Cotton Pickers Club?
They sure got a lot of mileage out of their racism back then. Were places like that common in New York or in big city areas in general?
shareNo doubt the name was intended to refer to the popular 'Cotton Club' of the time. I'm sure there must have been a few copy-cat bars that tried to emulate a similar formula. As far as it being racist, I argue that these clubs were responsible for making famous some of the greatest black entertainers of all time, so take that or leave it. Besides, little use in complaining that it rained last Tuesday, what can we do about it now?
shareThanks, fooseball.
Looking the club up on Wikipedia, it looks like it enjoyed a who's who of entertainers and celebrities from the prohibition era. That doesn't change the fact that it was very much a product of its period, but I can see why it would be popular at the time.
Anyway, thanks for the answer. I was just wanting to know if such clubs were prominent at the time or if it was an isolated thing. Apparently, it was a singular, yet highly influential, club in Harlem.
The Cotton Club was for a white clientele that wanted to see black performers. It was owned by gangster Owney Madden. Duke Ellington and his band were early performers there and Ellington recorded a tune called Cotton Club Stomp. There is a 1984 movie entitled Cotton Club with Bob Hoskins playing Madden.
shareI've since seen The Cotton Club.
Bob Hoskins and Fred Gwynne had a great comedic chemistry together as Owney Madden and Frenchie DeMange. And James Remar's Dutch Schultz was a memorably slimy villain.
I feel like the 1984 film could have done more to denounce the racism of the establishment though. It seemed like the filmmakers wanted to celebrate the Cotton Club as a musical hot spot and only had a tacked on criticism of the whites only policy.