Mocambo

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For the Toronto tavern, see El Mocambo. For the runaway slave community, see mocambos.

The Mocambo was a nightclub in West Hollywood, California, at 8588 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip. It was owned by Charlie Morrison and Felix Young.^[1]

History

Mocambo neon sign, 1955.

The Mocambo opened on January 3, 1941, and became an immediate success. The club's Latin American-themed decor designed by Tony Duquette cost $100,000. Along the walls were glass cages holding live cockatoos, macaws, seagulls, pigeons, and parrots. With big band music, the club became one of the most popular dance-till-dawn spots in town. On any given night, one might find the room filled with the leading men and women of the motion picture industry.

In 1943, when Frank Sinatra became a solo act, he made his Los Angeles debut at the Mocambo.^[2]

In the mid 1950s, Ella Fitzgerald became the first black performer at the Mocambo, after Marilyn Monroe lobbied the owner for the booking.^[3] The booking was instrumental in Fitzgerald's career. The incident was turned into a play by Bonnie Greer in 2005.

Among the many celebrities who frequented the Mocambo were Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall,^[4] Errol Flynn, Charlie Chaplin, Elizabeth Taylor, Judy Garland, Henry Fonda, Lana Turner, Ava Gardner, Bob Hope, James Cagney, Sophia Loren, Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner, Grace Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, Howard Hughes, Kay Francis, Marlene Dietrich, Theda Bara, Tyrone Power, Jayne Mansfield, John Wayne, Ann Sothern, and Louis B. Mayer. Myrna Loy and Arthur Hornblow, Jr. celebrated their divorce there.

The club's main stage was replicated on the TV series I Love Lucy as the "Tropicana" Club. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were frequent guests at the Mocambo and were close friends of Charlie Morrison.

The Mocambo was also parodied mercilessly in a Bugs Bunny cartoon, "Slick Hare". According to a commentary track on the DVD with this cartoon, the animators managed to get into the kitchen and drew the kitchen exactly as they saw it, complete with dripping grease on the refrigerator and vegetables lying around the ground.

Early in 1957, club operator and co-owner Charlie Morrison died at his Beverly Hills, California, home.^[5] The Mocambo remained in business for one final year, before closing its doors on 30 June 1958.^[6] The building was then sold, reopened as a supper club called The Cloister, and eventually demolished.^[7]

Noted performers

References

^ Weller, Sheila (2003). Dancing at Ciro's, p. 118. Macmillan. ISBN 0-312-24176-3.
^ "Classic Locations: Mocambo nightclub". Los Angeles Times. 6 June 2011. http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jun/06/entertainment/la-et-sider-20110606.
^ Nicholson, Stuart (1993). Ella Fitzgerald: A Biography of the First Lady of Jazz, p. 149. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80642-8.
^ Wallace, David (2001). Lost Hollywood, p. 166. Macmillan. ISBN 0-312-26195-0.
^ "Charles Morrison, Owner of Mocambo" (fee required). The New York Times. 23 March 1957. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0616FC3F5A177B93C1AB1788D85F438585F9.
^ "Mocambo Shuttered" (fee required). Variety. 30 June 1958. http://www.varietyultimate.com/archive/issue/DV-06-30-1958-2.
^ "Neon Glitter Return for Sunset Strip". Billboard. 9 March 1959.

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