Miami Beach: celebrities and glamour since the 1940s and 50s

 

Delta DC-6 flying over Miami Beach, 1954
Florida State Archives 

By Jane Feehan

For many across the U.S. in the 1950s, Miami was the place to be during the winter. Some could credit radio and television personality Arthur Godfrey with making Miami America’s vacationland with his live broadcasts from the Kenilworth Hotel. But many already knew about the city’s attributes thanks to mobsters who drew the adventurous into casinos masquerading as nightclubs in the 1940s.

By the late 1950s, mid-February was considered high season. Hialeah Park Race Track was open, the weather was stellar and Miami’s South Beach hotels were packed with tourists knee to knee at 10 p.m. and 10 a.m. Morris McLemore wrote a terrific column during the 1950s and 60s for the Miami News about the tropical playground.

He wrote in February, 1959 that 104 hotels were built in Miami Beach after World War II. More were built there “than the rest of the world combined.” In all, there were 374 hotels with 30,200 rooms. He counted 24 bakeries and two Wolfie’s restaurants on the beach serving Northern visitors. McLemore also noted there were 158 bars, 94 in hotels, 16 in social clubs and “only 43 regular bars.”*

The Miami Federation of Musicians reported 500 musicians “tootling or thumping away.” In a week, a visitor could be entertained by headliners Tony Martin at the Eden Roc Hotel, Jimmy Durante at the Latin Quarter or Teresa Brewer at the Diplomat. Cabaret singers, burlesque queens, big bands and bevies of show girls were ubiquitous. Everyone wanted to see or be seen in Miami; night life was central to that quest. It was the "only town in the world with ermine cabana jackets," claimed McLemore.

The legacy of Miami Beach includes the Liston-Clay fight in 1964, catapulting Muhammad Ali onto the world stage and a visit that year by the Beatles. Also, both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions of 1972 were hosted by Miami Beach  -  the last time one city hosted both conventions. 

Ermine cabana jackets may be scarce today but Miami Beach still captures plenty of headlines as it draws rich and famous glamour seekers from around the world.


* A recent count of South Beach clubs: 49


Sources:
Miami News, Feb. 26, 1959

Miami Herald, Feb. 28, 1964

Miami News, June 16, 1972

Tags:  Miami in the 1950s, Miami entertainment during the 50s, Miami Beach history, Miami entertainers, mobsters, Mafia in Miami, Miami floor shows, Miami Beach in the 1950s,