Gaslight Square, 1963. Courtesy of the Western Historical Manuscript Collection, University of Missouri–St. Louis.
The Landmarks Association of St. Louis is hosting a free program about the life, times and people of Gaslight Square, on Thursday, April 11th from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Gaslight Theater, 358 N. Boyle, just around the corner from the old entertainment district. Ron (Johnny Rabbitt) Elz of KMOX is coordinating the night and touched base with use for a comprehensive interview about the evening’s programming, participants and background.
Can you give a general sense of how this event came together? Who was in touch with whom originally?
Since I write a good deal about the St. Louis that used to be, and also discuss that general subject with regularity on KMOX, people frequently express an interest in delving deeper into subjects such as our World’s Fair, hotels and theaters, architecture, ghosts, and Gaslight Square—not necessarily in that order. This upcoming peek into the past came about because I’ve been discussing the possibility of Gaslight Square programs to various institutions such as the Missouri History Museum, The Mercantile Library, the St. Louis Public Library, the State of Missouri Historical Society’s Western Manuscripts office, and Landmarks Association. It just happened that Andrew Weil of Landmarks was planning a series on neighborhoods and either he or I, or both of us, verbalized that The Square would be a good topic, and so it was decided that the ghost of Gaslight would once again rise out of the mists of time.
You mention that there's still a strong response to this topic when the old neighborhood's name is brought up. What are some of the reasons for this enduring interest?
The intense interest about the Square never seems to wane due in no small part to the fact that the place played such a pivotal role in our city’s psyche. It was our Old Town, our North Beach, our Bourbon Street, our Greenwich Village, and it was singularly a study of St. Louis style. Its development which was built on a stratum of the arts, intellectualism, fading surroundings and bohemian life, was a natural environment for eclectic night spots, eccentric establishments, and avant-garde activities and people. The Square’s central city location made it an easy destination and the amazing amount of ever changing entertainment entities was a potent mixture that attracted attention from locals to tourists and conventioneers. It truly became an internationally known hot-spot. The era of Gaslight can be traced to the mid-1950s and it reached its zenith in the mid-1960s before it died in the early 1970s. How it was created, why it succeeded, and what caused its death will long be dissected.
The story and myth of Gaslight Square is kept alive with periodic television specials or features, radio interviews, books, articles, Gaslight entertainment revivals, plays, and events such as the one being offered this Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Gaslight Theater. Part of the purpose in holding this remembrance of Gaslight is to allow an intermingling of voices of those who “lived” the Square with others who for myriad reasons would like to ever so briefly recreate a modicum of that now long-lost time and place. We’ve asked several people to assist in moderating a relaxed program in the style of the Square and to offer their respective insights of the importance, or lack thereof, of Gaslight Square.
In addition to yourself, who will be taking part in this conversation? And what do they bring to the table in terms of Square connections and knowledge?
I’m acting as host on behalf of Landmarks, and our attendees will have an opportunity to connect with Gaslighters such as Jeanne Trevor, who was a star singer on the Square at spots such as the Dark Horse; Jack Carl, the Prince of Pastrami, who operated the famous 2 Cents Plain delicatessen at Gaslight Square and Washington Way; Bob Kuban, who took drum lessons at the Musical Arts Building and later played Russ Lewis’ Butterscotch Lounge; the late Frank Moskus’ son, Joe Moskus, who’ll display his oil paintings of the Square; Frank’s widow, Jan Mahannah, who performed there and married Frank when he had the Gaslight Bar; Jon Dressel, the poet, writer, playwright and owner emeritus of Dressel’s Pub on N. Euclid which, along with Duff’s and O’Connell’s is as close as you can get to how many of the Gaslight spots looked; Rich Fuegner and David Roth, authors of the book “Gaslight Square Illuminated;” and several others who’ve been invited.
At the affair, we’ll show some 70 seldom-seen photographs that were the work of The Square’s official/unofficial photographer, the late Thelma Blumberg, who passed away last year and willed her vast Gaslight collection to the Western Manuscript Collection of the State of Missouri Historical Society branch located in the Thomas Jefferson/Mercantile Library building at UMSL. I viewed over 4,000 photos, from which our selection was made. The PowerPoint pictures will portray the district’s metamorphosis from Greenwich Corners up to the late 1960s. Our program will be dealing very little with the dismantling of the dream and its ultimate demise. We’ll save this sad story for another time.
Blumberg’s body of work is in the process of being downloaded to the Western Manuscript Collection website. Some of her photographs, and a collection of the Moskus paintings, were displayed last autumn at Bill Christman’s Ars Populi Gallery that adjoins his Joe’s Café on Kingsbury in the Skinker-DeBaliviere neighborhood. Bill hopefully will be in attendance this Thursday, along with Greg Rhomberg of the Antique Warehouse. You can view some of my articles related to the history of restaurants on Greg’s website, antiquewhs.com, by clicking on Inside St. Louis.
William Roth of the Gaslight Theater will display his collection of Gaslight Square menus and other Square ephemera, and those attending can pick up a copy of a short article I wrote for an early St. Louis Memories magazine, which was published by Lonnie Tettaton’s Nutwood Press. Steve DeBellis of the nostalgia-driven St. Louis Globe-Democrat will attend; in addition to his collecting stories for a future issue, will have at least 100 copies of The Globe available for the taking.
Your event's taking place at the Gaslight Theatre, located just a few blocks from the original location. Do you like that the neighborhood is being given a nod with this venue's name?
Roth’s selection of the name for his theater is ingenious, as it carries with it a close connection to that forever lost entertainment Mecca not only in name but in spirit as there was always theater on the Square, plus in a notable nod to the essence of the Gaslight that’s gone, the theater adjoins a dining establishment and watering hole called the West End Grill & Pub. The theme continues with the St. Louis Actors Studio being part and parcel of the Gaslight Theatre, which harkens to the early activities of music, drama and radio instructors housed in the Musical Arts Building at the southwest corner of Boyle and Olive.
Personally, who are you in touch with, in terms of folks who were also aware of, active in, or otherwise involved with the Square's heyday?
As time passes, death is increasingly erasing the connections with the owners, operators and performers of Gaslight Square, as well with the multitude who visited there. I do keep in touch with many people who have a direct association with the area and I’m in discussion with several archives to arrange for personal stories to be documented, before it’s too late. At our festivity this week we hope to collect the names, street addresses, phone numbers and email addresses of all those who would like to be of part of this storytelling documentation.
On a different personal level, please discuss your Rte. 66 radio show on KMOX. What are the particulars and what kind of feedback are you getting from your listeners?
For those who love great rock and roll oldies of the 1950s into the 1970s I invite you to tune into Rte. 66, which is my Saturday night music show on KMOX AM1120, KEZKHD3 and KMOX.com. Rte 66, which is in its fifth year on the air, normally airs from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m., unless a portion of that time is taken up by Blues hockey or Cardinal baseball, but if we’re not on for a full show, we’re always on following the game. We play the music you grew up with, artists such as Chuck Berry, the Beatles, Aretha Franklin, the Monkees, Elvis, Petula Clark, the Temptations, the Stones, Billy Joel, and all of the stars who made the greatest music of all time. Rte 66 is the number one St. Louis Saturday night radio show, and we get dozens of requests each week for songs and dedications as people from many states “Blab It To The Rabbitt.” By the way, this June I’ll be celebrating my 59th year on the air.
