The Link between JFK and Disco

Updated 2 years ago

Founded by Italian immigrant John Perona as a speakeasy on 52nd street in 1931, El Morocco would become famous for its ostentatious zebra print interior as well as parade of the glamorous people (including Marilyn Monroe) who sought an escape from Prohibition. Although this club was all about breaking the rules, there was a distinct order to things. Nanette Fabray, a Tony-winning Broadway leading lady of the 40’s, recalled in the Times, “Oh, it was a ritual…. One entered, and there was a hierarchy of where one sat…. You didn’t dare go unless you were perfectly turned out.” And no one could be better suited for the elegant glamour than Jackie O herself, who visited the club with both her husbands. However, JFK reportedly preferred the quieter Champagne Room, a private dining area in the back of the club.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Morocco

El Morocco 1965


Then, it became The Arthur, and laid the foundation for disco:
“While the discothèque swept Europe throughout the 1960s, it did not become widely popular in the United States until the 1970s, where the first rock and roll generation preferred rough and tumble bars and taverns to nightclubs until the disco era. In the early 1960s, Mark Birley opened a members-only discothèque nightclub, Annabel’s, in Berkeley Square, London. In 1962, the Peppermint Lounge in New York City became popular and is the place where go-go dancing originated. Sybil Burton opened the “Arthur” discothèque in 1965 on East 54th Street in Manhattan on the site of the old El Morocco nightclub and it became the first, foremost, and hottest disco in New York City through 1969.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightclub

El Morocco Jackie


“New York City’s tradition of trendy dance clubs and discotheques dates back to the 1960s, when establishments such as the Peppermint Lounge attracted celebrity Twist enthusiasts such as Judy Garland and Jackie Kennedy. One of these clubs, the Arthur, employed DJ Terry Noel, who may have bridged a gap to the disco era when he played two records simultaneously to create a new dance mix.” – Jellybean Benitez


Sybil Williams, the ex-wife of the great UK actor Richard Burton, opened the nightclub Arthur on 54th Street NYC and chose for it a musical band, the Wild Ones, whose leader was Jordan Christopher. Sybil was immediately fascinated by the handsome Jordan; probably she didn’t know that he was living together with a homosexual professional dancer, and the name was Terry Noel. Terry lost Jordan, but he put a spell on the night clubs musical bands. Sybil knew the UK way to animate the musical nights; in particular, she liked the mod style of the London Ad Lib, and so she searched for someone to play the records and give “little help” to the people (if you need to know something more about this, please listen to Rolling Stones “mother’s little helper”). I don’t know exactly how, but Terry convinced her to let himself do this at the Arthur, because he wanted to show everyone that he could do better than a musical band, and he did it. A few months later, Terry decided to become a woman by surgery. His (her ?) new look was similar to Sybil’s one.”
https://satanhasthebestdiscodancetunes.blogspot.com/2011/03/satan-has-best-disco-dance-tunes_17.html?m=1

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