Burlesque and a two bit meal

The depression dragged on. Sea Girt was able to retire some of its bonds, and seemed to be in relatively good fiscal health. The badge charges of $1 per year raised some money. After lifeguards saved J. Freund of Belmar, Special Officer Lester Nailer came along and gave her a $5 fine. Sea Girt forced anyone not from town to use the bathhouse at a cost of $0.75, or $1 for weekends. An annual pass for an out-of-towner not using a hotel or a rental house was $25.

The heroes of 1934 were still making the saves. On July 31, two girls, 6 & 16 were caught in a “sea puss”, or alongshore undertow, and as they were carried out, two adult swimmers started after them. Rudolph Kadlac watching from his post as a boardwalk guard blew his whistle to signal the lifeguards. He took a torpedo and swam out. The ocean was much closer to the boardwalk than it is today. Thomas Black was out fishing on the Betty M on his day off and signaled the captain to move closer to shore. Black jumped off the boat and swam to aid Kadlac.

Captain of the guards Jack Holthusen commanded a surf boat and rowed out. Black and Kadlac got to the girls and helped them in the boat. Richard Tucker swam with a lifeline to the two adult rescuers who by now were in trouble themselves. He had them both pulled ashore.

The establishments in the area needed to offer great value or something titillating to attract patrons.

Alice Josephine Westcott was an effervescent blonde burlesque performer. At the tender age of 23, she was nearing the end of her career. Alice was responsible for her mother and grandmother, who were both widowed, and she was struggling to keep working. This beautiful curvy blonde no longer fit the styles of the day; skinny flapper girls with long legs and boyish shapes were coming into vogue, and the patrons through their catcalls would determine the girls who could count the highest pay.

Alice used her charm and seductive past to joke with male patrons.

For years Alice had worked at Minsky's Burlesque show, the most famous of New York’s risqué productions. It was an adult vaudeville where striptease mixed with suggestive comedy and musical numbers. Alice was talented enough to continue to work some musical comedy after she was no longer fit enough for the runway as a showgirl. She had married Otto Clarkson, a widower and patron of her shows.

Alice was 38 pretending to be 30. She had no children and no more showbiz work. She had the idea of setting up a hot dog stand to help make ends meet. Cars were overtaking train riders and State Road 4N (the current route 71) was the primary road north from the summer White House and the Sea Girt encampment. The soldiers and visitors would be hungry as they passed by. She started with four chairs set up in the yard and soon had a line.

Her mother helped in the kitchen and her show business friends sent people to Alice Clarkson's. They put up a small cottage. She added a full luncheon menu with home-baked pies in 1931 as Alex Clarkson's Grill. As the Depression deepened, Alice fed people for lunch and dinner for two bits, selling her million-dollar smile and good cheap food.

Alice and Otto moved to the Shore full-time to save money. They bought a house on 6th Ave in Sea Girt near the tracks. Alice added a $0.50 four-course dinner and by 1934 she was doing 3,000 tickets per night at the larger Alice Clarkson's Tea Cottage.

Still bleach blonde and looking much younger than her age, she flirted with many of the patrons giving out free lollipops to bald men, winking and suggestively wise-cracking “Hello you old devil. I haven't seen you since the Minsky days”, to great laughter and red faces. She went to the boardwalk and threw lollypops to the kids.

She spent $14,000 with borrowed money to add onto the cottage. Many copied the concepts but none of them had Alice's personality. In 1935 she applied for and captured one of Sea Girt’s full-year liquor licenses and changed the name to Alice Clarkson's Cocktail Cottage. The building still stands as Harrigan’s

The Sea Girt Inn was leased to various operators by Wall Township, who had taken the property for back taxes. One of the operators included early talkie movie director producer Bud Pollard, who was known for exploitative and provocative films.

He held a “Nudist show” at the Sea Girt Inn in 1935, from a show he had developed in San Diego. People paid $3 to see a cast of performers dressed in illusion and body suits, with creative lighting. The State threatened their liquor license for indecency, but the dozens of inspectors who “needed to see the show in person”, were disappointed to find no actual nudity.