The Jungle Club in Miami started as a fruit stand. Helene Kayfetz opened the stand around 1945, shortly after the war. She sold fruit, but as a former showgirl herself, it wasn't long before she had put up dancing platforms, changed her name to Helene Polka and put a "humorous" darky on the wall. Not cool, but then the dump probably didn't have air-conditioning.
Helene got her start in the sleaze business working as one of Earl Carrol's Vanities Girls. She turned showbiz pimp herself, claiming to have hired over 2,000 girls
Soon the dancers Ms. Polka hired were doing TEN shows a day. She was too cheap to hire a band, so "Voodoo beats" came out of hidden speakers while the dancers stripped in a "Voodoo Revue." At any given time, some 30 nearly nude women roamed around the club, so raids and arrests were frequent. One reason the club kept getting busted, according to rumor, was that Helene refused to pay off the cops and pay for "protection." This was reported in 1949.
In August 1949, one "Dick Lowe" (good name!) reported in the Miami News that "The Jungle club has without a doubt the largest single collection of dog faced dancers in all of show business. In one number Helene has the girls do a choral dance wearing absurb (sic) and horrible face masks, and on some of them the masks are a genuine improvement."
Sheesh, and I thought I was rough on the business! The headline of that review should read "Dick Lowe Hits Low."
He goes on to say Helene learned "homelier girls work a whole lot harder on the floor trying to make up for their lack of beauty." Helene wasn't too sure herself! Here she calls them "reasonably beautiful!" Great Boss!
Since someone is selling pictures of them on eBay, here is one so you can judge yourself.
I dunno…they look pretty good to me.
In 1953 Helene put out a nude calendar to promote the business. Ten years later, she was claiming a "heart condition" prevented her from appearing at yet another court case involving the club.
The Jungle Club lasted until 1961 when it dropped the nudes and became the Mermaid Club.
Florida now seems proud of their censorious past. The State Library will SELL you a print of a group of strippers being arrested and hamming it up from the Jungle Club HERE.
I thought libraries were supposed to be free?
Ebooks ($5.99) and Books by the author are available HERE
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True Burlesque of the week is the lovely Gayety Theater in Miami on Collins Avenue! Used briefly in a shot in television show Miami Vice! They needed a sleazy exterior shot.
Strippers are just like birds. They head south for the winter.
IN 1965, the Miami News reported Gayety owner Leroy Griffith "operator of three nudie theaters" was forced to close his clubs for failing to pay his taxes.
In 1970, Leroy was arrested for "unlawfully showing obscene films."
IN 1974, the club owner SUED LINDA LOVELACE. Sheesh, hadn't she had enough trouble? Ironically, several years later Leroy himself was fined for screening an edited version of Linda's film without informing patrons the good parts had been spliced out.
In 1984, Leroy sued a television station for reporting he was "A Meyer Lansky Man" which would be hard to prove. I'm not sure how that turned out.
Obviously, Leroy is a litigious kind of guy, so I better be careful. I'd hate to slander him. At one time, Leroy owned 18 movie theaters. The Miami News referred to him once as a "porno king" so I guess I can too. He was also called him a "burlesque impresario" way back in 1967. Hmm…here is a source which calls him a "flesh purveyor." Well, you can't hate a guy who once hired actor Mickey Rourke as a projectionist. Plus, who can hate a guy who went to court to allow him to screen a film titled "Three Ripening Cherries?"
Leroy was in it from the start. He would purchase legit theaters going out of business and reopen them as adult shows. Soon he was making his own topless films. Creepy "reporter" Earl Wilson once "reported" Leroy offered Jayne Mayne Mansfield some bucks to strip, but she turned him down.
Seeking favor from Miami Beach prudes, in 1984 Leroy let a goofy evangelist (and former dog food promoter) use one of his theaters for revivals.
Leroy the burlesque impresario was arrested in 1988 for "promoting lewd and lascivious performances" but that's nothing. It was reported once that his clubs had been raided eighteen times.
At one time, a Florida disc Jockey was arrested at the Gayety club for, well…sitting in the dark and "performing alone" but I won't name him, as bad publicity is good publicity, and apparently lots of people hated him anyway. It was a Pee Wee Herman kind of thing, and the announcer was one of those hypocritical kind of radio guys, or so they say. The creep might be litigious too, so consider this a blind news item. What? He died? Oh, good. It was Neil Rogers and he was tugging the rope.
IN 1990, Gayety Owner Leroy Griffith decided he would turn the old Gayety dump into an "upscale strip club" which means dumpy with gloss and a higher cover charge. He and his partners intended to call it "Solid Gold" but that didn't last long. At one point, the name is reported to be "Pure Platinum" but it became "Deja Vu" and then "SoBe Showgirls. At least I think so, I loose track. One of Leroy's clubs was named "Madonna" but she sued him. She lost the case as there have been other Madonnas, I guess.
Leroy was a clever man. Miami Beach outlawed alcohol being served where there was nude dancing, so he installed a glass barrier separating the bar from the stage!
A giant profile of Leroy Griffith, "upscale" club operator is HERE and more dish is HERE
PURCHASE BOOKS (AND AFFORDABLE EBOOKS) BY JIM LINDERMAN HERE
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