By Scott Barbarino***March is not only Women’s History Month, but also Cabaret Month. Back in the day, when New York City was filled with many more rooms than we have now, and also filled with great shows, March Cabaret Month was a time of great celebration. This designation is also why cabaret awards events are in March. These awards shows, particularly the MAC and Bistro Awards, were accompanied by a yearly Mayoral Proclamation designating March as a month to specifically celebrate the genre.
Until recently, The New York Times covered cabaret on a regular basis. It was an important part of their cultural coverage. On February 3, 1986, for example, The Times printed this feature on the late Jan Wallman, a great force in the cabaret world. You can get an idea as to the importance of cabaret and what it meant in the cultural fabric of New York City:
“During almost 30 years as den mother to aspiring cabaret performers, Jan Wallman has provided an important step up the ladder to such now familiar names as Joan Rivers, Dick Cavett, Woody Allen, Rodney Dangerfield, Barbra Streisand, Robert Klein, George Segal, Marcia Lewis and Linda Lavin. Now it’s their turn to help her.
On January 26, Miss Wallman closed Jan Wallman’s, her intimate 33-seat restaurant and cabaret at 28 Cornelia Street, because her rent had been raised for the third time. When word of this got around, singers and comedians to whom Jan Wallman had given a helping hand—during the two periods when she managed Upstairs at the Duplex, on Grove Street, from 1959 to 1962 and 1964 to 1968; the two-year interval when she moved to the Showplace on West Fourth Street, and later at the restaurant—rallied round to help her relocate.
Led by Judy Kreston, a singer who has been one of the recent regulars at Jan Wallman’s, they are giving a ”Celebration of Jan Wallman” tonight at Carnegie Hall at 8:30. The proceeds will go toward Miss Wallman’s relocation efforts. The performers will include such veterans of Jan Wallman’s rooms as the team of Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, Miss Rivers, Mr. Cavett, Bert Convy, Miss Lewis, Miss Lavin and Miss Kreston as well as a pair of Miss Wallman’s friends who never performed in her cabarets -Kaye Ballard and Margaret Whiting.
”It’s a rare and special opportunity to give back to someone who gave so much to me,” said Miss Lavin, who starred in the title role of ”Alice” on television. ‘We were all beginners and she made us all feel hopeful.’
Mr. Cavett said he was still grateful for the opportunity she gave him ”when I was not considered ready for other places like the Village Gate, the Bitter End and Bon Soir’.”
Jan Wallman spent her lifetime supporting cabaret and live entertainment. With me in the photo to the left is Jan with Gregory Moore, who played Sancho to her Quixote. If you have a Jan Wallman story or remembrance please share it here … we need to expand the Wikipedia page for this woman who truly held a special place in Cabaret’s history.
Let’s celebrate our history as we plan for our future.
Scott Barbarino is the publisher of NiteLife Exchange.
What could sound better to me than Cabaret Month? (…maybe Cabaret Life) It’s such a warm and loving community of people. It includes the performers, the songwriters, wait staff that often also performs, people who own and/or build entertainment rooms and want all those who perform an who listen to feel the love that entertainment delivers in smallish spaces. It brings people of al colors, religions, fields of interest – etc. etc. etc. together.