My next stop was to the SF Performing Arts Library and Museum, which is actually a good deal smaller in scope than the name suggests. I got a chance to see some wonderful memorabilia about the amazing impresario Enrico Banducci and his nightclub which flourished from the 1950's to the late sixties and left a great legacy of providing a venue to performers, some of whom like Mort Sahl and Phyllis Diller, got their start at his club.
Bob Newhart, Johnathan Winters, Woody Allen, Professor Irwin Corey, Bill Cosby, Kaye Ballard, Mike Nichols and Elaine May and the marvelous local-grown satirist/pianist Tom Lehrer also played there. Many of these funny people had their successful "live" LPs recorded there.
Musicians were not left out either at the "I". A lot of folk groups played there, some of the most prominent being "The Limeliters", "The Kingston Trio", "Peter, Paul, and Mary" and two brothers named Smothers.
As an aside, celebrated poet and memoirist Maya Angelou also played the Hungry I in the 1950's as a "ersatz Cuban mambo singer". From the album cover that was on display, showing a young Ms. Angelou dancing around in a tight red dress against a mock-tropical backdrop, I'd say she has definitely changed personas over the years!
Woody Allen once played there on the same evening in 1963 as a young singer named Barbra Streisand-- who made her West Coast debut at the club. One thing for sure, Mr. Banducci knew talent. I hope this exhibit will "travel" so other stand-up comedy fans can enjoy this.
My only gripe about the exhibit was that there wasn't enough audio material available to listen to the performers. There were, however, some television interviews available in the lobby with former headliners talking about their experiences at the club.
Here some background on the show: www.sfpalm.org
And here is a review by SF Chronicle writer Gerald Nachman, who has written "Seriously Funny", a book about the post-WWII American comedy scene.
http://www.sfstandup.com/blog/2007/03/27/gerald-nachman-interview/
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