Palladium Ballroom - Mambo Craze

Mambo Craze

The year 1948, started the mambo craze that eventually spread across the United States began at the Palladium Ballroom. At the height of its popularity, the Palladium attracted Hollywood and Broadway stars, especially on Wednesday nights, which included a free dance lesson. Dance instructors such as "Killer Joe" Piro - who briefly served as master of ceremonies the Palladium when Federico Pagani was not available - Augie and Margo, Cuban Pete And Millie and Carmen Marie Padilla (later the poet Carmen M. Pursifull), would offer mass dance lessons for the huge crowds. Club-goers of the era report seeing Marlon Brando, George Hamilton, Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra, ], The Bowery Boys and others.

The popularity of Perez Prado's Mambo No. 5 (1952) was taking everyone by storm.