Feature: Stephen Mosher's Pandemic Playlist: The History Lesson
By: Stephen Mosher Aug. 01, 2020
When New York City went into quarantine I started doing regular Pandemic Playlists to raise spirits, to keep people distracted, and to shine a light on the artists working in cabaret. The longer the lockdown continued, the harder it was to find new material; also, people began to learn their way around the pandemic and there was news to tell, stories to write, and the Pandemic Playlist fell by the wayside.
Today marks my one-year anniversary working for Broadway World and, to mark the occasion, I have prepared a special edition of the Pandemic Playlist, one in which we look at the artists who made cabaret what it is. These are the late (with a couple of exceptions), great performers who spent the last century performing in the clubs of Manhattan, the people who used their individual talents and their unique visions to create the wide-ranging spectrum that is the world of small venue performing, whether in jazz clubs, supper clubs, comedy clubs, or cabaret clubs, they were the stars people loved to see.
Rather than fill this article with my thoughts on these artists, I invite the readers of Broadway World Cabaret to get to know them through these online videos, though I will provide Wikipedia links so that interested parties can learn more about them. If Wikipedia proves to be less intel than anyone prefers, I can recommend the book INTIMATE NIGHTS: THE GOLDEN AGE OF NEW YORK CABARET by James Gavin.
Dear readers, the history lesson begins here. Enjoy.
And thank you for a great first year, which I have enjoyed in the extreme.
1. Julie Wilson on Wikipedia
2. Bobby Short on Wikipedia
3. Nancy LaMott on Wikipedia
4. Margaret Whiting on Wikipedia
5. Mort Sahl on Wikipedia (Note: Mort Sahl is alive and 93 and this list would be incomplete without his inclusion).
6. Lesley Gore on Wikipedia
7. Eartha Kitt on Wikipedia
8. Rosemary Clooney on Wikipedia
9. Mel Torme on Wikipedia
10. Phyllis Diller on Wikipedia
11. Pearl Bailey on Wikipedia
12. Baby Jane Dexter
13. The Incomparable Hildegarde on Wikipedia
14. Mary Cleere Haran on Wikipedia
15. Elaine Stritch on Wikipedia
16. Mae Barnes on Wikipedia
17. Shirley Horn on Wikipedia
18. Nichols and May on Wikipedia (Note: though Mr. Nichols has passed, Ms. May is still living.)
19. Annie Ross on Wikipedia
20. Laurie Beechman on Wikipedia
21. Mabel Mercer on Wikipedia (Note: As a bonus, Margaret Whiting appears in this video).
22. Charles Pierce on Wikipedia
23. Johnny Hartman on Wikipedia
24. Dorothy Loudon on Wikipedia
25. Blossom Dearie on Wikipedia
26. Carmen McRae on Wikipedia
27. Sylvia Syms on Wikipedia and Buddy Barnes
28. Julie London on Wikipedia
29. Alberta Hunter on Wikipedia
30. Marcia Lewis on Wikipedia
31. Jim Bailey on Wikipedia
32. Lenny Bruce on Wikipedia
33. Nancy Wilson on Wikipedia
34. Joan Rivers on Wikipedia
35. Barbara Cook on Wikipedia
36. Sarah Vaughan on Wikipedia
37. Anita O'Day on Wikipedia
38. Dinah Washington on Wikipedia
40. Polly Bergen on Wikipedia
41. Pat Suzuki on Wikipedia (Ms. Suzuki is still living but as one of the few Asian nightclub stars of the 1960's she is essential to this list).
42. Kaye Ballard on Wikipedia
43. Dolores Gray on Wikipedia
44. Portia Nelson on Wikipedia (There is no video footage of Portia Nelson available.)
45. Dorothy Dandridge on Wikipedia
46. Barbara Carroll on Wikipedia
47. Imogene Coca on Wikipedia and Sid Ceasar on Wikipedia
48. Diahann Carroll on Wikipedia
49. Billie Holiday on Wikipedia
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