ABSTRACT
The 1940s and 1950s were the golden age of New York cabaret. Television had not yet had its disastrous effect on the nightclub business, and New Yorkers took pride in the sophistication of the city’s small entertainment rooms. The Village Vanguard had set the pattern in the 1930s, and it was followed by the more refined, European-flavored Ruban Bleu uptown, then a flood of new venues. Some lasted only a few months; others thrived for decades. Their sizes ranged from tiny to small, and entertainers were encouraged to provide an intimate, living-room feel.
