The Good Old Days

The piece on Lennie Weinrib by Kevin Thomas (Nov. 24) was first-rate and warmly nostalgic. Before the Billy Barnes Revue was a long-running hit at the Las Palmas Theatre in Hollywood and a not-successful show off-Broadway (the square New Yorkers couldn’t relate to the hip), Barnes, lyricist Bob Rodgers and the original cast performed in what was an upholstered basement on Sunset Boulevard east of Vermont known as Cabaret Concertheater. I recall with much pleasure sitting there for hours with a bottle of wine, cheese and crackers and being entertained by the likes of Joyce Jameson, Ken Barry, Bob Dishy and many others who went on to individual stardom. It was the late ‘50s, Ike was the president and all was well.

SID LEON, West Hollywood