Mickie Finn's (also known as Mickey Finn's) was a nightclub in San Diego, California, established in 1960 by piano player Fred E. Finn (Fred Soetje) and his wife Barbara, who used the stage name "Mickie Finn". Finn later extended the brand to a second club in Beverly Hills, a television show on NBC in 1966, a series of compilation record albums issued from 1966 on, and a stage show continuing into the 21st century.
Fred and Barbara Soetje opened Mickie Finn's on October 28, 1960. They converted an old warehouse on University Avenue in the Hillcrest neighborhood of San Diego, into a "Gay '90s / Roaring '20s / Swinging '30s" nightclub. Finn was a piano player from San Francisco and had recently received a business administration degree from San Jose State College. [1] He considered Washington and Hawaii for his planned nightclub, but chose San Diego because of logistics—he could not afford to transport his collection of old nickelodeons, 1890s pictures, and various turn-of-the-century items, with which he planned to decorate the new club, to the more distant locations. [2]
Mickie Finn's had seating for 600 people, but often had larger crowds. It grossed over $250,000 in its first year. Over the next 14 years, four million customers consumed 250,000 gallons of beer. Banjo player Red Watson, Finn's musical partner in San Francisco, played at the club until 1965, when he moved on to play in Las Vegas. [1] Finn's wife then played banjo at the club until the couple divorced in 1973. [2]
Finn promoted the club with various publicity stunts. He raced a 1927 Seagraves fire engine at the El Cajon Speedway, and he fired an old cannon after every score by the San Diego Chargers football team at all home games. [2] In the early 1970s, the Finns opened a second Mickie Finn's nightclub in Beverly Hills on Restaurant Row, in the new Los Angeles Emporium. The San Diego location closed in 1974. [2] Finn's second wife, Cathy, took over the banjo duties from 1980 on. [2]
In 1965, Finn was approached by television producer Bill Yagemann about doing a television series featuring the band and named after the club. [3] Mickie Finn's was a summer replacement series for the failed NBC sitcom Mona McCluskey , which had starred Juliette Prowse and Denny Miller on Thursday nights. The show's Nielsen ratings were better than its sitcom predecessor's, but were not competitive with ABC's hit Peyton Place in the time slot, [3] and NBC did not renew the show for the 1966–67 fall season.
Dunhill Records, run by Lou Adler, signed Fred E. and Mickie Finn in 1966 during the run of their television show. Through the late '70s, Dunhill issued their singles (sometimes in simultaneous batches of four or five), and several albums (Mickie Finn's Live, Mickie Finn's: America's #1 Speakeasy, The Now Sound of Mickie Finn's, and Saturday Night at Mickie Finn's). Neither the albums nor the singles ever "climbed the charts", but are sought today as collectors' items.
After the television show ended, the Mickie Finn stage show began headlining at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in October, 1966, and continued to play other Las Vegas clubs until 1988. [2] Fred Finn, with second wife Cathy on banjo, brought the show back to San Diego twice: first in 1988, for four performances at the Fiesta Dinner Theatre; and again in June 1990 for one month at the Hahn Cosmopolitan Theatre, produced in association with Scott Pedersen. [2] From 1990 on, Finn continued his stageshow presence throughout the US from a base in Florida, changing the show's name from Mickie Finn's' to Mickey Finn's. [4]
Dean Martin was an American singer, actor and comedian. One of the most popular entertainers of the mid-20th century, he was nicknamed "The King of Cool". Martin gained his career breakthrough together with comedian Jerry Lewis, billed as Martin and Lewis, in 1946. They performed in nightclubs and later had numerous appearances on radio and television and in films.
John Elroy Sanford, better known by his stage name Redd Foxx, was an American stand-up comedian and actor. Foxx gained success with his raunchy nightclub act before and during the civil rights movement. Known as the "King of the Party Records", he performed on more than 50 records in his lifetime. He portrayed Fred G. Sanford on the television show Sanford and Son and starred in The Redd Foxx Show and The Royal Family, where he played the husband of Della Reese and grandfather of Larenz Tate.
The Comedy Store is an American comedy club opened in April 1972. It is located in West Hollywood, California, at 8433 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip. An associated club is located in La Jolla, San Diego, California.
Charlotte Rae Lubotsky was an American character actress and singer whose career spanned sixty-six years.
Richard Caruthers Little is a Canadian-American comedian, impressionist and voice actor. Sometimes known as the "Man of a Thousand Voices", Little has recorded nine comedy albums and made numerous television appearances, including three HBO specials.
Irene Ryan was an American actress and comedian who found success in vaudeville, radio, film, television, and Broadway. She is most widely known for her portrayal of Daisy May "Granny" Moses, mother-in-law of Buddy Ebsen's character Jed Clampett on the long-running TV series The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–1971). She was nominated for Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 1963 and 1964 for the role.
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Mickey Jones was an American musician and actor. He played drums with acts such as Trini Lopez and Bob Dylan, with whom he played on his 1966 world tour. He became a founding member of The First Edition with singer Kenny Rogers, and played on all of their albums. Overall, Jones played on 17 gold records from his musical career of over two decades.
Mickey Finn, Micky Finn, or Mickie Finn may refer to:
Elizabeth Fearn "Finn" Carter is an American actress. She is best known for her role in the 1990 film Tremors.
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Don Grady was an American actor and musician. He was best known as one of the Mouseketeers on the Mickey Mouse Club, and as Robbie Douglas on the long-running ABC / CBS television series My Three Sons. During his short-lived career in music he was a solo singer and the drummer for the pop band The Yellow Balloon.
Joseph Forman was an American comedian and comic actor.
Julie Gregg was an American television, film and stage actress.
Cathleen Scott is a Los Angeles Times and New York Times bestselling American true crime author and investigative journalist who penned the biographies and true crime books The Killing of Tupac Shakur and The Murder of Biggie Smalls, both bestsellers in the United States and United Kingdom, and was the first to report Shakur's death. She grew up in La Mesa, California, and later moved to Mission Beach, California, where she was a single parent to a son, Raymond Somers Jr. Her hip-hop books are based on the drive-by shootings that killed the rappers six months apart in the midst of what has been called the West Coast-East Coast war. Each book is dedicated to the rappers' mothers.
Mickey Manners was an American actor, singer, dancer, and stand-up comedian.
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Maura Anne Soden is an American actress and producer.
Mickie Finn's was a summer replacement variety series for the failed NBC sitcom Mona McCluskey, which had starred Juliet Prowse and Denny Miller on Thursday nights. The variety program was based on the San Diego nightclub of the same name.
The Four King Cousins are an American female harmonizing pop singing group.
32°44′53.1″N117°9′14.6″W / 32.748083°N 117.154056°W
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