What was funny about Slapsie Maxie’s

At 90 years of age, I realize that realistically I don’t have too

much time to worry about the future, so I spend a lot of my time

remembering the past.

One of my better recollections is of the great times my wife,

Katie, and I used to have at Slapsie Maxie Rosenberg’s nightclub.

Slapsie Maxie was a boxer, the retired, undefeated light

heavyweight champion of the world. He received his name because he

had no punch, so he relied on his boxing ability, which was

considerable. It was so good that, as he kept saying, “Dey neva laid

a glove on me.�

Of course, for that to be true, he had to be born with scar tissue

in place of eyebrows and a hoarse voice that came from too many

children accurately throwing apples at him and invariably hitting him

in the voice box.

Anyway, Slapsie Maxie had a night club in Hollywood, which was the

home away from home for Katie and me. I wooed her there, tried

unsuccessfully to seduce her there and, finally in frustration,

married her, a marriage that understandably with that kind of a

background lasted for more than 60 years and ended only because Katie

died.

But back to the show. Slapsie had a stand-up comedian, Tully

Richards, who was so funny that I have never figured out why he

didn’t go big time. Speaking of big time, the first time I saw Jackie

Gleason was at Slapsie Maxie’s. His routine, believe it or not, was

to come on stage dodging around imaginary cow plops. I mean, it was a

class act.

Ben Blue was a regular, and he had enough of a following that he

eventually opened his own club, although I must admit with a certain

intellectual honesty that he didn’t really add a lot to the show at

Slapsie Maxie’s. Then there was a husband and wife team who, for the

life of me, I can’t remember by name. He played piano, and she sang,

but not too well. So, it wasn’t Broadway, but it was all we had, and

as I said, Tully Richards was worth the price of admission.

Actually, they probably would have paid Katie to come. Katie loved

to laugh. She must have gotten it from her mother. Her father, Bunny

Harris, was a wonderful man, but I don’t remember him laughing very

much. Edna Harris, though, she always led the laughing circle during

the Depression. I’d never heard of such a thing, but Katie described

how during those dire times when life was miserable for so many, a

group of people would get together, and they would all sit in a

circle. Her mother would start laughing. No jokes or funny stories.

She’d just start laughing, and one by one the others would get caught

up in it, and soon the whole circle was laughing out of control -- a

bright spot in a dismal time.

That was sort of the way it was at Slapsie Maxie’s. Katie would

laugh so hard that everyone around us got hysterical, too. So maybe

Tully Richards wasn’t really that funny. Maybe it was just Katie and

her infectious laugh. I’ll have to think about that.

* ROBERT GARDNER is a Corona del Mar resident and a former judge.

His column runs Tuesdays.