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Maxine Kirk (né Eleanor Maxine Jones; 24 June 1916 Illinois – 29 May 2004 West Monroe, Louisiana) was an American singer, Broadway and film dancer, and swing band leader from Illinois who flourished from 1930 to 1941.

Career

She graduated from Austin High School in Chicago.

She studied dance in Chicago with Muriel Abbott (née Merriel Mayne Abbott; 1893–1977), who, in 1921, married Philip Lewin, MD (né Philip Lewinsky; 1888–1960)

Performance venues and acts

Was one of "Abbott's Kids" as a child performer

Began performing at age 14

19??: Ben Bernie's show

2 years with Ted Lewis

1934: Chicago, Club Minuet (cabaret)

1936: Hi Hat Club, Chicago

1936: Broadway, Gold Diggers

1937-1939: Maxine Kirk and Her Melody Men of Swing

1939: The Glass House of the Graemere Hotel, 3400 Washington, Chicago

1938: Sang with Del Coon and His Orchestra (Adelbert Benjamin Coon, Jr.; 1902–1952)

Band members in 1937

Maxine Kirk (leader and vocalist)

"Doc" Mize, Bob Alexander (alto saxes and flutes)

Jessie Webb, John Pollack (tenor saxes and flutes)

Clem Kuchera, Royce Janszen, Buddy Baker (trumpets)

Vernon Coers (né Vernon Victor Coers; 1916–2001) (trombone) – who, later, was longtime Director of Bands at Dickinson High School in Texas.

Ken Rizer (bass and violin)

Eddie Hagan (drums and vibraphone)

Red Cizek (piano)

Arrangers: Buddy Baker, Red Cizek

Territory band dates

Bob (or Bobby) Grayson and His Orchestra (formly, in 1936, Bob Geltman, Cincinnati; né Robert M. Geltman; 1916–1970)

Managed by Mills from 1936 to about 1937; then Consolidated Radio Artists, Inc. in 1938

Featuring floorshow performance by Maxine Kirk

• Opening Monday, February 15, 1937, Blossom Heath, Shreveport
• May 8, 1937, Texas State College for Women, Denton

Maxine Kirk and Her Melody Men of Swing

The below dates following a "triumphant Eastern tour"

• August 7 1937 – August 27, 1927, Three Mile Inn, Monroe, Louisiana
• September 1,1937, Water Valley, Mississippi
• September 4, 1937, Cooper Club, Henderson, Texas

Michelle Linsey Holland, Where East Texas Dances: The Cooper Club of Henderson, Rusk County, and Popular Dance Bands, 1932-1942, Masters Thesis, Baylor University (May 2007)

Art Berry and His Band

Featuring Maxine Kirk

• January 3, 1938, Atrium Cafe, Indianapolis

Ex-husband

Larry Azarki (né Lazare Solomon Asarhi; 1904–1977); changed name to Larry Lawrence

In the 1937 Dallas City Directory, Azarki is listed as being with CRA and married to Lucille, living at 5825 Tremont

Dallas City Directory

See Loftin-White Circuit (1928) – Edward H. Loftin & S. Young White

Larry Azarki (aka Lazare Asarhi) formerly with CRA (Consolidated Radio Artists)

"Harry Moss Shifts," Variety, December 1, 1937, pg. 47

"Bob Sylvester has been released by Harry Moss' Associated Radio Artists, after a brief association following Moss' disassociation with consolidated Radio Artists recently."

"Association with Erma Pegram of charlotte, N.C., who acted as southern rep. for Moss, has also been dropped. Moss now negotiating with Larry Azarki of Dallas and Leo Salkin of Chicago, another alumnus of CRA, to aid in their respective territories on usual combo booking deals"

Consolidated Radio Artists, Inc. (band booking division of National Broadcasting Company?)

Incorporated 4 August 1937, New York

Charles E. Green, President

America's Finest Orchestras

New York

30 Rockefeller Plaza

Cleveland

Keith Building

Chicago

32 W. Randolph Street

Hollywood

9028 Sunset Boulevard

San Francisco

111 Sutter Street

Mills Opens Dallas Office

Irving Mills has opened a branch office of Mills Artists, Inc., in Dallas, Texas, to service that territory for Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Ina Ray Hutton, Benny Meroff, the Britton Band, Lucky Millinder and other Mills clients. C. J. Buckner, J.M. Bryan and Larry Azarki are in charge of the new office.

"Mills Open Up New Branch Office In Southwest," Capitol Plaindealer (Topeka, Kansas), Vol. 1, No. 8, November 8, 1936, pg. 7

Irving Mills has opened a branch office of Mills Artists, Inc., in Dallas, Texas, to service the southwest territory for Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Ina Ray Hutton, Benny Meroff, the Britton Band, Lucky Millinder, and other Mills attractions.

C.J. Buckner, J.M. Bryan and Larry Azarki are the staff in the new branch, which is located in Suite 1416-17-18 Gulf State Building in Dallas.

In February 1938, Azarki joined the Central Booking Office in Chicago, handling night clubs and theatres

Family

Maxine Kirk married Septeber 8, 1937, in Leland, Mississippi, then divorced sometime before 1940, the re-married – all to Larry Lawrence (né Lazare Solomon Azarki [Asarhi]; 1904–1977), who, among other things, had been a booking agent for big bands in the latter 1930s. Larry Lawrence had been married twice before.

Parents Maxine Kirk (née Eleanor Maxine Jones) was born around 1917 in Illinois to Edgar R. Jones (1889–1917) and Marguerite M. Kirk (1895–1986). She had one brother, Kenneth Kirk Jones (1914–2003). After the death of her father in 1917, her mother remarried to Benjamin Berl Grichter, MD (1891–1977), an ear, nose, throat physician based in Chicago.

She was marred to Russian-born Larry Solomon Azarski (aka Lazare Solomon Asarhi, aka Azarhi Lazer, aka Lawrence Azarhi; 1904–1955), a booking agent for territory bands out of Chicago and Dallas. Together, they had one daughter:

1. Barbara Beryl Azarki (born 2 October 1938 Chicago).

Larry Azarski worked in Dallas for Consolidated Radio Artists, Inc. – the band booking division of National Broadcasting Company – and Mills Artists Agency – a division of Irving Mills Publishing. Larry Azarki and Maxine Kirk divorced sometime before 1940.

Reviews

"Maxine Kirk and Her Melody Men of Swing is a splendid organization." – New York Press ???

"The greatest band of its kind in the country, without a doubt." – Chicago Press ???

"I never head anything like them before." – Post-Dispatch

"Rhythm like that of Miss Maxine Kirk is found in very few male leaders. No other girl leader has accomplished the same results." – Cleveland, Ohio

Source: ["Maxine Kirk" (advertisement), Monroe News-Star, August 16, 1937, pg. 2

References