[78-L] Benzaquin ~ Cocoanut Grove

[Taylor Bowie]

Among my endless "collecting" interests,  I collect and read everything I 
can find related to the Boston Cocoanut Grove,  before,  during,  and after 
the fire which destroyed the place on November 28,  1942.  I became 
interested as a nine-year old in 1962 when I happened to find and read a 
paperback of the Benzaquin book.

One of the fire fatalities was the musical director of the orchestra there, 
Bernard Fazioli,  member of a well-known Boston family of musicians.  He had 
a big song hit in 1928, "Caressing You,"  which he co-wrote with the long 
time front man of the band at the Grove,  Mickey Alpert.

Another member of the Grove orchestra that night was bass player Jack 
Lesberg,  who later played in NY with Condon and others.  He was injured but 
made a complete recovery.

I would be very interested if any of you have any information about any of 
the employees of the Grove,  particularly the band members or other 
musicians...in fact,  any info at all would be appreciated.

Thanks from

Taylor



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Shoshani" <mshoshani at sbcglobal.net>
To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 25, 2009 7:33 PM
Subject: Re: [78-L] Racially Offensive Language/Robeson.^


> On Sun, 2009-01-25 at 18:16 -0500, Donna Halper wrote:
>> In fact, a well-respected Boston author and talk show host,
>> Paul Benzaquin, wrote a book about the Cocoanut Grove Fire and called
>> it "Holocaust," which meant "a huge fire" back then.  When the book
>> came out for re-issue in the 70s, he had to change its title because
>> the meaning of the word had completely changed.
>
> Just to complete the irony, he's probably Jewish. Benzaquin, spelled
> several different ways, is a common surname among Sephardic Jews.
>
> MS
>
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