Finocchio’s – post WWII

 Original version, January 2010.

 Part I: the early years

Part II: post WWII 

In 1946, Joe, and other club owners, were having problems with the Board of Fire Prevention and Investigation after a fire at the Herbert Hotel and Backstage Cocktail Lounge in which four firemen had lost their lives.  Temporarily the number of patrons was limited to 250, until required structural changes were made.  

During this time Majorie was absent.  On 16 July it was reported that she had married another clubman, Percy Harman of San Mateo, in Calexico on the Mexican border, but only four days later, back in San Francisco, she obtained a separation and the restoration of her Finocchio name.  She explained that immediately after the marriage, Harman had pestered her for large sums of money.

In September 1947 a burglar entered the home of Joe and Marjorie and took $40,000 in furs and a safe containing $15,000.  While the break-in occurred at about 10.30 pm, it was not discovered until the 350lb house safe was discovered by a motorist at 1:45am southwest of the city.  The safe had been punched open.  The Finocchios, still at the club were informed by the police, and hurried home.

Howard Hughes grew bored with Pussy Katt. However, he did finance a drag club for her in Acapulco which they called Finocchio’s South.  In later years she performed at Madame Arthur’s in Paris.

William Stoffler, a San Francisco stockbroker, married and noted for his good looks, became a dancer at Finocchio’s, and an occasional date of Howard Hughes.  His suspicious wife discovered his second life, and divorced him. 

In 1948, the Finocchios sued four former employees, Ray Bourbon, Jackie May, Johnnie Magnum, and Francis Russell, for putting out records and advertising with the words “The new Bourbon Records presents the world’s foremost female impersonators from Finocchio’s of San Francisco”.  Later that year Joe and Marjorie travelled together to England. 

The 5^th edition of Where to Sin in San Francisco, 1948, asked “Is it true what they say about Finocchio’s?”, and answered: 

“Yes, it is. Even if the girls were women, the shows would be provocative. But the artists in the costly gowns are not women. Without saying what they are, twinkling Marjorie Finocchio does declare, “They’re the only stable ones in the country.” Tall, beautiful, stable Freddie Renault, the $200-a-week MC, has been here fourteen years. . . . Cute, Oriental Li Kar, double stable after ten years, is both a dancer and the club’s costume designer. . . . Stablest of all is Walter Hart, $275-a-week specialist in murky songs.”

Walter Hart, had been at Finocchios since 1933.  He was billed as the male Sophie Tucker, and the real Sophie Tucker was delighted.  She gave him many of the gowns and furs he wore and never failed to catch his show when in the city.  However in 1948, as Herb Caen wrote: “ After 15 solid years on the job, Entertainer Walter Hart is out of Finocchio’s, on acct. some verbal twanging with Mrs. F. That’s sort of like the last ferry leaving the Ferry Bldg”.  However Hart soon found employment at the Tivoli.

Lucian Phelps took over the “male Sophie Tucker” persona, and, as with Walter Hart, the real Sophie Tucker caught his act and sent him gowns and furs. 

The 1949 San Francisco Real Property Directory listed only Marjorie as the club owner.

By 1950 the City Directory listed Joseph and Eve Finocchio living at the same address.

The local competition was the Black Cat Bar, which was developing from being a bohemian and Beat bar, to being more gay.   Jose Sarria entered a competition to get a gig at Finocchio’s, but did not get it, and then went to the Black Cat where he started as a waiter, and graduated to being the major singer, openly gay, openly in drag, singing a re-working of Bizet’s Carmen.  Unlike Finocchio’s, customers were permitted to dress as they chose.  In 1951 the State Board of Equalization suspended the Black Cat's liquor license in that known homosexuals ate and drank there.

The other competition was Jewel Box Revue, and many of the impersonator stars worked for both the Revue and Finnochio’s at different times.  As a touring revue, the Jewel Box was in San Francisco only intermittently.  However, even when the Revue was in town, Finocchio’s was filled to capacity, four shows a night, six nights a week, attracting locals, tourists and celebrities such as Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Bette Davis and Tallulah Bankhead. 

1954: UCLA psychologist Evelyn Hooker started her groundbreaking work comparing the psychological adjustment of homosexual and heterosexual men that showed that gay men were not significantly different.  Her research included a visit to Finocchio’s.

Marjorie died in 1956 after a lingering illness.  Joe then married Eve, and Eve was finally allowed into the club, and quickly took over Marjorie’s role. She took over with a vengeance.  Her brother George Filippis also came in as club manager, her sister Maria Filippis as the cashier and Eve’s teenage daughter Concetta as the official photographer.   Joe continued to oversee the bar and the door.   The huge photos of the performers which were hanging in the club and outside on the street were all taken down. The club was redecorated – the décor was said to be based on that of Le Carrousel of Paris – and at the same time Le Carrousel star Les Lee was hired. 

Another new hire was Lavern Cummings, who sang as both soprano and baritone, and who stayed until 1982.

A chorus line, Las Vegas style, were introduced known as the Eve-ettes, after the second Mrs Finocchio. Eve quickly cut the number of musicians from five to three, and refused to be addressed as ‘Madame’ as that was how Marjorie had been addressed.

1958: Francis Blair, star of Seatle’s Garden of Allah, also performed a comedy drag routine with Ray Francis, “Two Old Bags from Oakland” which they did at Finocchio’s that year.

In the summer of 1959, the future Aleshia Brevard, moved to Los Angles and found a Catholic priest lover who, after giving her gonorrhea, took her to San Francisco and to see the show at Finocchio’s.  Lucian as Sophie Tucker fabricated a story about having a training school for impersonators, and picked out Aleshia in the audience and said "And this, ladies and gentlemen, is my star pupil.   Isn't she beautiful?   Stand up and take a bow."   Aleshia then knew what she wanted.  “I auditioned at Finocchio's, based solely on a photograph I'd submitted.   Before having that audition photo taken, I'd never been in female attire. Talk about an untrained 'New Nanette'!   I would have never gotten hired at the most prestigious impersonation club in the country if it had it not been for Stormy Lee, Finocchio's star exotic dancer.   People HATED Stormy, I'm well aware of that, but she put me under her protective wing on the night of my audition.”   Aleshia was given the stage name of “Lee Shaw” by the MC Lestra Lamonte. Aleshia had the looks and developed an act as Marilyn Monroe singing "My Heart Belongs To Daddy".  The real Monroe came one night to see the act.

'Lee Shaw' and Eve

Aleshia and Stormy had extra kudos in that they each had a boyfriend. Off-stage Aleshia became a patient of Harry Benjamin during his summer sojourns in San Francisco – it was Stormy who shared her Premarin and then took Aleshia to her first appointment with Harry Benjamin.  The aspect that Aleshia hated most was “having to remove my makeup and despised dressing in men's clothes before leaving the club - but that was the law.   What I detested most was how Mrs. Finocchio's sister, Maria, who sold tickets, would call out ‘Good night, Lee Shaw’ - or whomever, as we were exiting the club.   She was pointing out to lingering customers how impersonators looked 'off stage'.   I always felt that was very unkind.”

Libby Reynolds, two years after his tryst with actor Raymond Burr, and then selling the story to Confidential Magazine, was hired in 1962.  

Aleshia/Lee Shaw left the club in 1962, and was one of the last trans woman to have surgery with Dr Elmer Belt in Los Angeles.  This was to the chagrin of the Finocchios who threatened that she would never work again.

There was a shortage of dancers at the club.  Reggie Dahl was in the hospital, a Spanish dancer by the name of Néstor had a mental breakdown, and the only dancer left at the club was Stormy Lee.   Robin Price, previously of the Jewel Box, heard of the vacancy and came from Los Angeles to audition, and was not hired.  However Price was phoned a few days later, asked if she could do the Can-Can, and after a second audition was hired.

Concetta, Eve’s daughter, graduated from UC Berkeley.  In 1963 she married Eric Jorgensen, and they called their first child Eric.

Stormy had surgery the next year with Dr Burou in Casablanca.  Lestra Lamonte, the emcee died, and Price became the new emcee.  Price fell out with Eve Finocchio when she tried to tell him not to visit a certain club on his own time, despite her sister going to the same place.  They stopped talking until the last day of Price’s contract, when Eve finally wanted to talk, but Price simple packed bags and left.

The Black Cat Bar,  following some 15 years of unrelenting pressure from the police and the Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) finally closed in1963.

Carroll Wallace, who had a sideline as a real-estate investor, became the emcee. As such he  had to do the stage lighting and sound, which was not easy and it was very tiring on his feet to be standing for the whole show.

David de Alba joined as a star performer in 1971, and he did hair-styling and wigs for the other performers.  Two years later, he asked permission for four days off for plastic surgery.  However on returning he found that he had been fired, and was told to pick up his costumes, make-up cases, wigs and musical charts.  He still did wigs and hair styling for the other performers, and was often contracted as a guest star.  “What I didn’t realize at the time was that there was a new cost cutting trend going on at the club.   Mrs. Finocchio was getting rid of the main supporting acts and replacing them with members of her beloved chorus line, 'The Eve-ettes'.   They now had two jobs, being in the chorus and then as main supporting acts.   So there you had it, two acts for the price of one!”

Lucian Phelps, 65, who had performed at Finocchio’s since 1949, died after a long illness in 1973. 

An ad 1977 

A wildfire destroyed the area surrounding the Jorgensen house, but not their house.

Jae Stevens, 27, was a performer at Finocchio’s when she was murdered in Golden Gate Park in 1974.  The police actually pulled over her car, presumably driven by her murderer, but, after a chase and a crash into a house, the man escaped.

Mr and Mrs Jorgensen had three more children, and then were divorced, leaving Concetta as a single mother of four.  The very same year she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.  She became a disability activist, did publicity for the club and despite her disability – and she was eventually a paraplegic - she was 30 years on the Alameda County Consumer Affairs Commission.

In 1981, in an interview in the San Francisco Chronicle, Joe was quoted: “We always keep our eyes open. It’s easy to get fellows in women’s clothes. But we don’t allow any filth, and most of them resort to filth.”  Eve did the first interview, and if Joe agreed, Eve made arrangements for costuming and rehearsals.  At that time dancers were paid $80 to $125 a week.  Eve arranged for Holiday Tours and Gray Lines to add Finocchio’s to their tour lists.  Gray Lines included a Finocchio’s photograph in its brochure.  During the 1970s, as topless and then bottomless revue bars had opened, there had been fears that business at Finocchio’s would decline. But with time the topless bars became passé and Finocchio’s was still going.  In the late 1970s it managed as many as 300,000 customers a year. There were four shows a night, each running about an hour. The shows had themes that were not always the same from show to show, and guests could stay for extra shows.

Joe Finocchio died of a stroke in January 1986, aged 88. This left Eve as the sole owner.  She brought in Eric Jorgensen, Concetta’s eldest son, then 23 to be groomed as a future manager – which he was by 1989.  Eve continued to manage the shows and performers, but the zest was declining.  Gray Lines dropped Finocchio’s in 1988, but later restored it.   An article in the Chronicle in 1989 claimed that Finocchio was grossing $2 million a year.  However in 1990 they upped the cover charge from $10 to $15, with a new two-drink minimum, and now opened only four days: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Again in 1991, a wildfire destroyed the surrounding area, but again not the Jorgensen house.  A television movie was made of the event, Firestorm: 72 Hours in Oakland. Actress Jill Clayburgh played a character based on Concetta Jorgensen. 

 A few years later Finocchio’s started presenting lip-synching performers – weakening what had made the club special.  Eve later fired the band and it became all lip-synching.  The press paid less and less attention.  Openings were reduced to only three nights: Friday to Sunday, and only three shows a night.  Sometimes there were no customers, and the show was cancelled.

Eve Finocchio decided to close the club in November 1999 because of a major rent increase and dwindling attendance.

Eve died 2007, age 92.

Concetta Finocchio Jorgensen, daughter of Eve died in 2012, age 71, survived by 4 children and 12 grandchildren.

Lavern Cummings died in 2018 age 91 in Las Vegas after being hit by a car.

Other artists who performed there include: Katherine Marlow, Holly White, Russell Reed, Val DeVere, Ted Hendrix, Harvey Lee, Francis Stillman, Jeri-Lane, Frank Doran, Jackie Philips, Bobby Johnson, John Lonas, Vaughn Auldon, Johnny Mangum, Del LeRoy, Milton La Maire, Ray Francis, Francis David, Paul La Ray, Mike Michelle, Bobby Belle.

 

--------------------------------

• “Police Raiders Arrest Ten in S.F. Night Club: Patrons Rush for Exits as Officers Visit Finocchio’s”.  San Francisco Chronicle. July 20, 1936: 5.
• Ki-Lar Finocchio’s.  Finocchio’s program, 1944. Online.
• “Ex-Finocchio Wife Divorced: ‘Quickie’ Marriage to San Mateo Man Aired in Action”. San Francisco Examiner, Aug 2, 1946,
• “Finocchio Defies Order To Close S.F. Night Club: Fire Marshal Threatens to Jail Owner For Disregard of Safety Rules”.  San Francisco Examiner, Aug 24, 1946: 5.
• “Finocchio Home Looted of Furs”.  San Francisco Examiner, Sep 11, 1947:11.
• Jack Lord and Lloyd Hoff, Where to Sin in San Francisco, 5th ed. (San Francisco: Richard F. Guggenheim, 1948), 145.
• “In Memoriam: Lucian Phelps”.  Drag, 3, 10, 1973:40. Online.
• “In Memoriam: Jae Stevens 1947-1974”.  Drag, 4, 16, 1974:34. Online.
• “San Francisco drag bar owner Joseph Finocchio dies at 88’.  Santa Cruz Sentinel, Jan 15, 1986:10.
• Norman Melnick. “Deaths: Joseph Finocchio”.  San Francisco Examiner, Jan 15, 1986: 19.
• Jacqueline Frost. “Home alone: ‘House of mixed blessings’ in lunar landscape: Fire survivors lament lost neighborhoods”. Oakland Tribune. Jan 27, 1992:1.
• Tracie Reynolds.  “Star Struck: Survivor to give proceeds to son, who suffered burns: Firestorm victim with multiple sclerosis sells story to TV”. Oakland Tribune. Nov 9, 1992:1.
• Michael Tuchner (dir). Firestorm: 72 Hours in Oakland. With Jill Clayburgh playing a character based on Concetta Jorgensen.  US 104 mins 1993. IMDB.
• Les Wright. “San Francisco”. In David Higgs (ed). Queer Sites: Gay Urban Histories Since 1600. Routledge, 1999: 171-2.
• Jesse Hamlin.  “Strutting Into History / Laughter gives way to tears as Finocchio's ends 63-year drag-show run”,  San Francisco Chronicle, 29 November 1999.
• Jesse Hamlin.  “What a Drag: Finocchio’s to Close/Cross-dressers have entertained at club for 63 years”.  SFGate, Nov 4, 1999.  Online.
• Nan Alamilla Boyd. Wide Open Town: A History of Queer San Francisco to 1965. University of California Press, 2003: 49,52-6,187.
• D.J. Doyle. “Finochio’s”. Queer Musical Heritage.   http://www.queermusicheritage.us/oct2002f.html. 
• “David de Alba on Finocchio's”.   www.david-de-alba.com/david4.htm.  www.david-de-alba.com/david5.htm.
• “David de Alba on Shaw”. www.david-de-alba.com/aleshia.htm.
• “David de Alba on Price”.  www.david-de-alba.com/Price.htm.
• Mel Gordon et al. "UC Berkeley Interview on Finocchio Club Legend: David de Alba". http://david-de-alba.com/Berkeley%20Interview.htm
• Aleshia Brevard. The Woman I Not Was Born to Be: A Transsexual Journey. Temple University Press, 2001:
• Darwin Porter.  Howard Hughes: Hell’s Angel.  Blood Moon Productions, 2010: 575-6, 593-5, 733.
• Aleshia Brevard. The Woman I Was Born to Be. A Blue Feather Book, 2010:
• Kathleen Brosnan & Amy Scott.  City Dreams, Country Schemes: Community and Identity in the American West.  University of Nevada Press, 2011: 248-250.
• Chris Treadway. “Berkeley disabled rights activist dies at 70”. The Mercury News, January 11, 2012. Online.
• David Artavia.  “Trans Trailblazer Aleshia Brevard Dead at 79”.  The Advocate, July 25, 2017.  Online.
• James Smith.  “Finocchio’s club: A San Francisco Legend”.  The Argonaut, 28, 2, Winter 2018. Online.
• James Smith. “Finocchio’s” Except from San Francisco’s Lost Landmarks.  Online.
• Susan Stryker. “Finocchio's, a Short Retrospective”.  FoundSF: the San Francisco digital history archive.  Online.
• Michail Takach & B J Daniels.  A History of Milwaukee Drag: Seven Generations of Glamour.  History Press, 2022: 64-6.
• Margot Canaday.  Queer Career: Sexuality and Work in Modern America. Princeton University Press, 2023: 95-99.
• Lucas Hilderbrand. The Bars are Ours: Histories and Cultures of Gay Bars in America, 1960 and After.  Duke University Press, 2023: 74-5, 77.

 

EN.Wikipedia    GLBT Historical Society   Online Archive of California    Queer Music Heritage     Digital Commonwealth 

 

Discussion in other books:

Canaday: 

“For the trans women who performed at Finocchio’s, this was more than just a job. The actress Aleshia Brevard was first taken to the night club by a man she was involved with and “instantly felt she had to be there. …  It was common, she remembered, for trans women to dance at Finocchio’s just long enough to earn the money for surgery and then leave. As a result, Finocchio’s eventually preferred hiring cross-dressers to trans women because they tended to stay on the job.”  

She also includes a footnote Chp 2 n167 

“Friedman thought (citing letters between the sexologists Harry Benjamin and William Masters) that a date with a performer at Finocchio’s (usually made through a waiter) could be arranged for around $50. The higher price was because these women were, according to some, considered exotic. Certain young gay hustlers “who ordinarily might not have cross-dressed” did so in order to command a higher wage.”  

This is taken from Harvey Friedman. Strapped for Cash: A History of American Hustler Culture, 2010: 124-5.  This in turn is based on Harry Benjamin & R E L Masters. Prostitution and Morality, 1964: 305-9, which does not actually mention Finocchio’s but the comment probably does apply to it. 

“Impersonators  working  in  clubs,  and  making  their  contacts  there,  earn  far  more  money  than  do  other  types  of  male  hustlers,  for  the  reason,  no  doubt,  that  they  are  to  some  extent  “celebrities.”  Fifty dollar  fees  are  not  unusual,  and  at  the  club  most  intensively  studied,  a  $20.00  fee  for  a  single  sexual  act  was  the  absolute  minimum  the  prostitutes  would  consider.”

Takach &  Daniels: 

“Despite offering drag shows for seven decades, Finocchio’s was never really a gay-friendly destination. The club capitalized on its gay performers for amusement, but its owners never really wanted to deal with gay customers.  While Joe Finocchio provided gainful employment to generations of gay men who might otherwise struggle to survive in San Francisco, he was always more interested in running a profitable tourist attraction than a LGBTQ safe space, social outlet or historical landmark. … Joe’s first wife, Marjorie, was the front face of the operation. … Robyn Raye, an impersonator … said of Marge Finocchio, ‘I don’t think she liked gay people, but she certainly knew how to use them.’ … ‘Marge Finocchio made millions off drag queens. We made that woman rich.’ “

My comments:

’finocchio’ is Italian for fennel and by extension a negative word for gay. Some say that this is because its bulb looks like male genitals, but the corresponding word in Portuguese, ‘fanchono’ would seem to be cognate.

Rachel Harlow in Philadelphia was also born with the Finocchio name.  However there does not seem to be any connection between the San Francisco Finocchios and those of Philadelphia.  Likewise there does not seem to be any connection between the San Francisco Jorgensens (the family of Concetta’s husband), and the family of Christine Jorgensen in New York City.  The fact that Concetta bore both names, Finocchio and then Jorgensen, is a fascinating trivium – but without significance.

Many – less informed - articles maintain that it was Joe Finocchio who built up and ran the 201 Club.  However it was Marjorie who used her money to buy the first club, and then chose the acts and ran it, and afterwards Eve – who despite despising her – stepped into her shoes.  Marjorie ran the club 1929-1956, 27 years.  Eve ran it less well, but for longer, 1956-1999, 43 years – and carried on after Joe’s demise.

The requirement for the performers to arrive and leave in male drag also applied at the 181 Club/Club 82 in New York.   But not at Le Carrousel in Paris.  The Finocchios were strict, sometimes shouted at their employees and threatened blacklisting if a performer left without permission.  However the 181 Club/Club 82 was mafia owned – by the Genovese family - and if you crossed them, worse things could happen.   

I could not have written this without James Smith's  “Finocchio’s club: A San Francisco Legend” in  The Argonaut.