“Everybody Came to the Gilded Cage”

Just like Rick’s Americaine Bar in the movie Casablanca, everyone came to the Gilded Cage, located at 126 Ellis Street, between Powell and Mason in San Francisco. At least, they came in droves when Charles Pierce opened his show there in 1963. As Mae West, he always greeted his audiences with, “Oooh, mmm, hello, boys, hello, girls. Hello, boy-girls, hello, girl-boys. I guess that covers everyone here.” Everyone, that is, from stockbrokers to movie stars. They all beat a path to the Gilded Cage! As Charles himself put it, “There never was an ad placed in any newspaper or periodical. How did the nightclub-goers know we were there? There’s an old saying, ‘Telephone, telegraph, and tell a queen.’ Word of mouth did it for six years.”