New York City Cabaret Card

The New York City Cabaret Identification Card was a permit required of all workers, including performers, in nightclubs in New York City from Prohibition to 1967. Its administration was fraught with politics, and some artists' cards were revoked on specious grounds. For many performers, the revocation of their cabaret cards resulted in the loss of their livelihood. Those of Chet Baker, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk,[1] Jackie McLean,[2] Elmo Hope, Billy Higgins[3] and Billie Holiday[4] were suspended because of drug charges, Lenny Bruce's for his reputed obscenity.

Burlesque dancer Sally Rand challenged the refusal to issue her a cabaret card, which was refused based on her alleged scanty attire. A judge overturned the decision as an "arbitrary and an unjustified act" but noted that the cabaret regulations took effect only after a card had been issued to a performer and warned her that her privileges could be revoked if she did not follow regulations.[5] J. J. Johnson challenged the withholding of his card at the New York State Supreme Court in May 1959 and won the issue of a valid card.[6]

In 1960, Lord Buckley had his card seized for failure to disclose a 1941 marijuana arrest. Following the seizure of Buckley's card, Harold L. Humes convened a "Citizens' Emergency Committee," which included Norman Mailer, David Amram, and Norman Podhoretz, in the apartment of writer George Plimpton. Humes, Plimpton, Mailer, and Maxwell T. Cohen, Buckley's lawyer, confronted Police Commissioner Stephen P. Kennedy at a raucous hearing. In the autumn of 1960, Buckley's manager Harold L. Humes organized a series of club dates in New York City as well as for him to make another appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show (that was broadcast from the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York). However, on October 19, 1960, while Buckley was making a public appearance at the Jazz Gallery in St. Mark's Place in Manhattan, the New York Police Department (NYPD) stopped him over allegations he had "falsified information" on his application to get a cabaret card; specifically he had omitted to record a 1941 arrest for marijuana possession.

The scandal of Buckley's death, partially attributed to the seizure of his cabaret card, helped lead to the removal of authority over cabaret cards from the police.[7] In January 1961, Mayor Robert F. Wagner, Jr., announced that control of the cabaret card system would be removed from the New York City Police Department to the Licensing Department.[8] Due to opposition from the new Mayor, John Lindsay and his appointed Licensing Commissioner, the system was abolished in its entirety in 1967, with the New York City Council voting 35-1 to eliminate the required cards.[9] The Council's discussion of the issue included the reading of a message from Frank Sinatra, who would not perform in New York City and had refused to apply for a cabaret card; he cited the application and investigation process to be "demeaning."[10]

References
  1. Weber, Bruce. "The money raised from the revenue was collected and put into the policeman's retirement fund. The police used this card to ensure their retirement pure graft." "THEATER REVIEW; A Portrait in Words For a Wordless Artist", The New York Times, February 7, 2000. Accessed January 14, 2008. "...his 1951 arrest on a false drug charge (he was protecting his friend, the pianist Bud Powell), which resulted in a 60-day jail sentence and the revocation of his cabaret card..."
  2. Freedman, Samuel G. "HOW INNER TORMENT FEEDS THE CREATIVE SPIRIT", The New York Times, November 17, 1985. Accessed January 14, 2008. "Mr. McLean ultimately served several years on Rikers Island on narcotics charges and lost his cabaret card, which was tantamount in jazz to losing the right to work."
  3. "Interview with Charlie Haden"; Accessed Feb 27, 2021. "That started when he (Billy Higgins) lost his cabaret card when we were at the Five Spot, which made him free to be on all those Blue Note records."
  4. "NEW YORK BOOKSHELF; 'Red Menace' to Warhol's Factory: The City as Bohemia", The New York Times, October 22, 2000. Accessed January 14, 2008. "Billie Holiday suddenly stood up at her table and sang as Mal Waldron played the piano. (She had recently been deprived of her cabaret card by the police.)"
  5. "SALLY RAND WINS CASE; Police Lose Battle to Keep Her From Getting Cabaret Card", The New York Times, April 1, 1947. Accessed January 14, 1948.
  6. "TROMBONIST WINS, GETS CABARET CARD", The New York Times, May 15, 1959. Accessed January 14, 2008.
  7. Ramshaw, Sara (2013). Justice as Improvisation: The Law of the Extempore. Routledge. pp. 29–31.
  8. Sibley, John. "POLICE LICENSING OF CLUBS TO END; Wagner to Shift Control of Night Spots and Employees to License Department POLICE LICENSING OF CLUBS TO END", The New York Times, January 17, 1961. Accessed January 14, 2008.
  9. Ramshaw, Sara (2013). Justice as Improvisation: The Law of the Extempore. Routledge. pp. 32–33.
  10. Bennett, Charles G. "CABARET-CARD USE ENDED BY COUNCIL; Repeal Awaits Signature of Mayor--Vote Is 35 to 1", The New York Times, September 13, 1967. Accessed January 14, 2008.
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