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xi Acknowledgments I A M g r At E F u L to my agent, Eric Myers, of the Spieler Agency, for his faith in this project from the beginning, and for his humor, determination , and consistent encouragement. I also thank my editor at New York University Press, Deborah Gershenowitz, for her sage ideas regarding the structure, content, and shaping of the book, her insightful editorial suggestions , and, especially, her warm and supportive presence. Thanks as well to Ron Mandelbaum for his generosity and for helping set all the forces in motion. Beck Lee of Media Blitz deserves special thanks for his early interest and for introducing me to key figures. In addition, I am extremely grateful to my fellow Pentas–Chris Bullo, Tim Coleman, Rachel Kranz, and Joe Luncewicz–for their assistance in reviewing early versions of the manuscript and their helpful ideas. Thanks go to Gabrielle Begue, Rita Bernhard, Joe Gallagher, Despina Gimbel, Brandon Kelley, Fredric Nachbaur, Betsy Steve, Eric Zinner, and the excellent staff at NYU Press; also to photographer Dennis Young, for coming to New York at late notice and documenting these sites with care and sensitivity. In addition, I appreciate the many individuals who assisted at various points throughout the course of research, among them Val Almendarez of the Herrick Library, Simeon Bankoff of Historic Districts Council, Ellen Belcher at John Jay College Library, Leland Bobbé, Melanie Bower of the Museum of the City of New York, Brooks of the Lost City blog, Joanne Burns, Kara Darling of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization , Sgt. Michael Devine, Greg Dunmore, Gino Francesconi of Carnegie Hall, Joe Franklin, William Freeland, Steven Fullwood and the staff of the Schomburg Center, Denise Gallo of the Library of Congress, Leonora Gidlund and the staff of the New York City Municipal Archives, Bob Golden, Guy Gonzales, Steph Goralnick (for the great photographs), James Jolis of the Michelangelo (formerly the Taft) Hotel, Carol King of Chrysalis Music, Hilary Knight, the late Roger Lang, Christopher Lefferts , Gail Malmgreen and the staff of the Tamiment Library and Robert xii Acknowledgments F. Wagner Labor Archives, Howard Mandelbaum, Tim Marchman, Steve Massa and the staff of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Itty Matthew, Jill Slaight and the staff of the New-York Historical Society, Bill Miller, Jeff Miller, Zalmen Mlotek, the Rev. Darnell Montgomery , Jake Mooney of the New York Times, Jerry Moriarty, Edna Nahshon , Robert Petrucci, Ed Pilkington of the Guardian, Jerry Portwood of New York Press, Andrew Purcell of the BBC, Todd Robbins, Charles Silver of the Museum of Modern Art Film Study Center, Jocelyn Skinner, Victor Sozio, Bella Stander and Book Promotion 101, Sgt. James Ward, the staff of the Humanities and Social Sciences Library of the New York Public Library, the staff of the New York State Library in Albany, and, finally, the unidentified woman walking her poodle at 145th Street and Lenox Avenue. My thanks certainly go to those who lived through a number of the periods covered in this book and who kindly shared their memories with me: the Hon. Melvin Barasch, who recounted his attempts to unionize automat workers during the early 1950s; film and stage actress Betsy Blair, who answered with humor and candor my questions related to her experience as a dancer in the 1940 Diamond Horseshoe revue, “Nights of Gladness”; Mike Burstyn, Yiddish theater star, who led me on a fascinating exploration through the remains of Second Avenue and the old Hebrew Actors’ Union; dance legend and “Ambassador of Lindy Hop” Frankie Manning, who recalled doing his homework in the Lincoln Theater box office; Arnold Martin, of the late, much-missed Funny Store, who offered colorful anecdotes of the untamed Times Square of the 1960s and 1970s; journalist Liz Trotta, who shared reminiscences of her stint undercover as a taxi dancer in 1963; and pianist and singer Jo Thompson, whose experience breaking down the color barrier in 1940s and 1950s nightclubs made her impressions of working at the Diamond Horseshoe especially valuable. But my greatest appreciation extends to the late Anise Boyer, a child star in Harlem who gained renown as one of the Cotton Club’s most beautiful dancers (she began working there in 1928) before starring in the 1932 movie, Harlem Is Heaven. Boyer, who could still recall the day Lena Horne came in looking for a job, deepened my understanding of the relationship between art and society, when she recalled how African American entertainers became pioneers in the broader cultural acceptance...

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