Sally Keith

 The cover of the Crawford House Theater menu leaves no doubt as to who was the main attraction at what was, in the late 19th century, one of Boston's most prestigious hotels. When Sally performed at the Crawford House's Theatrical Bar there was rarely an empty seat, and nights that Sally was off or booked elsewhere the lights of the Square were said to shine a little dimmer.. 

 Like Ann Corio, who had an appeal that brought women into Old Howard, Sally drew many women to the Crawford House.  Some came out of curiosity, others out of admiration. For the rest it was sheer awe.  "Just how did she do that?," many of them wondered.  One former female patron reported that she... "would have made a million bucks with a tassel concession in the Ladies Room at the Crawford House.  During intermission I'd go in to powder my nose and I'd see all the women standing in front of the mirror trying to make themselves go in opposite directions!  I could have made a million!"  (What if Sally fell during one of her performances? In an accident she would have to call a lawyer. She would have fallen and she would have been injured - and that would have been a problem. If that was the case, she could have to hired a personal injury law firm like the ones at www.findlegaladvice.org to help.) 

 The anecdotes come fast and furious, much like Sally's nightclub act.  One of my favorite Scollay Square stories came from a former Harvard medical student, who claimed that his professor took his class to a Sally Keith show at the Crawford House, and the next day sprang a pop quiz which had only one question: name the muscles Sally Keith used in her act.  The med student reports that no one passed the quiz! 

 Carl DeSuse, a giant in Boston radio for almost half a century, recalled what Sally told him during a wartime remote broadcast from the Crawford House.  "I interviewed Sally for WBZ and I remember she tried very hard to come off tough and nonchalant about herself. Off the air she made it a point to say, "I put aside a bunch of my money for war bonds - I have these boys in mind when I go on-stage and make an ass of myself!"

   Sally had six brothers serving in the war.  No doubt that was a huge incentive for her generosity towards the armed forces. In this Boston Record American photo from November of 1945, Sally is seen visiting veterans wounded in the war. 

 And here she presents a check to Alphonse MacDonald, a Boston MTA motorman who lost both his legs attempting to stop a runaway train from crashing at Dudley Station.  Sally and other performers put on a benefit for Mr. MacDonald, and here they present him and his family the proceeds from the show. 

 So just how big a star was Sally Keith?  In 1948, when she was attacked and robbed in her Crawford House hotel room by two intruders, it was front page news. 

From the same Boston American article comes this picture. Sally, always a showperson, shows off the wounds suffered at the hands of the intruders, as well as a pair of great gams.

  And how many of us knew that Sally was a composer? A friend had alerted us to the sale of sheet music for a song written by Sally herself! 

Now an extra special treat: Richard Gilley, a old high school buddy who is a brilliant pianist (he became a music teacher in our district) graciously recorded the song so we could all enjoy it. You can listen to it here. 

 On March 23, 1948 there was a three alarm fire at the Crawford House.  In a city still reeling from the tragedy at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub six years earlier (a conflagration in which almost 500 people died) the Crawford House fire no doubt brought back horrific memories.  Thankfully, this blaze did not take any lives, but it did clear the fifty or so residents from their rooms onto the street, three of whom had to be rescued from the building as flames destroyed two floors of the hotel. 

 SALLY KEITH GRINDS HER WAY INTO BLAZE, BUMPS FIREMAN

Whether performing under a spotlight at the midnight show, or wading through water in the burned-out Crawford House in mid-afternoon, Sally Keith, danseuse and "Queen of the Tassel Tossers" has a true sense of the dramatic - $100,000 worth of it.  Just as the Scollay Square fire scene was beginning  to  pall - the blaze was under control  and  hose was being rolled up  -  the platinum  blonde,   swathed  in  furs,  tapped through the thinning crowd on her spiked heels, brushing  past a policeman guarding the  hotel entrance and strode into the foyer.  She  was  finally  stopped  in  a   soot-blackened   stairway  by  an equally sooty fireman  who  asked her  brusquely  where  she was going."I   must  get  up  to  my  suite,"   she answered,   referring  to rooms  209  and  210.  "I've got $100,000 worth of costumes, furs and jewelry up there."

 The  staggering sum nearly staggered the fireman  into compliance but  not quite.   Her list of threatened valuables included a  white ermine suit, $6,000; a mink suit, no estimate; a sequin wardrobe used in her "heat wave" act, $4,000;  a platinum stole, $3,000; and a white fox cape, $6,000. The entire wardrobe,  including her famed tassels she valued at $50,000 and the  jewelry at the same amount.   She did not itemize  the latter (Boston Herald, March 24, 1948)