Mimi Clar Melnick (December 25, 1935 – June 14, 2013) was a journalist, author, and jazz salon hostess in Los Angeles.

Early life and career

Mimi Melnick was born Miriam Clar in

Hollywood, California Hollywood, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, neighborhood and district in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles County, California, within the city of Los Angeles. ...

on December 25, 1935. Her father, Charles Clar, was a high-end fireplace merchant, and her mother, Reva Howitt, was a dancer. Her family was Jewish. She studied classical piano as a child and graduated from John Marshall High School in 1953. Melnick went on to attend

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

, graduating in 1960 with a music degree. Beginning in 1958, Melnick worked as a

music critic '' The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of m ...

for the

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

, ending her tenure there in 1965 after writing over 200 articles, mostly about

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

musicians and concerts but also covering

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

and theatre events. In addition, she wrote articles for a variety of other publications including ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** '' Vogue Adria'', a fashion magazine for former Yugoslav countries ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ' ...

'', ''

Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

'', ''

Harper's ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the United States. ''Harper's Magazine'' has ...

'', ''Folklore International'', ''

Jazz Review ''Jazz Review'' was a Scottish jazz magazine, founded in 1998. The founders were jazz writer (and former editor of ''The Wire'') Richard Cook and Roger Spence of the talent management agency Direct Music Limited of Edinburgh, Scotland. ''Jazz ...

'', '' California Historical Quarterly'', and over 70 articles in the journal ''

Western Folklore ''Western Folklore'' is a quarterly academic journal for the study of folklore published by the Western States Folklore Society (formerly the California Folklore Society). It was established in 1942 as the ''California Folklore Quarterly'' and ob ...

''. After her career as a

music journalist Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

, Melnick developed an interest in other areas as well. She co-wrote two books (and a scholarly article in ''California Historical Quarterly'') on

manhole covers A manhole cover is a removable plate forming the lid over the opening of a manhole, an opening large enough for a person to pass through that is used as an access point for an underground vault or pipe. It is designed to prevent anyone or anythi ...

as historical artifacts and

urban art Urban art combines street art, guerrilla art, and graffiti and is often used to summarize all visual art forms arising in urban areas, being inspired by urban architecture or present urban lifestyle. Because the urban arts are characterized by exi ...

with her husband, Robert Melnick. Her research and advocacy resulted in the city of

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

officially preserving fifteen manhole covers in 1984 at Heritage Square historic park. She also contributed to, edited, and published her mother's autobiography on her life as a

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

dancer. Melnick began to host jazz salons (known as the Double M Jazz Salon) in the living room of her Encino home in 1996, attracting dozens of talented musicians (such as

Horace Tapscott Horace Elva Tapscott (April 6, 1934 – February 27, 1999) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He formed the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra (also known as P.A.P.A., or The Ark) in 1961 and led the ensemble through the 1990s. Early lif ...

Bobby Bradford Bobby Lee Bradford (born July 19, 1934) is an American jazz trumpeter, cornetist, bandleader, and composer. In addition to his solo work, Bradford is noted for his work with John Carter, Vinny Golia and Ornette Coleman. In October 2009, Brad ...

, and

Gerald Wiggins Gerald Foster Wiggins (May 12, 1922 – July 13, 2008) was an American jazz pianist and organist. Early life Wiggins was born in New York City on May 12, 1922.Vacher, Pete"Wiggins, Gerry" ''The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz'' (2nd edition). G ...

) as well as hundreds of jazz fans including

Morgan Freeman Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, producer, and narrator. In a career spanning six decades, he has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, as well as a nomination for a Tony ...

Marla Gibbs Marla Gibbs (born Margaret Theresa Bradley; June 14, 1931) is an American actress, singer, comedian, writer, and television producer whose career spans seven decades. She is known for her role as George Jefferson's maid, Florence Johnston, on th ...

Amber Tamblyn Amber Rose Tamblyn (born May 14, 1983) is an American actress and author. She first came to national attention in her role on the soap opera ''General Hospital'' as Emily Quartermaine at the age of 11. She followed with a starring role on the p ...

, and

Russ Tamblyn Russell Irving Tamblyn (born December 30, 1934), also known as Rusty Tamblyn, is an American film and television actor and dancer. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Tamblyn trained as a gymnast in his youth. He began his career as a child actor ...

. Her mailing list of invitees grew to 500, and average attendance at the salons was about 70.

Personal

Melnick died on June 14, 2013, due to complications from open heart surgery. Her husband, engineer and photographer Robert Melnick, died in 1982.

Publications

Along with hundreds of scholarly journal articles, newspaper articles, book chapters, and magazine articles, Melnick wrote or contributed to the following monographs: * ''Lollipop: Vaudeville Turns with a Fanchon and Marco Dancer'' (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2002). (Contributor and editor) * ''Manhole Covers of Los Angeles'' (Los Angeles : Dawson's Book Shop, 1974). (co-written with Robert Melnick) * ''Manhole Covers'' (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1994). (co-written with Robert Melnick)

Legacy

Melnick's archives are held in the University Library at

California State University, Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge), is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. With a total enrollment of 36,848 students (as of Fall 2024), it has the ...

. The Double M Jazz Salon lived on even after her death, as jazz concerts and music scholarships were sponsored by her brother Richard Clar and held at the Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum in

Culver City, California Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. It is mostly surrounded by Los Angeles, but also shares a border with the unincorporated area of Ladera Heights, Californi ...

for several years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Melnick, Mimi Clar 1935 births 2013 deaths Writers from Los Angeles Journalists from California Los Angeles Times people People from Hollywood, Los Angeles 20th-century American women journalists 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American Jews Jewish American journalists American music critics American women music critics American women writers about music University of California, Los Angeles alumni 21st-century American women