Hudson Theatre

A marker was recently erected at the site of the old Hudson to commemorate the theater and its history.

When we were teenagers, (Early 1950’s) we somehow were able to get into the Hudson Burlesque. It was a pure fantasy for us guys..we somehow made it up into those incredible balcony seats that made it seem like you were going to fall right out and off the top! We always had fun .. at 16 and 17 it was amazing to see the gals come out onstage with not so much on .. I loved the ‘comic’ babes that were always part of the chorus line .. there’d be about 8-10 girls that just did the normal routine of shaking it and dancing .. but the comic would do some outrageous stuff .. like purposely going the wrong way or she’d have some twirler tassels on the ends of her ‘pasties’ covering her nipples and she’d have a good set and would TWIRL those tassels just by waving her boobs in different directions .. causing a helluva a roar from the audience! Most times they’d have a featured comedian, like a Pinky Lee character to go along with the house clowns male & females. They would always have a routine of a guy hawking candy after pretending to put a watch or a $5 into one of the boxes and then they’d have ‘runners’ that would go up and down the aisles trying to sell the candy .. I think it was turkish taffy. I always got it and of course never got the watch! There would be a singer, he would perform in what might have been the last of vaudeville comedy skits/always with ‘double entendres’ about the gals anatomy or sex. But good clean fun. Then the guy would come out with a big fanfare first/taadahhhh introduction and with a spotlight shining only on him, do his big song for the night .. then the piece de resistance .. the showstopper babe for the night .. sometimes it was some gal(nice body) that nobody ever heard of .. but one night, I STILL remember at 73, TEMPEST STORM came out and everybody went nuts ..she KNEW WHO SHE WAS and let us all know it IMMEDIATELY .. she moved with such sexy grace and always kept her eyes glued on the audience and somehow she seemed to KNOW just when or how to make a MOVE that would drive eveyone bananas! GORGEOUS body and her breasts were probably the best shaped I’d ever seen. There was another time when Lili St. Cyr came out as well, she was another fabulous woman .. and she had another way of showing herself off .. it was mostly about her clothes ..and the way she removed each piece .. it was such a Slooooooooow tease ..and at the very last second, she’d take off the top and slip right behind the curtain at the edge of the stage. so you might have thought you saw IT .. but she never let it out! All in all the Hudson was a guys night out just to have good clean entertainment. No SEX acts performed ever! IT was not expected .. only to hopefully get to see a part of an anatomy that was TABOO .. and you’d only get a half a peek every once in awhile if you attended regularly. MOSTLY CANDY is all! and good music, I recall seeing someone who sure resembled Robert Alda singing there once; he got a terrific ovation, so I paid attention (who was this guy?)and later thought it had been Alan Alda’s dad all those years before. I went back as a 19 or 20 year old and the place was sadly closed down. FOND MEMORIES and FUN MEMORIES AS WELL. We tried to get into Minsky’s in NYC, but they just said “get outta here kids, ya boddering me!” and we did! There was another burlesque house in NJ, but for some reason, I can not recall it’s name .. sorry. It might be in some archives somewhere. The Hudson is very missed and the new generations have no idea how much good clean fun they missedwithout it.

My mother owned a small apartment building on 38th Street in the next block. My gang and I used to hang outside the stage door on hot summer nights. The door was kept open because there was no air conditioning. The man who sat outside guarding the door used to try and chase us away, but then he got used to us. “Youse kids!” Sometimes he’d get a chocolate bar from the concession stand and give it to us. We could hear the audience laughing at the comedians,but we waited for the boom-chicka,boom-chicka which told us when the strippers were performing. I remember the busloads of servicemen from New York being dropped at the corner, especially the sailors in their white middies and caps. The display cases outside held posters describing the ‘sweet Georgia peach(es)'that were going to perform. The boys in our gang would prance around the sidewalk outside the stage door saying, “Hubba,hubba, ding, ding. Baby, you got everything. My mother had furnished apartments—this was right after the War when there was a housing shortage—and one of her tenants was a beautiful southern girl who sang at the Cardinal Club across the street from the Hudson. Her name was Dorothy—don’t know last name. Also, across the street from the Theater was the local newspaper, The Hudson Dispatch, where my mother placed her apartment ads. The Hudson was a big part of my childhood and I remember it fondly.

1956 program:

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Hardly remember Sam Cohen, vaquely his brother. He probably gave us our pay each week. I do remember Jack Montgomery, always a gentleman. He hired me when I was still a teenager and typical of the era, quite innocent. I think I was just starstruck, as I lived in the movies as a kid.
I will look into the book. The showgirls wore what I would refer to as Bikinis with frills…and big hats. There was an abudance of material that went from the wasteline area out to the wrists. You walked with arms outstretched, shoulders down and placed your feet one in front of the other. This gave the gals a graceful, floating
motion across the stage.
Yes, I remember the Show Spot. At one time, so I was told, they had a ramp where the entertainers would prance out into the bar from the theater area.
You are stimulating my recall…thank you. Joankelsy

Worked at the Hudson Theater as a showgirl in 1949. Am writing memoirs and appreciate all data I can find re the burlesque era at the theater. Do not remember movies being shown when I worked there.
Have a 1949 program and a signed photo from Lou Ascol. He and his wife stayed at the rooming house I lived in at the time. Will try to send scanned j pegs.
Thanks for all the input. Joankelsy

To: Douglas Cohen: Do you happen to know if your Uncle Sam Cohen was the same Sam Cohen who booked amateur nights throughout Boston in the 20s and gave Fred Allen the comedian his first big break (there’s a chapter about him in Fred’s autobiography). That Sam Cohen was my grandfather’s brother, so perhaps we are related. If anyone knows anything about this, please feel free to contact me at I’m doing some family research.

To: Douglas Cohen: Who was the Burlesque Queen who Sam Cohen married? I’m partly an Abbott & Costello buff. Mainly The Three Stooges; I search for supporting players who worked with the Stooges. Thanks. Frank Reighter

Sam Cohen (aka Sam Cohen the Horse Thief) was the Manager of the Hudson Theater and my Great Uncle. I grew up with a number of stories about Uncle Sam. My father described him as a “Damon Runyan Character”. My Great Grandfather Meyer would work the box office. My Grandfather brought my father to see the fights one evening. Meyer asked, “Where do you think your going? You have to buy a ticket” My Grandfather said, “Dad its me, your son, Sam’s brother!” Meyer said in his broken english, “Sam says nobody gets in for free!” When Sam walked into the Hudson Theater, his cronies would start to chant, “Sam, Sam the Horse Thief”. Of couse my Great Grandfather would scream back, “Sam Never Stole a Horse Once.” Sam married one of the Burlesque Queens who’s claim to fame other than the stage was a bit role in Abbott & Costello’s “Pardon My Sarong”. I met this aging blond bombshell in California in 1967 a number of years after Sam had passed away. According to my father, it was Sam who suggested the “Cinderella Man fighter to go up against Max Baer.

This theater closed in February 1957

THE CLOSING OF BURLESQUE — 1957 (From the Newark Evening News: February 6, 1957)

“The Hudson Theater in Union City, where anti-burlesque amendments similar to Newark’s were passed, will shut down Saturday.”

source: Newark, A Chronological & Documentary History, by Arnold S. Rice, 1977, pages 111-112.

The Hudson in Union City was a well-known Burley theatre; I have heard it said that when Mayor LaGuardia shut down all the burlesque theatres in NY circa early-1940s, the NY Burley fans started going over to Union City! I am fairly certain that the Hudson was still operating with Burlesque shows well into the 1950s, and that many of the performers also played the Old Howard and the Casino theaters up in Boston.

I grew up in U.C. and always tried to sneak a peak in the stage door. I guess it was Mr. Cohen who chased us. Sadly, the theatre is long gone and now a parking lot.