Marriage

Emma Moses GROGAN (~1904 - 29-JUN-1957)

Children

• Elizabeth R. "Betty" FONTENOT (09-FEB-1923 - 19-MAY-1996) - adopted / foster child
• Joseph Sullivan "Buster" FONTENOT, Jr. (06-JAN-1924 - 27-JUL-1944) - adopted / foster child

Club My-O-My

Club My-Oh-My

1972: Fire destroys famous nightclub

RALPH URIBE / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE ARCHIVE

With Southern Decadence extravaganza in town this weekend, we offer this reminder of a sad day for New Orleans' female impersonators and their fans. Early on the morning of Jan. 5, 1972, fire destroyed Club My-O-My on Lake Pontchartrain, along with Kirsch's Seafood Restaurant next door. The history of the club can be traced to the Wonder Bar, which opened at 125 Decatur St. in the French Quarter shortly after Prohibition ended. In 1936, that bar's owner, Emile Morlet, asked for an injunction against police raids on his club, where he employed male entertainers to "impersonate various people in the theatrical world." The court refused his request after the city attorney said the club attracted young people and posed "a menace to their morals." Afterward, Morlet relocated his bar, renamed the Wonder Club, on pilings out on the lake at the Jefferson-Orleans parish line to get as far away from the police as possible. In the late 1940s, Club My-O-My took over the business. An earlier fire on May 4, 1948, destroyed the new club, which rebuilt at the same location. Unfortunately, this 1972 fire proved the death knell for drag shows on the lakefront, ending a tradition that had lasted more than 40 years.