Blue Moon

Status: Closed

Parish: Avoyelles

Location: Bunkie

Sonny Harris on 2/24/2015:
“I’m ninety-four years old- so what I’m about to tell you isn’t what someone told me- I lived it.
My father, Vines Harris, owned the Blue Moon in Bunkie, Louisiana. He opened it in 1936 with just three employees: himself, my mother, and one waiter. When it closed around twenty years later, he had twenty-seven employees. My mother was a great musician- she would play the piano from 7-9 each night and then the band with orchestra would start at 9. It was a really nice place- probably the nicest in the state after the Blue Room at the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans. My father contracted the big bands that play there to come to Bunkie after the New Orleans dates at the Blue Room- bands like Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, and Count Basie. Those big name bands were the only time there was a cover charge. A dance band from USL called “The Collegians” played there two or three times a year. Bud Scott, a very popular black band leader from Natchez, Mississippi played there with his orchestra sometimes too.
To get in on the weekends, you had to be dressed nice. Men had to wear a tie and coat. Women had to wear long evening gowns. During the week it was a little more relaxed- people dressed down a little bit. We had many distinguished guests including General Eisenhower during World War II, Howard Hughes, and Paul Harvey.
It goes without saying that when you mix men, women, and whiskey that you will have an occasional fight. My father always had an off duty on site. If a situation started, he would take the party outside and try to calm them down. It was very well known that if you fought at the Blue Moon then you were never allowed back inside- ever.
It wasn’t just a dancehall, but a nice restaurant, a casino, and a dancehall with a huge dance floor. One time we had around 800 people there in one night. A steak dinner cost $1.75. A ticket to see the Count Basie Orchestra was $2.50. The casino had two dice tables, a roulette table, and blackjack. One time a very wealthy oil man named Sid Richardson won all the chips in the casino in one night. The maximum hand bet was $20 and he had cleaned us out. Luckily, my father got another bank roll quickly to keep going and win a good bit back.
Of course, gambling was illegal in the state of Louisiana then but the officials had no problem looking the other way. All that changed with (Governor Robert) ‘Bob’ Kennon. My father raised money for his campaign and supported his election. As soon as Kennon was elected in 1952, he cleaned up all of the gambling, including at the Blue Moon. The club couldn’t sustain itself as just a dancehall and restaurant and had to close. It burned down in 1961.”

Alton Dupuy: “It was nice. Named bands played there- orchestras. It was where the more affluent people from Marksville went to have a good time. You’d have to dress up to get in there- coat and tie and all that.”

Referred by Elizabeth McNabb- From Bill Hunt’s “The Last Witness From A Dirt Road”:
“A small rural town, Bunkie thrived in the 1930s and 1940s from the oil industry. During World War II, several large nightclubs sprang up, but none were comparable to the great “Blue Moon”, where you could hear Harry James and his trumpet, see Cab Calaway dance, or maybe see General Eisenhower when he visited. These nightclubs brought in thousands of soldiers from the training camps that dotted the Central Louisiana area. Being located on Highway 71, which linked North Louisiana to Baton Rouge and New Orleans, imprinted the name Bunkie in the hearts and minds of people all over the country, who remember it from when they were young and were being trained to be soldiers. The town has changed little since 1946, and lies thirty-five miles south of Alexandria, Louisiana.”