Barney Josephson was the American founder of Cafe Society in Greenwich Village, New York's first integrated nightclub.
16 Facts About Barney Josephson
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Barney Josephson was born on February 1,1902, in Trenton, New Jersey, the youngest of six children.
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Barney Josephson's mother was a seamstress and his father, who died shortly after Barney's birth, was a cobbler.
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Barney Josephson had become intrigued while holidaying in Europe by the political cabarets of Berlin and Prague.
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On December 18,1938, Barney Josephson opened Cafe Society with producer John Hammond in a basement room at 1 Sheridan Square, West Village, New York City.
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When he opened the club, Barney Josephson was in his mid-thirties with no experience in the nightclub or entertainment fields.
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Barney Josephson set out to break the norm for nightclubs in the city by making it non-segregated both front of house and behind the scenes, and free of mob influence.
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Barney Josephson set down certain rules around the performance of "Strange Fruit" at the club: it would close Holiday's set; the waiters would stop serving just before it; the room would be in darkness except for a spotlight on Holiday's face; and there would be no encore.
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Barney Josephson commissioned prominent Greenwich Village artists, including Sam Berman, Abe Birnbaum, Adolph Dehn, William Gropper, John Groth, Syd Hoff, Anton Refregier and Ad Reinhardt, to decorate the walls with murals.
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In October 1940 Barney Josephson opened Cafe Society Uptown on East 58th Street, New York.
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Barney Josephson was succeeded by Zero Mostel, who made his professional debut at the club.
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In 1953, brother Leon Barney Josephson named him "Warren Barney Josephson," at whose "restaurant" he worked.
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Barney Josephson subsequently opened a small chain of restaurants in New York, the Cookeries.
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Barney Josephson then began to feature live music in the restaurant, starting with the jazz pianist Mary Lou Williams who had played at Cafe Society.
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Barney Josephson had two sons, Edward and Louis, and a step-daughter, Kathe Trilling.
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Barney Josephson died age 86 on September 29,1988, of internal bleeding in New York City hospital.