Are those showgirls with Sinatra in the hotel lobby? A look back at Miami’s nightclubs

Before the hot clubs in South Beach, there were the hot hotels up and down Miami Beach.

In the 1950s and ‘60s, the nightlife in the city sizzled inside the lobby nightclubs. Headliners and showgirls entertained the crowds.

Feathered performers, some topless, parading in a musical revue in the Americana. Jerry Lewis and Milton Berle yukking it up in the Deauville. Sinatra singing the standards at the Fontainebleau. Mel Torme and company appearing at the Carillon.

By day, hotel lobbies filled with people heading to the pool and beach. By night, the well-dressed crowds took over, milling around, window-shopping at the hotel stores, waiting for the show to begin. Many hotels required men to wear jacket and tie in the lobby after 7 p.m. The smell of coconut suntan lotion gave way to the aroma of meatballs and highballs in the lobby lounge.

The lobby crowds thinned as the doors to the nightclub opened and the house band started to play. It wouldn’t be long for the stars to come on stage.

Here is a look through the Miami Herald archives when Miami Beach hotels offered what Las Vegas does now, and all the changes in South Florida that killed the hotel nightclubs by the mid-1980s.

End of the run

Published Nov. 18, 1982

In 1955, when the club scene on Miami Beach was the scene, $7 would get you a seat in Ciro’s so close to Frank Sinatra you could smell his aftershave lotion.

Today, $7 will not get you in to see an impersonation of Liza Minelli. Ciro’s and the 41 other Beach nightclubs that packed ‘em in 30 years ago no longer exist. All but a few of the big showrooms are long gone and the high-priced talent has given way, for the most part, to low-budget “flesh and feathers” revues.

The biggest hotels still offer lavish song-and-dance shows each season, but the electricity generated by a superstar is missing. The new season, two weeks old, has opened to disappointingly small crowds.

“Business is down all over the Beach,” said Jerry Gutenstein, manager of the Sheraton Bal Harbour, where the Folie a La Carte revue opened a few weeks ago.

“We hope it will pick up as the season goes on,” said Jerry Grant, a 30-year veteran of Miami Beach show business. He has four shows running now.

The Beach nightclub scene began to fade when stars started demanding big fees. This forced club owners to turn to cheaper, no-name productions to make a profit. Now only the Empire Room at the Konover Hotel features performers of star caliber, and they are not stars of the highest magnitude.

Sinatra now commands $250,000 a week in Las Vegas. Clubs here used to showcase Jerry Lewis, Lena Horne, Jackie Gleason, Sammy Davis Jr., Ethel Merman and a roster of show business legends.

“The ‘50s were sensational for nightclubs,” sighed Grant. He was the first to bring Don Rickles, Barbara McNair and comedian Charlie Callas to the Beach.

“Ticket price is very important,” he said. “People will pay $8 to see a show but very often won’t pay $10. At those prices, of course, you can’t afford to put on Neil Diamond.”

Gutenstein says it costs the Sheraton $27,000 a week to produce Folie a La Carte revue in the Bal Masque Supper Club.

“Buddy Hackett gets $150,000 a week,” Gutenstein said. “There’s no way we could afford that.”

Gutenstein said he may try to attract families to the revue by covering up the topless performers, canceling the late Sunday show and presenting a matinee instead.

With current ticket prices at most stage shows running $8 to $10 a head, with a two-drink minimum, figure on spending about $35 a person to paint the town red. And at that price you won’t see the likes of Liza Minelli or Julie Andrews.

Would you settle for Frankie Kein impersonating Minelli and Andrews? He also does Marilyn Monroe.

For the past two seasons, Kein has starred in “One of a Kind,” a “theatrical illusion” at the Persian Room in the Marco Polo Hotel in Sunny Isles. Tickets are $8, $9 and $10.

The show has a cast of 20 and requires seven technicians to work the lights and sound system.

“Song and dance revues are what sell today,” Grant said. He said Kein’s lavish show, which includes dancers and numerous costume changes, costs “five figures a week” to produce.

Grant’s other three shows, Masquerade Rock at the Eden Roc, Copacabana at the Newport and Hollywood Follies at the Marco Polo, all draw “decent business” on the weekends but are a little slow during the week.

“The trend today is not to go out and get dressed up for a night on the town,”Grant said. “Why spend the money when you can watch the big stars on cable TV for free at home?”

The advent of hundreds of high-rise condominiums on the Beach in the 1960s was another blow to the nightclub business. Some condo developers built big auditoriums and began providing their residents with convenient in-house entertainment. Many club owners sold their properties in the 1960s to real-estate developers.

The same middle-aged people who helped end the nightclub era on the Beach now fill up the hotel showrooms.

“The condo crowd is our bread and butter now,” Grant said. “Tourist traffic is minimal. The young people just don’t seem to come down to the Beach at night anymore.”

The Sheraton brought 300 local condominium social directors into the Bal Masque Tuesday night to see the revue for free.

“This is what you have to do now to get the crowds,” he said.

The Konover Hotel is presenting Della Reese. Backed by a trio, the vocalist opened to a small but appreciative crowd Monday night. Ticket prices are $8 and $10.

The under-40 crowd isn’t buying tickets for the stage shows, but they do jam the dance floors at smaller clubs. For those who like to boogie, Sunny Isles boasts a big disco, JT’s at the Hawaiian Isle Hotel, and a rock nightclub, the Rock n’ Roll Scene. Both spots do a brisk business on weekends.

At JT’s, the music is deafening. Most people give up on talking and use sign language to communicate. But JT’s isn’t a place for conversation anyway; most folks are there to dance the night away.

“We walked up Collins Avenue and this sounded pretty lively,” New York native Sandra Roche shouted above the throb of disco music on a recent Saturday night. “We heard the Beach was dead but we’re having a good time.”

Farther south, at Stompin’ at La Ronde at the Fontainebleau Hilton, the producers have tried something different: They’ve recreated a 1940s-style nightclub, complete with cigaret girls, dime-a-dance girls and “sailor boys” from World War II.

Stompin’ is a participatory event rather than a stage show, although there are performers. Conga lines snake through the Saturday night crowd, and “chorus cuties” in flashy 1940s outfits dance to Glenn Miller tunes.

“It’s very schmaltzy. You have to understand the era to appreciate it,” said Rita Sordellini, 46, who stomped at La Ronde recently with her husband. “You just can’t sit in your seat; everybody’s up and dancing. My husband got a real big kick out of it.”

Jan. 14 the Eden Roc will open a revue called “Great Stars of the Silver Screen,” featuring Yvonne DeCarlo, Gordon MacRae, Gloria de Haven and several other middle-aged performers.

Grant is gearing the show to the condo crowd.

“Without them, you might as well pack it in.”

The ‘flesh and feather’ shows

Published Nov. 25, 1988

They’re called “flesh and feather” shows, Las Vegas-style revues packed with music, dancing, comedy, magic and women in lavish costumes.

Glitz is always the operative term, but this year’s crop of variety shows offers a lot of fantasy, with aliens in out-of- this-world costumes and musical journeys celebrating everything from Michael Jackson to Irving Berlin.

There are also two Polynesian shows - one in Fort Lauderdale, the other in Miami - boasting flaming knives, island dances and a strong dose of hula hoopla.

Here’s a sampling of some of the major shows:

High Society

The best elements of a professional revue come together in this high-spirited show, which visits the worlds of big band, Mardi Gras, salsa and gospel.

Playing at the Club Tropigala at La Ronde in the Miami Beach Fontainebleau Hilton, 4441 Collins Ave., High Society is a cut above most area shows, offering tight choreography and extravagant sets. The crisp sound track mixes prerecorded music and a live 12-piece band. Singer Denise Schafer leads the band with lively renditions of One Night Only and Blue Bayou.

Solo dancers Cookie Ramos and Petra Turner really heat up the stage. Chippendales and Frederick’s of Hollywood meet Dirty Dancing in a racy version of The Saga of Frankie and Johnnie. Juggler Nino Frediani offers breathtaking fun.

High Society is strictly first-class stuff. It’s no surprise, coming from producers Leonard Miller and George Reich, who have put on shows in Las Vegas, Reno and Lake Tahoe and are producing 16 shows across North America. A deluxe dinner and show costs $39.

Masquerade

This fiery extravaganza in the Bal Masque room of the Sheraton Bal Harbour, 9701 Collins Ave., is the third in a row there for director and choreographer Jean Ann Ryan. It’s no wonder the hotel keeps inviting her back.

Masquerade doesn’t have High Society’s varied sets, but what it lacks in carpentry it makes up for in talented performers, outstanding choreography and sheer electricity. Prices range from $10 for drink and show to $38.95 for dinner and show.

Singer Margo Peace belts out the songs of Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson and Gloria Estefan. Impressionist Rick Michel performs numbers as Neil Diamond, Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley, while magician Harry Maurer does some dastardly things with an audience member’s $100 bill.

Also headlining: “Kurt Thomas and Gymnastics America,” in which the world champion performs tricks with a trio of gymnasts.

But the real stars of Masquerade are the dancers - especially soloists Pamela Cooke and Sean Cronin, whose moves would make Thomas & Co. look twice. Parents should also note that some dancers appear topless.

Wow!

On stage at the Cafe Cristal showroom in Hollywood’s Diplomat Hotel, 3515 S. Ocean Dr., this erratic show won’t exactly wow you, especially after paying $20 (for drink and show) or $34.50 (for dinner and show).

Still, Wow! does have a lot to offer. The feather-clad dancers perform standard routines, plus a science-fiction sequence in white costumes, which has them stretching over-sized aerobic rubber bands from hand to foot.

In addition to dancing, there are illusionist Kevin Clark and his unwieldy tiger-sidekick, Zaulber; the overly ebullient singing duo, the Wright Brothers (Richard and Barry), who run through a slew of Irving Berlin favorites; comedian Stewie Stone; and James Rowland’s life-size puppets of Mae West and the Pointer Sisters.

After all that, maybe they should call it Whew!

Vive la Vie

The aliens have landed - in Paris - and they want to know what earthlings have to offer. It’s Vive la Vie, an ambitious revue at the Holiday Inn Newport Pier Resort, 16701 Collins Ave., Miami Beach.

Though the show wants to dazzle and delight, it has one major problem: Every song is performed in lip sync, which aliens - or humans - may find less-than-inspiring.

Female impersonator Jene Chandler stars, mouthing the words to classics by Lena Horne, Eartha Kitt and Ann-Margret. Co-star Normand LaChance lip-syncs - badly - to theme songs from Epcot Center’s American and Canadian pavilions.

Lively dancers make up for some of the show’s sluggishness, especially during a rousing can-can number. One dancer appears topless.

Prices range from $13.95 for the show only to $26.95 for the show and dinner at the hotel’s Pub restaurant.

South Sea Island

Polynesian Show

This is Dade County’s only Polynesian revue, and it should prove a worthy competitor for the Mai-Kai.

The show runs at the Seven Seas Lounge in Miami Beach’s Holiday Inn Newport Pier Resort, 16701 Collins Ave., and though the venue isn’t as breathtaking as the Mai-Kai, this revue lights up the room with high-spirited dance and plenty of audience participation.

There’s also a dual flaming knife finale by Samoan expert Tama, who incorporates elements of breakdancing into his death- defying routine. It’s a cut above the Mai-Kai display. Real-life husband and wife Teva and Tehani perform a steamy wedding dance and multi-talented host Ato Moe leads us through the South Pacific journey.

Perhaps the most intriguing stop is New Zealand, where you’ll get to see some of the dances used to ward off evil spirits.

Cover charge is $5, plus a two-drink minimum. An extensive appetizer menu is also offered.

Change at the Fontainebleau

Published Oct. 12, 1986

The renowned La Ronde nightclub at the Fontainebleau, once home to the stars, will soon become the La Cage aux Folles Room, where men in drag impersonate celebrities.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the likes of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Milton Berle were regulars at La Ronde. Starting in November, the headliners will be men in feathered headdresses and sequined gowns imitating Marilyn Monroe, Bette Midler, Dolly Parton and others.

Joan Rivers will be the emcee. Sort of.

“It’s an evening of illusion and fantasy,” said Leslie O’Hara, assistant producer. “The people get the thrill of seeing the stars . . . and the stars don’t even have to be there!”

Five and a half years ago, even before Broadway’s musical version of the French film La Cage aux Folles created a sensation with its drag queen chorus line, producer Lou Paciocco opened a supper club with a drag revue in Los Angeles. He borrowed the film’s name.

The club’s success was such that Paciocco took his female impersonators on the road, playing hotels in Las Vegas, Atlantic City and now Miami Beach.

Paciocco, a New York native, and partner Robert Pascale signed a one-year contract for the La Ronde. It’s a deal dear to his heart, he said, because he started out as a ballroom dance instructor at the Fontainebleau.

“It’s a full-circle type of thing for me,” Paciocco said. “To make it even more so, I’m trying to get Berle to come to the opening. I just finished a TV special with Milton, and I’ll tell you for an 80-some-odd-year-old man, he looked better than ever in drag.”

In 1960, Entre Nous, the Fontainebleau’s in-house magazine, said that Berle, then at La Ronde, demonstrated “beyond every scintilla of a doubt that he has the ingredient so necessary to success in show business - TALENT. And it will last.”

La Cage at the Fontainebleau will open Nov. 18. The club seats 550 people.

“It’s so perfect for us because people expect this whole escapist, fantasy thing when they go on vacation in Miami Beach, and this is one way the conventioneer from Middle America can get on an express train out of ordinary life,” said Lisa Cole Young, spokeswoman for the Fontainebleau Hilton.

In the old days, there were no stand-ins for the stars, no Tina Turner or Judy Garland look-alikes. The La Ronde was booked from one end of the year to the other with Peter Lawford and Dean Martin and Robert Goulet and Patti Page. It even had to be almost doubled in size to accommodate Sinatra’s fans for his frequent shows.

By the late 1960s, however, the hotel was on its way into bankruptcy and the La Ronde died. Even after Stephen Muss took over the hotel, the club was revived only once, in a short-lived attempt to create a 1940s-style club with cigarette girls and sailors.

“I would hope that my show would be a sign that Miami Beach is coming back to life,” said Paciocco.

The Miami Beach production of La Cage will use full sets, “costumes to die over,” and real women as dancers, O’Hara said.

“The guys look so much like the big stars, it’s fabulous. And then they lip-synch like a dream, and . . . It’s Liza Minnelli! It’s Michael Jackson!” said Joyce Ernst, assistant to Paciocco in Los Angeles.

Said Paciocco: “Believe it or not, this is really family entertainment. There’s nothing R or X about it.”