short vincent
The neon signs trumpeting buxom blond showgirl Hope Diamond's Gem of Exotics show teased passersbys at East Ninth Street and Chester Avenue. "Adults only," warned a poster for the Jewel Box Revue featuring "GIRLS" Princess LaTonya and Mary Lou, and "strippers galore." But locals knew otherwise. Rule-breakers under 18 years old crawled up a stepladder and paid admission to see a peep of performers Irma the Body and Cupcake Cassidy or laugh at the jokes from Abbott and Costello and Phil Silvers. A raucous night out on Short Vincent during its heyday from the '30s to '60s promised tantalizing thrills and a chance to rub elbows with the seediest of gangsters and the most famous stars. The jazz club Theatrical Grill (where Art Modell made the deal to buy the Cleveland Browns in 1961) was owned in part by notorious mobster Alex "Shondor" Birns. It drew New York Yankees center fielder Joe DiMaggio and entertainment icons such as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Judy Garland. When Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected to an unprecedented third term as president in 1940, the Roxy celebrated with burlesque artist Julie Bryan's "presidential strip." Despite two fires, the Theatrical Grill held on into the 1990s. The Roxy, however, suffered a particularly ignominious fate: It closed in 1977 — its last six years spent as an adult movie theater.
