Sunday, October 30, 2011

Sydney, Australia's Silver Spade

Lounge lights casting a blue hue. Women in cocktail dresses and long gowns. Elbow length gloves. Updos. Men in dapper suits. Candle-lit tables. The flick of lighters igniting cigarettes. A smoky haze. Anticipation - a  star would be taking the stage.

That's the way I remember the Silver Spade Lounge in the Chevron Hotel, King's Cross, Sydney - 1969. It was my job, at least one evening a week, to take bookings for the lounge as part of my position as a banquet sales officer for the hotel. This was all brought back to mind while reading letters I wrote home over the 18 months I spent in Australia between 1969 and 1970.    

I bumped into Tiny Tim one day in the hallway of the hotel and remembered thinking, a face only a mother could love - and his wife, Miss Vicki, of course! Other stars who appeared while I worked there included Paul Anka, Buddy Greco, Robert Goulet, Engelbert Humperdinck, Phyllis Diller, Jack Jones, Dennis Day, and Jose Feliciano. Can you match the names with the pictures, or are you just too darn young?

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