The nightclubs that advertised in the Sunday News were cavernous joints with a less restrictive door policy than the Stork Club or El Morroco where the elite partied.
Bill "Bojangles"Robinson and boogie-woogie pianist Maurice Rocco were headlining a revue with a cast of 90 and special added attraction, the Mills Brothers, at Café Zanzibar, Broadway at 49th. "2 Dollars buy this great show, plus an evening of dancing, plus a delicious full-course dinner from 6:00 to 9:30 PM" read the ad. Three shows nightly 8,12 and 3. Never a cover charge.
Moonstruck/Magical /Mischievous/Masterful Milton Berle , future TV superstar, was the main attraction of the “spectacular Mardi Gras Revue” staged by master showman John Murray Anderson at Nicky Blair’s Carnival at the Hotel Capitol, 8th and 51st. Shows were at 8 and 12, and Saturday at 8, 10 and 12.
Jane Froman "at the peak of her career!“ and Jan Murray,"Most Talked-About Young Comedian of the Day!“ were appearing nightly at 8, 12 and 2 in the Copa's spring revue For dinner at 8 the Copa advertised a luxurious full course table d'hote dinner for $2.75, which was also served at the Copa Bar where there was no cabaret tax and no minimum. Monte Proser's Copacabana was at 10 E. 60th. Froman, who had been seriously injured in a plane crash during a USO tour, had special rigging to allow her to move through the nightclub.
A number of entertainers who were appearing in nightclubs or stage shows at the movie palaces that week were billed to appear at the American Cancer Society show at Carnegie Hall on Friday, April 19. The annual Easter Cancer drive was underway. The ad billed Milton Berle, Eddie Bracken, Xavier Cugat and his Orchestra, vaudevillian Willie Howard, Dorothy Lamour, former child star (and future TV actress) Rose-Marie, kletzmer musician Al Olshanetsky and his orchestra, Phil Spitalny and his Hour of Charm Orchestra, comedian Harvey Stone, News columnist and showman Ed Sullivan and Maurice Rocco as among the stars set to appear. Tickets started at $1,
Ballroom dancing was popular and the nightclub pages carried several ads for places to learn how, including the Arthur Murray Studio at 11 E. 43rd Street and rumba-samba-tango lessons from Tony & Lucille. Ballrooms offered a cheaper alternatives to the nightclub scene. Among the advertisers were the Arcadia Ballroom at Broadway at 53rd , featured clarinetist George Barry and and his orchestra with vocalist Alan Gerard and continuous dancing nightly, and the Riverside Plaza, 73rd and Broadway, where Hal Martin and his orchestra held forth. Free gifts nylons were the come-on at the gala dance that night sponsored by the Joy Makers at the Hotel Capitol with the Dick Stiles Orchestra. Equally gala was the opening of the Westover Ballroom on Jerome at 170th street on Friday the 19th . Fifty cents got you in the door at a dance at Seventh and 54th for people under 29. Fifty cents also got you into the Mayfair Center.