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 is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, ...

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. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

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

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

, 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, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

musicians and concerts but also covering classical music and theatre events. In addition, she wrote articles for a variety of other publications including ''

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'', ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

'', '' Harper's'', ''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. ''Jaz ...

'', '' 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 w ...

, 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 or maintenance hole 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 ...

as historical artifacts and

urban art Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

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

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

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 born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

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, 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,

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

Amber Tamblyn Amber Rose Tamblyn (born May 14, 1983) is an American actress and writer. 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 pr ...

, and

Russ Tamblyn Russell Irving Tamblyn, also known as Rusty Tamblyn (born December 30, 1934) 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 f ...

. 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 Cardiac surgery, or cardiovascular surgery, is surgery on the heart or great vessels performed by cardiac surgeons. It is often used to treat complications of ischemic heart disease (for example, with coronary artery bypass grafting); to c ...

. 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. 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 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 American music critics American women music critics American women writers about music University of California, Los Angeles alumni 21st-century American women