Mickey Alpert

American jazz songwriter, entertainer and orchestra leader. Alpert was born in 1904 and grew up in Roxbury near Boston. In his early years, he worked with furniture, but played in theatre and broadcasted in the evenings. He met Jacques Renard, who already was bandleader. With the help of Jack Berman, both opened the famous Boston night club "Cocoanut Grove" on October 27th, 1927. Due to ongoing prohibition, both, Renard and Alpert, sold the club in 1931, as it became almost bankrupt. Some years later, under ownership of Barnett Welansky, Alpert returned to the "Cocoanut Grove" as master of ceremonies. The most important, but sadly also most tragical point of his career happened on November, 28th, 1942 in the Cocoanut Grove club. As the orchestra turned to play their second set, the great fire in the Cocoanut Grove started. Alpert managed to escape from the building. After the fire, Alpert went to New York, married and started a new career as casting director. Mickey Alpert died in 1965, aged 61 years.