The Copa by Mickey Podell-Raber Page A

wouldn’t bother anyone in sucha remote place. After five minutes or so, someone taps me on the shoulder…it was Podell. He says to me in a gruff voice ‘Who are you and why are you sitting in my seat?’”
    Rip Taylor remembers:
    The first time I played the Copa was nerve-racking. I had finally graduated from doing my act in strip joints across America to legitimate clubs and then television. Someone saw me on The Ed Sullivan Show and that led to my being booked at the Copacabana. Meeting Jules Podell for the first time was very exciting. Before your first show, Podell would welcome and introduce you to the staff in the kitchen. I remember him saying, “Everybody, this is Rip Taylor, a brand-new funny guy…let’s hear it for him,” and the staff would all applaud. The acts always said hello to Podell before they went on because he would sit at a register in the kitchen and you had to pass him to get to the stage every show. I thanked him and was so happy my act was well received by the Copa audience. Although I had played the Latin Quarter and other top clubs, the Copa was special…it was the mecca of show business. I worked the Copa seven or eight times. Nat King Cole was, without question, one of the sweetest and kindest men I’ve ever met…he was just so wonderful. I can’t tell you how it furthered my career, and others, once word spread that you had played the Copa.
    Martha Raye would also visit us, and I would play with her daughter Melody. Raye was a popular radio, nightclub, and movie star whose nickname was “The Big Mouth”; later generations would come to know her from a series of popular commercials she made for Polident denture cleaner. Martha was fun to be around; she’d always sing and play the piano at our house. She could open her mouth so wide it lookedlike the Grand Canyon. She was funny and a genuinely nice person. Martha liked being around children and always did something to keep us entertained. She didn’t sit with the adults, she’d rather hang out with us. Sophie Tucker also came to the house a lot. I remember her being loud and fat, and my father loved her. Sophie would crack my father up; I never saw him laugh as much as he did around her.

    A billboard in Times Square announcing Sam Cooke’s at the club. Cooke would record the live album Sam Cooke at the Copa during his 1964 engagement.

    Me and two friends pose with Martha Raye. Besides being a very talented comedian, Martha was always very nice to me and loved being around children.
    Arranger and conductor Pete Moore recalled that during one of Tom Jones’s successful engagements at the Copa, the singer had a request. After the first few days, Jones asked Podell if it would be possible to get some fresh lemons in between his shows. Jones told Podell that he liked to drink hot water with lemon to ease the strain on his throat. Podell said that he would be happy to have the lemons delivered each night to Jones’s dressing room. Jones was grateful that Podell was happy to honor his request; however, he was taken aback when on his closing night, Podell had deducted the cost of the lemons from his performing fee.
    Celebrity impressionist and comedian Rich Little played the Copa with acts such as Billy Daniels in the 1960s. During his debut appearance, Little’s routine included a parody of the Sinatra (Frank and Nancy) hit song “Something Stupid.” Little would sing the parody in the voice of President Lyndon Johnson, and one of the lines in the song mentioned Vietnam. One critic wrote a scathing review, saying how dare Little, a Canadian, mention the Vietnam conflict in his routine. This caused a firestorm of press and protests, which left Podell in quite a conundrum. On the one hand, the brouhaha over Little’s routine was filling the club, as curious audiences wanted to hear the routine themselves. On the other, Podell did not like the negative press