FINOCCHIO’S (ca. 1955) Nightclub promotional flyer

“World’s Most Famous and Talented Female Impersonators” San Francisco: Finocchios [ca. 1955]. Vintage original flyer on stiff paper, 7 x 4″ (18 x 10 cm.), opens up to 7 x 8″ (18 x 20 cm.) near fine.

Finocchio’s was a San Francisco night club which featured a roster of drag performers. It may well have been the longest-lived club of this kind in the US, since it lasted from 1936 to 1999.

This piece has some charming contemporary inscriptions in ink:

• on inside, “Beautiful Costumes” and (with an arrow pointing down to a photo of a performer)
• “This one imitates Sophie Tucker & is really good”; on back cover,
• “We didn’t have any of these just the show part” (referring to list of liquors)
• and “A boy from Little Rock works there” (suggesting that this flyer may have been taken home by tourists from Arkansas).