Astor Club

The Astor Club was a nightclub which operated in Mayfair, London from the 1930s to the late 1970s. The haunt of royals and car dealers, gangsters and landed aristocrats, it was a fixture in London nightlife for nearly half a century. The most famous years of the club were the decades between 1950 and 1970. The Astor was one of the most prestigious of a number of nightclubs and "hostess clubs" which flourished particularly in the period between the end of the Second World War in 1945 and the opening of the 1960s and 1970s discotheques. Such watering-holes had almost all disappeared by the 1980s, when discos and nightclubs merged into the nocturnal "clubs" of those years, a situation which led up to the present-day London "night-time economy".

Bertie Green

The Astor, which was established in the 1930s and flourished even during the dangerous times London experienced during the Second World War (the so-called London Blitz of 1940-1941 and the V-1 and V-2 rocket attacks of 1944-1945), was owned by Bertie Green,[1] a businessman and manager of show business performers.

Bertie Green has been described (by Michelle Monro, in the biography of her father, Matt Monro--Matt Monro: The Singer's Singer) as "[not] one of nature's gentlemen. He had a very bad reputation as a villain and used to sign artists up with the sole intention of doing nothing and then suing them...a greedy bastard, a no-good greedy bastard."[2]

The Astor Club as Part of London Nightlife in the Postwar Period

The Astor was one of the London nightclubs (a similar establishment was the Stork Room --or Club-- an attempt to copy the American Stork Club in Manhattan), which attracted wealthy revellers, members of the aristocracy, young Guards officers and even, occasionally, minor royals, as well as successful criminals (both "working" criminals and gangsters).[3] Other clubs vied for the same clientele, or, in contrast, attracted very niche crowds. They included the Embassy Club, the Blue Angel,[4] Annabel's (founded only in 1963, more select than the others, originally the haunt of the very wealthy and the aristocracy; still operating),[5][6] the Gargoyle Club, the Bagatelle, the Continental, the Colony Room (not to be confused with the Colony Club), Churchill's (a hostess club which existed until about 1990, was later revived as New Churchill's and still operates),[7] the Gaslight Club (still operating in different format),[8] the Pink Elephant Club (gay), Danny la Rue's (drag) etc.[9] There was also The Saddle Room, which (despite the horsey English upper-crust name, aristocratic and royal clientele and off-Park Lane address) was actually one of the first discotheques in London (the disco trend having begun in Paris and on the Cote d'Azur).[10][11]

In a London still very class-riven, these clubs provided a place where a wide spectrum of London society rubbed shoulders. It has been said of the Gargoyle that "its membership embraced toffs and artists: from Nancy Cunard to Nancy Mitford, Victor Rothschild to Roland Penrose, Lee Miller to William Burroughs, and, occasionally in the mix, the odd spy, such as Guy Burgess."[12]

The famous American syndicated columnist Walter Winchell wrote in 1953 that "there's more night-life in London than anywhere in U.S...Everyone dines after theater--shows start at 6.15 and 8.30...Great Latin band at the Astor Club..."[13]

Patrons and Reputation

The Astor was usually described in the press as in such terms as "glittering", "ritzy",[14] "chic"[15] and, in the American newspapers, "swanky". Princess Margaret, younger sister of the Queen, no stranger to London nightlife (and what was then called "cafe society" in contradistinction to "Society"), was seen at the Astor on occasion, as in 1952, when she and her entourage enjoyed the performance of the Deep River Boys, a group which mainly sang American gospel music.[16] The Princess described the Deep River Boys as "my very favourite entertainers".[17]

Lord Lichfield (Patrick Anson, aka Patrick Lichfield), cousin of the Queen, ex-Guards officer and fashionable photographer,[18] was often to be seen there in the early 1960s.

Another royal personage linked with the Astor was the young King Hussein of Jordan, whom Bertie Green claimed (rather implausibly and somewhat suggestive of lese-majeste) as a friend. Hussein was supposed to have fallen in love with an equally young hostess, Helene Morris. Green dismissed her when the newspapers caught wind of the alleged affair.[19]

An account by the transsexual, April Ashley (the first British citizen to have had a sex-change operation performed, albeit in Casablanca) describes the Astor in the early 1960s as having been "black tie and full of tarts".[20]

The Astor in the 1950s has been described as having been "littered with prostitutes, which the club politely called hostesses, who'd wait for a table to be filled and then order champagne for the guests at £2 a bottle. They'd get a pound for each bottle purchased, earning up to a tenner on good nights."[2] This at a time when most workers were paid between £2 and £9 per week.[21][22]

It has been said that the Astor clientele was markedly more prestigious in the early 1950s than it became later, especially in the 1960s era of the Krays and others;[23] however, in 1950, long before the active years of the Krays and Richardsons, another habitue, George Ellis, had been attacked outside the Astor, slashed with a razor and the girl with him kicked into the gutter, allegedly at the behest of the woman he later married, Ruth Neilson, better known to history as Ruth Ellis, who was later to be hanged for the murder of another of her lovers.[24] Ruth was a club hostess herself, though not at the Astor.

Artistes and Showbusiness

Bertie Green, the owner of the Astor, discovered the British singer Yana, who shot to fame in the 1950s after having sung as a dare and at a private party held at the club. Another singer who first performed (solo) at the Astor (in 1959) was the 1960s star Kathy Kirby.[25]

Yana was not the only amateur singer to have been offered a job at the Astor by Bertie Green. In 1957, he suggested to American tennis player Althea Gibson, who had just won the Ladies' Singles tournament at Wimbledon and who had sung for fun at a private party held at the Astor to celebrate her victory, that there was a job for her if she wanted to take it (she didn't).[26][27]

Other singers, famous or about to be so, performed at the Astor in the 1950s and early 1960s. Tom Jones sang there, though he was not top of the bill. That position was taken by Engelbert Humperdinck.[28] Tom Jones was still almost unknown to the British public and is said to have been so hungry at that stage of his career that─ while supporting Humperdinck at the Astor---he stole and ate a steak about to be served to one of the Kray twins, the most notorious British gangsters of their era.[28][29] At that time the Krays were getting a "pension" (i.e. protection money) of £200 per week (arguably, £10,000-£20,000 or more in 2016 money) from the Astor management.[30]

It was when she was singing at the Astor in 1955 that Shirley Bassey was discovered by bandleader and impressario Jack Hylton.[31][32] Others who were auditioned there and taken on for a while included singers Elkie Brooks and Anita Harris,[33] amid many whose fame was lesser or fleeting.[34][35]

Gangsterism

The address of the Astor, off Berkeley Square, Mayfair, reinforced its "respectable" credentials, despite the fact that gangland not infrequently came to clubland, as when the psychopathic gangster, Frankie Fraser, buried a hatchet in the skull of one Eric Mason, an associate of the Krays, outside the club (Mason was later dumped, "barely alive", outside Whitechapel Hospital in East London).[36]

However wealthy and respectable were many of the Astor's patrons and despite the royal visits, London gangsterism was never very far away from the club, as when (in 1956) the notorious gangster, Billy Hill, was accused, in the course of a trial, of having offered a "monkey" (£500) and the cost of plastic surgery to a man, if that man would allow himself to be slashed across the face outside the Astor.[37]

In 1958, the doorman at the Astor, Jimmy Nash, a member of a "well-known" London family, was tried at the Old Bailey for murder, at the time a capital offence. The accusation was that he had shot and killed a man in a club in the—at the time—very disreputable area of West London known as Notting Hill. He was acquitted amid talk of "jury nobbling" and interference with witnesses, but the following year was accused of Grievous Bodily Harm (GBH), convicted and sentenced to 5 years' imprisonment.[38]

It was at the Astor in December 1965 that the infamous East End (East London) Kray twins had a confrontation with the South London criminals known as the Richardson Gang; during that face-off, the gangster George Cornell is said to have referred to Ronnie Kray as a "fat poofter" (in another version, "a big fat poof"),[39] a remark which led to a gangland war (Cornell himself being shot dead in March 1966 in front of witnesses at the bar of the Blind Beggar pub in Whitechapel)[40] and so, ultimately, to the trials and sentences which destroyed both the Kray and Richardson gangs. Indeed, when the Krays were arrested for the Cornell murder (two years after the fact), they were drinking (at 6 a.m.) at The Lion pub, Bethnal Green, intending to move on later to the Astor.[41]

Later Years

The Astor survived beyond the era of the Krays and Richardsons and continued to attract wealthy customers. An Astor Big Band was formed by bandleader Terry Steel, which played before Frank Sinatra at the club in 1971[42] and which outlived its original one-month engagement, playing for five years, becoming particularly popular in Denmark, where it performed at the famous Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen.[43] It re-formed, for a charity performance, as late as 2015.[42]

The Astor Club closed in the late 1970s.[12]

References

  1. ↑ Limited, Alamy. "Stock Photo - Bertie Green Owner Of The Astor Club And Show Business Manager". Alamy. Retrieved 2016-02-05.
  2. 1 2 Monro, Michele (2011-09-23). Matt Monro: The Singer's Singer. Titan Books. ISBN 9781848569508.
  3. ↑ "» London hostess clubs of the 1960s". stewarthomesociety.org. Retrieved 2016-01-19.
  4. ↑ Willetts, Paul (2013-04-04). The Look of Love: The Life and Times of Paul Raymond, Soho's King of Clubs. Profile Books. ISBN 1847659942.
  5. ↑ "Why there'll always be an Annabel's". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-01-29.
  6. ↑ "Annabel's". annabels.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-01-29.
  7. ↑ "New Churchills Gentlemen's Club, Mayfair". www.fluidlondon.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-01-29.
  8. ↑ "The Club - Gaslight club". Gaslight club. Retrieved 2016-01-29.
  9. ↑ "It's Behind You - Angela Ryder - A Scrapbook". www.its-behind-you.com. Retrieved 2016-01-24.
  10. ↑ "Louise Cordet Interview". www.harkitrecords.com. Retrieved 2016-03-15.
  11. ↑ "The world of Caroline Charles - Telegraph". fashion.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-03-15.
  12. 1 2 "69 Dean Street and the making of UK club culture". ➢➢ Shapers of the 80s ➣➣. Retrieved 2016-01-24.
  13. ↑ "The Milwaukee Sentinel - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
  14. ↑ "Ottawa Citizen - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
  15. ↑ "SCVNews.com | Local Singer, 85, 'Never Too Old' to Perform | 11-14-2014". Retrieved 2016-02-28.
  16. ↑ "Washington Afro-American - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2016-02-05.
  17. ↑ "Washington Afro-American - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
  18. ↑ Bates, Stephen (2005-11-12). "Lord Lichfield". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
  19. ↑ "The Sydney Morning Herald - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
  20. ↑ Fallowell, Duncan; Ashley, April (1982-01-01). April Ashley's Odyssey. J. Cape. ISBN 9780224018494.
  21. ↑ "Facts about Britain at work in the Fifties". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
  22. ↑ "Diamond Jubilee: how much was £1 worth in 1952?". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  23. ↑ Pearson, John (2013-05-16). The Cult of Violence. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781448211524.
  24. ↑ Lee, Carol Ann (2012-09-06). A Fine Day for a Hanging: The Real Ruth Ellis Story. Random House. ISBN 9781780573694.
  25. ↑ Bret, David (2014-03-26). Brit Girls of the Sixties Volume Two: Marianne Faithfull & Kathy Kirby. Lulu Press, Inc. ISBN 9781291802863.
  26. ↑ "St. Petersburg Times - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
  27. ↑ "The Age - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
  28. 1 2 Myall, Steve. "Tom Jones before The Voice - an ex bandmate reveals tales of tunes, girls and Krays". mirror. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
  29. ↑ "When Tom Jones stole from gangster Reggie". walesonline. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
  30. ↑ Pearson, John (2011-01-01). Notorious: The Immortal Legend of the Kray Twins. Arrow. ISBN 9780099505341.
  31. ↑ "The Sydney Morning Herald - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
  32. ↑ "The Afro American - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
  33. ↑ Brooks, Elkie (2012-07-17). Finding My Voice: My Autobiography. Biteback Publishing. ISBN 9781849544443.
  34. ↑ Reid, Michael D. "Singer never forgot Victoria upbringing". Times Colonist. Retrieved 2016-02-28.
  35. ↑ "OBITUARY: How 'Ugly Sister' Lee's glamour dazzled a prince | West End Extra". www.westendextra.com. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
  36. ↑ "Frankie Fraser - obituary". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
  37. ↑ "The Glasgow Herald - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
  38. ↑ Morton, James; Parker, Jerry; Parker, Gerry (2012-03-01). Gangland Bosses: The Lives of Jack Spot and Billy Hill. Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 9781405515610.
  39. ↑ "Bernard O'Mahoney - Future Books - WANNABEE in my gang? - Articles - ??/??/?? - Rivals In Murder". www.bernardomahoney.com. Retrieved 2016-01-22.
  40. ↑ "Gangland | Culture". www.cockney.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-01-22.
  41. ↑ "The Kray's Walking Tour - Legend". DIY. Retrieved 2016-01-31.
  42. 1 2 "Big band swings into town to raise money for Royal British Legion". Your Local Guardian. Retrieved 2016-01-23.
  43. ↑ "Astor Big Band". www.astorbigband.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-01-20.

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