The double 'f'' is the Italian spelling, probably because the founder of the club was a first generation Sicilian-American.
Joseph Cino was born in Buffalo, NY on 11/16/31 and died in a NYC hospital on 4/2/67. He came to NYC at the age of 16 to become a dancer. His career was shortened because of his continuous battle with his weight and he retired in 1958. The coffee house at 31 Cornelia Street was to be a place for his friends to socialize. Perhaps some poetry and folk music but it became a place for playwrights and plays.
Some of the artists whose works were performed at Caffe Cino were Tennessee Williams, Jean Giraudoux, Doric Wilson, Sam Sheppard, Lanford Wilson, Tom O'Horgan, Marshall W. Mason, William Hoffman and Robert Patrick. For many of them it was their first public performance.
Caffe Cino also became a social center for gay men at a time when bath houses and bars were the only places available. That may have been the reason for frequent police raids and the payoffs that Joseph Cino often complained about.
His partner in life, Jon Torrey, an electrician, was electrocuted and died on 1/5/67. On 3/30/67 Joseph Cino, with a butcher knife, hacked both of his arms and his stomach. He died a few days later on 4/2/67, Jon Torrey's birthday.
Friends and colleagues tried to keep the Caffe going but citing cabaret laws a young, ambitious councilman named Ed Koch had it shut down.
In memory of Joe and Jon:
No comments:
Post a Comment