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Pee Wee Marquette


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She was a nasty person, and Lon is right, she deliberately mispronounced musicians' names unless they gave her money. After Birdland closed, I used to see her in front of a tourist trap restaurant, Hawaii Kai, hawking to lure out-of-towners in.

Edited by Christiern
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from: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/articles/ftis0802.htm

Lullaby of Birdland

By Rob Mariani

You descended another flight of stairs and the light became a kind of midnight blue. A hand lettered sign overhead read: "Welcome to The Jazz Corner of the World. Through these doors pass the most." There were shadows moving around inside, and a silvery white glow coming off the tablecloths. You were greeted ­ if that's the word for it by the strident and irascible Mr. Pee Wee Marquette, the tuxedoed midget who also worked as the MC. (I can't tell you the number of times I was summarily turned away by Mr. Marquette because I could not produce proof that I was 18 years old. And even after I had my draft card, he still insisted I show it to him every time I came.)

curiouser and curiouser!!! :ph34r:

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I recall that we had a thread a while back on a now defunct jazz BBS with the subject "whatever happened to Pee Wee Marquette?" There were some knowledgeable participants, and nobody could recall an obituary or any such information.

Is Pee Wee still alive?

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Marquette was generally believed--by me and others--to be a male, but I have heard many people who worked with him/her say that this was a woman posing as a man. Not having seen Marquette sans clothes (tux or ridiculous Hawaii Kai costume), I cannot say for sure, but while it may be nothing more than a rumor, it surely is within the realm of possibilities.

Hmmmmm

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Marquette was generally believed--by me and others--to be a male, but I have heard many people who worked with him/her say that this was a woman posing as a man. Not having seen Marquette sans clothes (tux or ridiculous Hawaii Kai costume), I cannot say for sure, but while it may be nothing more than a rumor, it surely is within the realm of possibilities.

Hmmmmm

Reading this post of yours makes me wonder about the "He?" in your second post in this thread. It's illogical.

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from: http://home.achilles.net/~howardm/tsmonk/hentoff.php

Memories of Thelonious Monk

from "Listen to the Stories"

by Nat Hentoff

When Monk's music was played, there was never any doubt as to its source. Pee Wee Marquette, the small, round, vinegary man who used to act as the town crier at Birdland, would introduce Thelonious as "the onliest Monk."

B)

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 5 months later...

I watched Clint Eastwood's 'Bird' a couple of weeks ago. If I remember correctly, and I might no be doing so, Pee Wee (an actor portraying Pee Wee) makes an appearance when Charlie Parker plays at Birdland. Again, maybe I'm thinking of a different movie, I can't remember.

Anyhow, when I saw Pee Wee, wherever it was that I saw Pee Wee, I was reminded of this thread and Christiern's words of Pee Wee possibly being a 'she.'

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