instrumentalists than Chicago, New Orleans, Memphis or Los Angeles.
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