Tiki Restaurant Bar Review in New Yorker Mag 1940

I purchased a grouping of vintage New Yorker Magazines for resale and as I was looking through them, I saw the following restaurant review:

Broadway's newest spot, the Beachcomber, has little in common with the others. It's located above the Winter Garden, and I understand, is supposed to be for people who like to sit back and relax. The proprietors have made it dark and gloomy and have tossed in a few palm fronds and bamboo Venetian blinds for tropical atmosphere. Numerous Hawaiians or Filipinos or some such stand ready to ply the hardy with strangely named and reputedly potent drinks-Missionary's Downfalls, Vicious Virgins, and Zombies are three I jotted down. The nicest aspect of the place, to my mind, is the excellent music of Matty Malneck, after many years in Hollywood, has finally brought his band East, and, because of the distinctiveness of his instrumentation and arrangements, he is a welcome visitor. By the way, there are innumerable Oriental dishes at the Beachcomber, but unless things have changed since I was there, you can't get a cup of coffee- not even a demitasse to offset the Zombie.

Sounds like Tiki restaurants and bars have always been looked down upon by the upper crust!

For those interested, the New Yorker magazine the review is in is the January 13, 1940 issue with a great hockey cover.

[ Edited by: Matterhorn1959 2006-05-01 21:01 ]

Interesting. This sounds like a pre-Tiki establishment, very much like an un-authorized rip-off from the Don The Beachcomber in Hollywood. Wonder if the proprietor hailed from there (like the band), or he just saw it on a visit (like Trader Vic).
Also wondering if it had any connection with the early Miami Beachcomber.

Interesting also that the review mentions the music. As I understand, we don't really know what kind of music was played in tiki bars 50 years ago. Am I correct? Of course, this one was in 1940, way before Exotica. Wonder what Matty Malneck's band sounded like in 1940 to go with that "dark and gloomy" atmosphere.

Interesting... Matty Malneck did a film (as orchestra leader) in 1939 called "Hawaiian Nights." It's about the son of a hotel owner goes to Hawaii to become a bandleader, against the objections of his father. I've never seen it, though.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031408/

It has Sol Ho'opi'i in it, as the Hawaiian band leader, too.