“Somebody Nobody Loves”; Benny Goodman and his Orch.; Peggy Lee; S. Miller; Okeh (6562); Publication date: November 13, 1941


Lepke and His Pals Feared Reles’s Testimony…

And here’s the grinning Lepke himself – Louis Buchalter, born 44 years ago in the city’s slums. He’s under a federal narcotic sentence that would keep him in jail 14 years… Lepke is blamed for 14 murders or more; Reles was to have testified against him. The particular murder for which Lepke is on trial is that of Joseph Rosen, candy-store owner. Rosen had been a trucking boss in the garment center. O’Dwyer says Lepke ordered the job much as you would order the cook to kill a chicken for dinner.

… Until Death Mysteriously Removed One

And this is where it ended, outside the Half Moon Hotel in Coney Island, where Reles has been awaiting his chance to testify against Lepke. We don’t really know what happened. Some reports say Reles was trying to escape – with only a couple of sheets to let him down down the sixth floor widow (circle) to a roof overlooking the ocean. Reporters were told that a window on the floor below was partly open, and that the sill and his shoes bore marks indicating he tried to get in. Some authorities said he had been ill, that he might have committed suicide.



PM, November 13, 1941 (Unidentified photographers)


“How Long Has This Been Going On!;” Benny Goodman and his Orch.; Peggy Lee; I. Gershwin; G. Gershwin; Okeh (6544); November 13, 1941







The New York Times, November 13, 1941 (Unidentified photographer)


“Somebody Else is Taking My Place”; Benny Goodman and his Orchestra; Peggy Lee; D. Howard; Ellsworth; Morgan; Columbia (38198); November 13, 1941


Binghamton, November 13, 1941 (Unidentified photographer)


The New York Times, November 13, 1941 (Unidentified photographer)


“Why Don’t You Do Right”; Benny Goodman and his Orchestra; Peggy Lee; McCoy; Columbia (38198); November 13, 1941

(“…We don’t really know what happened…” PM, November 13, 1941.)


“Coffee and Cakes”; Sam Donahue and his Orchestra; Robert Sour; Una Mae Carlisle; Frances Claire; Bluebird (B-11377-A), Publication date: November 12, 1941


PM, November 12, 1941

Abe Reles Leaps to His Death

Abe (Kid Twist) Reles, ex-leader of Brooklyn’s Murder, Inc. who turned informer, killed himself today by jumping from a window at Coney Island’s Half Moon Hotel…


“ST. JAMES INFIRMARY BLUES-Part 1”; Artie Shaw and his Orchestra; “Hop Lips” Page; Joe Primrose; RCA Victor (27895 A); November 12, 1941




Brooklyn Eagle, November 12, 1941

RELES DIES IN HOTEL PLUNGE AS ESCAPE ATTEMPT FAILS

Wire Breaks as He Slides to Freedom — Fear Held Cause


“ST. JAMES INFIRMARY BLUES-Part 2”; Artie Shaw and his Orchestra; “Hop Lips” Page; Joe Primrose; RCA Victor (27895-B); November 12, 1941



Long Isand Daily Press, November 12, 1941

Abe Reles Dies in Plunge From Window of Hotel

His ‘Singing’ Helped Smash ‘Murder, Inc.’

Abe (Kid Twist) Reles 37-year old Brooklyn killer turned “informer,” whose testimony already sent two men to their deaths in the electric chair, was killed today when he fell six floors in trying to escape from “protective custody” in the Half Moon Hotel at Coney Island…


“To a Broadway Rose”; Artie Shaw and his Orchestra; Ray Conniff; Victor (27838-A); November 12, 1941





New York Post
, November 12, 1941

RELES IS KILLED WHILE ESCAPING

By Malcolm Logan

Abe Reles, the swarthy little murderer who sent two of his fellow members of Murder, Inc. to the electric chair, was killed between 6:45 and 7:10 a.m. today as he was trying to escape from a room on the sixth floor of the Half Moon Hotel in Coney Island…


“Deuces Wild”; Artie Shaw and his Orchestra; Margie Gibson; Victor (27838-B); November 12, 1941

80 years ago today: “Reles just went out the window!”… (Spoiler alert: It was a little premature to conclude that Reles leapt, jumped, was attempting to escape, or “killed himself.”)… What is true is that early on November 12, 1941 Reles went out a window and died on the Half Moon Hotel in Coney Island shortly before having to testify against Lepke…


“Magic Carpet”; Eddie Durham And His Band; Eddie Durham; Decca (8529 B); November 11, 1940



PM, November 11, 1940, p. 8 (Robert Moses’s Super-Roads)


“Fare Thee Honey Fare Thee Well”; Eddie Durham And His Band; Lem Johnson; Alston; Decca (8529 A); November 11, 1940


PM, November 11, 1940, p. 8 (Frank Lloyd Wright at MoMA)

Bomb-Prof City.. Wright Has It


“You Didn’t Steal That Kiss”; Orrin Tucker and his Orchestra; Bonnie Baker; Owens; Columbia (35914); November 11, 1940


PM, November 11, 1940, p. 19, (photo by Gene Badger)

The Colors of a Nation at Peace on Another Armistice Day


“PINEY BROWN BLUES”; JOE TURNER And His Fly Cats; Oran “Hot Lips” Page; Pete Johnson; John Collins; Abe Bolar; A. G. Godley; Joe Turner; Decca (18121 B); November 11, 1940


PM, November 11, 1940, p. 2


“627 STOMP”; PETE JOHNSON’S BAND; Don Stovall; Don Byas; Eddie Barefield; Oran “Hot Lips” Page; Pete Johnson; John Collins; Abe Bolar; A. G. Godley; Dave Dexter; Decca (18121 A); November 11, 1940


“I’M READING YOUR LETTER AGAIN, DEAR”; BOB ATCHER and BONNIE BLUE EYES; Jenkins’ Okeh (06495); November 11, 1941




The New York Times, November 11, 1941

LEPKE ‘FINGER MAN’
HUNTS JOB IN VAIN

Paul Berger Accuses Unions
of Barring Him From Work
for ‘Telling the Truth’


“LET’S START LIFE ALL OVER”; BOB ATCHER and BONNIE BLUE EYES; L. White; Okeh (06495); November 11, 1941




PM, November 11, 1941

Skeletons Dance At Lepke Trial


“Walking the Floor Over You”; Bob Atcher; Ernest Tubb; Columbia (37432); November 11, 1941


Washington Experts Feel War With Japan Is Definitely Possible Before Christmas


“SWEETHEARTS OR STRANGERS”; BOB ATCHER and BONNIE BLUE EYES; J. Davis; Columbia (37432); November 11, 1941

23 Years Have Passed, It’s Armistice Day Again


“Modern Design;” Johnny Messner And His Orchestra; Johnny Messner; Sammy Kaye; Ron Perry; Stanley Broadhurst; Decca (4086 B); November 11, 1941


PM, November 11, 1941

745 Moved to New Prison And Not One Was Lost


“Gotta Find My Baby”; Doctor Clayton; Joe Clayton; Bluebird (B-8901-B); November 11, 1941


“FINGER BUSTER”; Jelly Roll Morton; Jazz Man (Number 12)


“Finger Tips”; Red Prysock; Mercury (70733); 1955


“Ring Around My Finger”; Tiny Topsy and The Charms; Roth; Bass; Federal (12309); 1957


“The Mark ‘Round My Finger”; Hawkshaw Hawkins; Alice Simms; Ira Rosloff; RCA Victor (20-5444); 1953


“YOU’VE GOT ME WRAPPED AROUND YOUR FINGER”; TEXAS JIM LEWIS And His Lone Star Cowboys; Ginger Snow; Lew Porter; Spade Cooley; Decca (46073 B); December 10, 1945


“THE FINGER OF SUSPICION POINTS AT YOU”; Bonnie Lou; Mann; Lewis; Parlophone (R 3989); 1955


“That Old Black Magic”; Dizzy Gillespie and his Orchestra; Johnny Hartman; Harold Arlen; Jimmy Mundy; RCA Victor (20-3481-A); July 1949


“It’s Magic”; Sarah Vaughn; Richard Maltby and his Orchestra; Styne; Cahn; Musicraft (557); August 1948


The New York Times, November 7, 1941


“THE MAGIC NAME”; ZINGONE; Zingone’s Recorded Card Tricks (NO. 2)


“FORTY SIX WEST FIFTY TWO”; Chu Berry & his ‘Little Jazz’ Ensemble; Chu Berry; ‘Little Jazz’; Clyde Hart; Danny Barker; Artie Shapiro; Big Sidney Catlett; Leon Berry; Commodore (516A): January 1, 1938


“FAT AND FORTY”; Al HIBBLER and Orchestra; Chess (1569); 1953


“FROM FORTY TO SIXTY-FIVE”; The Masters Family; Purdom; B. Cox; Columbia (20888); June 1951


“Big and Fat and Forty-Four”; “Doc” Wheeler and his Sunset Orch.; “Doc” Wheeler and his Harway Four; Jesse Stone; Bluebird (B-11389-A); November 6, 1941


“Forty Days & Forty Nights”; Muddy Waters And His Guitar; Roth; Chess (1620); 1956


“LIFE BEGINS AT FORTY”; Sophie Tucker; Ted Shapiro; Yellen; Shapiro; Decca (23033 A); 1947


The New York Times, November 4, 1941


“FORTY CUPS OF COFFEE”; Bill Halley and His Comets; D. Overbea; Brunswick (05658); 1957


“‘Tis Sweet To Be Remembered”; The Hilltoppers; Tom, Don and Ernie; Conqueror (8747); November 1, 1935



“ON TREASURE ISLAND”; Chick Bullock; Leslie; Burke; Perfect (6-01-01); November 1, 1935



“RED SAILS IN THE SUNSET”; Chick Bullock; Kennedy; Williams; Perfect (6-01-01); November 1, 1935


The New York Times, November 1, 1935


“THERE’S AN OLD FAMILY ALBUM IN THE PARLOR”; Jimmie and Eddie Dean; Melotone (7-02-57); November 1, 1935


“Nightmare Boogie”; Pearl Traylor; Modern Music (No. 112-A); Publication date: September 1945


“Monster Party”; Bill Doggett; Henry Glover; King (5176); Publication date: December 1958


The New York Times, October 31, 1941


“Nightmare Boogie”; Hadda Brooks and her Sextette; Hadda Brooks; Modern Music (No. 112-A); Publication date: September 1945


“Haunted House Blues”; Bessie Smith; J. C. Johnson; Columbia (14010-D); Publication date: 1924


“Haunted Town”; Lena Horne with Charlie Barnet and his Orchestra; Nigel Altman; Alec Fogarty; Bluebird (30-0823-B); Publication date: January 7, 1941


“The House is Haunted”; Ramona; the Park Avenue Boys; Billy Rose; Basil G. Adlam; Victor (24597-A); Publication date:March 27, 1934


The New York Times, October 31, 1935


“The Haunted House Boogie”; MGM (10877-A); Publication date: 1951