Jury's Out for O'Neill, Toots' Attorneys," New York Times, October 29, 1962. Gould, Jack. "Toots Shor's the One to Know About," Billboard, March 5, 1967. Green, Howard. "Shor's Tavern Takes No Excuses," Pittsburgh Courier, March 27, 1961. ———. "Toots Shor Stops for a Talk," Pittsburgh Courier, December 4, 1961. Harris, Earl. "Music Man Toots Shor Loses in a Close Contest," Pittsburgh Courier, November 12, 1961. ———. "Shor in Top 5 of Jitterbuggers," Pittsburgh Courier, December 24, 1961. Harris, Steve. "Toots Shor, 82, Star of Jitterbuggers," New York Times, August 3, 1996. Holiday, Paul. "Shor the Shaker Shimmies Off," Cleveland Press, November 21, 1964. Kent, B. Drummond. "Shor's Is Still a Star," Pittsburgh Courier, August 19, 1966. Kessel, Bob, and Larry Kart. "Toots Shor, 81, Founder of Sizzling New York Tradition," Pittsburgh Courier, November 21, 1966. Lester, Julius, et al. "Watching His Cash Roll In, in a Car Load of Joyous Teenagers," Ebony, October 1958. Mills, Michael. "Moulin Rouge Is a Good Place to Take Toots Shor," New York Times, July 11, 1970. Morgan, Bill. "Shor's Has No Plans to Close," Pittsburgh Courier, July 13, 1964. Rice, Tim. "No Jive, Toots Says," Pittsburgh Courier, March 15, 1968. ———."Why Shor Changed His Razzle Dazzle," Pittsburgh Courier, September 3, 1964. Shor, Toots. "How I Got Rich!" Ebony, September 1964. Steward, Samuel. "The New Jazz," Ebony, October 1958. Sutton, Joe. "Hip Flip and Twist," Pittsburgh Courier, March 27, 1959. Van Nuys News. "Big Toots Shor Is Honored by U.S. Senate," October 16, 1959. Veeck, Bill, Sr., and Ed Linn. "Toots Shor's Tips," Chicago Tribune, June 27, 1964. Watson, Robert W. "Big Boy Toots Shor." Pittsburgh Courier, November 27, 1968. Watts, Lara. "Toots Shor's Bar, a Guitar Hero's Paradise," New York Times, July 7, 2000. Wilson, William. "The Jitterbug, the Jive, and the Watusi," Ebony, October 1958. Wynn, Ed. "Shor Brings His Jive to Shubert," New York Daily News, July 7, 1970. NEWSPAPERS Chicago Daily Defender Chicago Daily News Chicago Tribune Daily Mirror East Village Other Pittsburgh Courier Shenandoah Valley News Time TIME FOR A JAM, AND A TAN ON THE WING "Sweating under the lights, toting the guitar, and shaking the groove into the groove" —JANIS JOPLIN, 1963 When Toots Shor first burst onto the postwar musical scene with his jitterbug dance craze, he did so with a flair for the dramatic. He wore his signature "boon docks," wide pants with a stripe down the side; a boater hat or a pom-pom in the side; and shoes that rose above the ankle. Most important, he wore a brightly colored shirt that complemented his ensemble. He also stood out in the audience, usually just a few feet away from the floor. "Toots is right in the middle of it, and the people have a right to know who Toots is," Shor reasoned. If a dancer wanted to shake her boogie-woogie style, she had to know that Toots Shor was watching. Not only was Toots there to watch, but he always sat at a table by the stage. His friends and customers were close enough for a chat and they often invited him to join their tables. He took them up on the offer. He liked to say he was a musician who played for an audience. His friends and customers were part of that audience. When Toots was sitting at a table, he could see his customers. They could see him. He could see them. This relationship of patron and public figure did not go unnoticed. Some even joked that a single photo from any camera in Toots's bar was always a good souvenir. Toots was always accessible, and his regulars came to know him well. The customers and the performers got to know each other's habits, and it was in a bar that Toots enjoyed his regulars. He was a frequent customer at his bar. He had friends and knew the regulars. So it was with familiarity that Toots created a world in his bar where customers would feel comfortable and at ease. This familiarity extended far beyond Toots's bar, of course. As the owner of the venue that made a lasting impression on the world, Toots had his finger on the pulse of the world. He was a man who knew what was going on in the world and the entertainment industry. He knew the players in the scene and the players wanted to know Toots. Toots was always a trendsetter. Toots was "that guy." "I don't like him," he would say. He was "the most controversial man in the world." When Jack Daniel's began making his Tennessee Whiskey, Toots said, "If Jack Daniel is going to make it as a whiskey, I'm going to go to Nashville to do the same thing." He started his own label, and on a regular basis he would fly to Los Angeles or Las Vegas with his recording equipment to make his recordings. He was always on the cutting edge, and his recording work allowed him to express his creativity. The world would hear more of what Toots Shor was going to do next. Toots and his friends always believed they had new adventures to conquer. And at the beginning, they did. People were coming to Pittsburgh for the music and it was good. They wanted to see it live and in person. Toots could offer this opportunity and everyone who wanted to see Toots Shor play or perform at his bar was welcome. Toots made sure that everyone who wanted to attend a show was welcome. He thought that audiences would be bigger if they could see for themselves who was playing. Toots saw how it would work, even if he had to use his bar as his venue. "I'm a bar owner and the people follow me because they know I have something for them," he said. "The way I run my bars is that I try to give them the chance to have a great night, a chance to have a good time," Toots said. Music was just one part of Toots Shor's business, but it was the part that could be seen from the sidewalk, so to speak. As owner of his bar, Toots could see who came into his place and who was on the way. This was important when he recognized that the people of Pittsburgh were just plain interested in their city. As a result of this interest in the city, the people of Pittsburgh started to make their way into Toots Shor's world. Toots knew that one thing the city was missing was a good nightclub. This was important to the people, and the citizens of the city made their feelings known. When Toots saw how important his bars were to the people, he wanted to make sure he gave them a good show and the best acts and musicians around. The talent would be well represented as Toots continued to put up with "riff raff," but he had his priorities, of course. "Toots takes care of them, and they'll be good people to come into the bar," people said. And Toots knew this was the right strategy. Toots made his clubs into a place where the ordinary became extraordinary and would take his customer on an adventure. "I always say a man can't beat a music bar," he said. He took what he knew and applied it to his own bars. He wanted people to know the place was special. The customers would always receive a warm welcome from Toots Shor. It was important for him to keep up with the times, always keeping the energy and spark of his early days and his earlier bars alive in his later ones. He was one of those individuals who was always thinking about the future, one who made an impact at every level. "When I open a club, you get an invitation and people want to come," he said. "You know the music I play." Toots loved to