Barney Josephson
Barney Josephson (February 1, 1902 – September 29, 1988) was the American founder of Café Society in Greenwich Village, New York's first integrated nightclub.
[1][8][9][7] He set out to break the norm for nightclubs in the city by making it non-segregated both front of house and behind the scenes, and free of mob influence.
He later said:I wanted a club where blacks and whites worked together behind the footlights and sat together out front... there wasn't, so far as I know, a place like it in New York or in the whole country.
[1] Decades later, the UK's Guardian newspaper would state: "The club was the brainchild of New Jersey shoe salesman Barney Josephson: a pithy antidote to the snooty, often racist elitism of other New York nightspots.
He commissioned prominent Greenwich Village artists, including Sam Berman, Abe Birnbaum, Adolph Dehn, William Gropper, John Groth, Syd Hoff, Anton Refregier and Ad Reinhardt, to decorate the walls with murals.
[1] Café Society brought recognition to a number of key jazz performers including Billie Holiday, Teddy Wilson and Alberta Hunter.
Other singers who were featured include Lena Horne, Sarah Vaughan, Nellie Lutcher, Rose Murphy, the Golden Gate Quartet, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Hazel Scott, Josh White and Susan Reed.
"[2][7] The blues singer Big Joe Turner appeared in Café Society's first show along with boogie-woogie pianists Albert Ammons, Meade Lux Lewis and Pete Johnson and carried on there for four years.
Other musicians who played there included Art Tatum, Teddy Wilson, Mary Lou Williams, Red Allen, Joe Sullivan, Edmond Hall and Eddie Heywood.
[1][7] In 1947, Josephson's brother Leon was subpoenaed by the House Committee on Un-American Activities and found guilty of Contempt of Congress when he refused to answer any questions.
As a result, Josephson was attacked by columnists like Dorothy Kilgallen, Lee Mortimer, Westbrook Pegler and Walter Winchell.
[9][7] He then began to feature live music in the restaurant, starting with the jazz pianist Mary Lou Williams who had played at Café Society.
Following Williams, many of those who had once performed at the club subsequently appeared at the Cookery, including the singer Alberta Hunter, Arthur Tracy, Big Joe Turner, Nellie Lutcher, Eddie Heywood, Teddy Wilson, Rose Murphy, Jimmy Rowles, Sammy Price, Susan Reed, Ellis Larkins, Jack Gilford and Helen Humes.
