Mary Louise Cecilia "Texas" Guinan (January 12, 1884 - November 5, 1933)
was a saloon keeper, actress, and entrepreneur.
Guinan was born in Waco, Texas and studied music in Chicago before returning to her hometown with hopes of becoming
a professional singer. She toured regional Vaudeville with some success, but became known less for her singing than her entertaining "wild west"-related patter.
In 1906 she moved to New York
City, where she found work as a chorus girl before making a career for herself in national Vaudeville and in New York theater
productions.
In 1917 "Texas" Guinan made her film début in the
silent movie The Wildcat. She became the United
States' first movie cowgirl, nicknamed "The
Queen of the West." In addition to her film career, she also had a sojourn in France,
entertaining the troops during World War I.
Upon the introduction of Prohibition, she opened a speakeasy in New York City called the "300 Club", at 151 W. 54th Street. The club became
famous for its troupe of 40 scantily clad fan dancers, and also for Ms. Guinan's own personality. Her aplomb made her a
celebrity; arrested several times for serving alcohol and providing entertainment,
she would always claim that the patrons had brought the liquor in with them, and that the club was so small that the girls had to
dance so close to the customers. She steadfastly claimed that she had never sold an alcoholic drink in her life. At this favorite
hangout of the city’s wealthy elite, George Gershwin often
played impromptu piano for wealthy guests such as Reggie Vanderbilt, Harry Payne Whitney, or Walter
Chrysler, and celebrities Peggy Hopkins Joyce, Pola Negri, Jeanne Eagels, John
Gilbert, and Rudolph Valentino, as well as socialites like
Gloria Morgan and her sister Thelma, Vicountess Furness. Texas Guinan capitalized on her notoriety, earning
$700,000 in ten months in 1926 while her clubs were routinely being raided.
Ms. Guinan is credited with coining a number of phrases. "Butter and egg men" referred to her well-off patrons, and she often
demanded that the audience "give the little ladies a great big hand". She traditionally greeted her patrons with "Hello,
suckers!".
Guinan returned to the screen with two sound pictures, playing
slightly fictionalized versions of herself as a speakeasy proprietress in "Queen of the Night Clubs" in 1929 and "Broadway Through a Keyhole" in 1933.
During the Great Depression, Ms. Guinan took her show on the
road. She made a sally towards Europe, but her reputation preceded her, and she was
denied entry at every European sea port at which she tried to disembark. She turned
this to her advantage by launching a satirical revue entitled Too Hot For Paris.
While on the road, she contracted amoebic dysentery in
Vancouver, British Columbia and died there
on November 5, 1933 apparently at age 49,
exactly one month before Prohibition was repealed. She is interred in the Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York.
She was portrayed in a number of movies, including Splendor in the Grass (1961). The number "All That Jazz" in the musical Chicago is thought to pay homage to her.
The bartender Guinan on Star Trek: The Next Generation was named for Texas Guinan.
Also, in the 1939 film The Roaring Twenties directed by Raoul Walsh
and Anatole Litvak, the character played by Gladys George is clearly
based on Texas Guinan. In the film, she goes by the name of 'Panama Smith.' The James Cagney character is rather loosely based on Texas Guinan's partner, Larry Fay.
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