[78-L] Benzaquin ~ Cocoanut Grove

[David Sanderson]

Taylor Bowie wrote:
> 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

As it happens I met a man years ago who claimed a Coconut Grove 
connection.  This was when I was living in West Newbury, Massachusetts, 
the far northeast corner of the state.  He and his son, I think, had a 
TV/radio shop, Atwood TV & Radio, in Merrimac, Mass.  I ended up in the 
shop because he had a bunch of old radios and equipment, got talking 
with the senior Atwood about my interest in such things, and he 
proceeded to tell me his own story.

It seems that after he got into electronics during WWII, he ended up in 
the Boston area doing sound systems among other things.  He claimed to 
have been a friend of Vaughn Monroe - and claimed that he was the one 
who did the sound system for the Coconut Grove, would have been there 
the night of the fire had it not been that his wife had a cold or 
something.  I don't know whether anyone else has turned this up, much 
less whether the man is still alive, but a quick search shows the shop 
still in business, and someone might wish to see what information can be 
found.

On a similar note, I was astonished last summer during a conversation 
with Georgiana Pacent, the local survivor of a New York family that was 
in radio early, when she told me that it was the Pacent Company that did 
the sound for "The Jazz Singer."  She has material from that period, 
when Pacent was making early PA systems etc.  If you do a Web search on 
"Pacent" you'll find her husband's grandfather (I think - I'm a little 
hazy about the relationships) as a member of the Radio Club of America 
(RCA, initials later appropriated by Mr. Sarnoff) and one of the group 
that did the first transatlantic voice transmission.  They owned the 
place here in Maine where she now lives, used to come up here with their 
cars loaded down with electronic equipment and play around with mobile 
transmission etc.

-- 




      David Sanderson
      East Waterford, Maine

      dwsanderson685 at roadrunner.com
      http://www.dwsanderson.com