After an authentic Italian dinner at DaMarino's on 49th Street, I walked down Broadway to Town Hall at 123 West 43rd Street. The Town Hall was built in 1921 by The League For Political Education, whose fight for passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution led them to commission the building of a meeting space where people of every rank and station could be educated on the important issues of the day. Every effort was made to insure that there were no seats with an obstructed view. This design principle gave birth to the manta "not a bad seat in the house." The outstanding acoustic properties of Town Hall for musical performances -which some musicians claim rival those of Carnegie Hall - were discovered during the first musical event at the Hall. German composer Richard Strauss gave a series of concerts there and Marion Anderson, considered one of the greatest contraltos born in the United States, made her New York debut at the Hall, after she had been denied an opportunity at an operatic career elsewhere due to discrimination against African-Americans. Important jazz concerts have been held at Town Hall along with poetry, film, and dance. This night however featured........Cyndi Lauper in support of her new record Memphis Blues.
