Papa Guiseppe's: The Big News Story of 1977
By Jordan Engel
On April 11, 1977, Joseph D’Agostino, the owner of Papa Guiseppe’s pizza restaurants in Woodstock and White River Junction, attended the selectman’s meeting to request a permit for live entertainment at his Woodstock establishment. Called “Frauds and Broads,” it was a drag show with performers from Boston. The show had played at the White River Junction restaurant for the previous month. The selectmen postponed making a decision until their Thursday night meeting.
Information and quotes in this story come from a series of articles in the Vermont Standard from the spring of 1977, written by Bill Boardman, a staff writer for the VS at the time. There is little other documentation of Papa Guiseppe’s restaurant. The pizza shop did not advertise in the Vermont Standard, and before and after this cause celebre there are no other articles. Papa Guiseppe’s restaurant was in a building on the site of what is now Cumberland Farms; the History Center has a photograph of the beautiful home originally located there known as the Aitken house. Through its history, it became the Guthrie Nursing Home, a Petco Store, car wash and finally, Papa Guiseppe’s.
The Aitken House which was located on the site of Cumberland Farms. ©Woodstock History Center
The April 14, 1977, selectmen’s meeting was “standing room only.” One selectman said it was the largest crowd at a Select Board meeting since he’d been elected.
“Virtually all of those attending the meeting opposed granting the permit…that this type of show was morally objectionable, would draw an undesirable element to the town and would open the doors to ever more blatantly sexual performances…although no one at the meeting claimed to have seen the show, the fervor of those speaking against it persuaded the selectmen to ignore the advice of Town Manager Robert Horne to seek legal advice before making a decision which could ultimately lead to a court test. Deciding to take their chances on the civil liberties question, the selectmen voted unanimously to reject the permit.”
After the vote, D’Agostino invited participants to come to White River Junction to see the show, even handing out photographs of the performers to prove there was nothing off-color.
Two Selectmen went to see the show and said afterward, “I enjoyed the show, personally… It’s not one I’d go back to see” and “If it was a little quieter, I would have enjoyed it more.” D’Agostino had appealed the April 14 decision, and at the April 28 meeting the selectmen reversed their decision, voting 2-1 to grant the permit. The selectmen explained that “the show was neither vulgar nor offensive, nor did it encourage rowdy behavior.” The decision was made in executive session because the cast of the show had threatened a lawsuit against the leader of the opposition.
Fifty people attended the May 11 selectmen’s meeting, which had been moved to the Town Hall Theater because of the size of the crowd. The permit was now denied unanimously on a minor technical issue. There had been one performance of “The Illusions 77” drag show at Papa Guiseppe’s. A lawyer for one of the residents at the meeting threatened legal action against the town because, among other things, “this strip show violated the law since the performer was wearing bikini pants which exposed a good portion of his buttocks.” He added, “the door to female impersonators could lead to houses of ill repute as it did in San Francisco.” Only two voices spoke in support of the permit, one, a waitress at Papa Guiseppe’s and the other, the Universalist minister who said, “Although this group may have an opinion, it is not necessarily the opinion of all members of the community… The obscenities of this community go beyond the baring of a human buttocks.”
On May 26, after much behind the scenes wrangling between opposing lawyers, the selectmen announced a unanimous vote to grant the permit and on May 31, 70 people attended a selectmen’s meeting at the Town Hall Theater to hear the selectmen explain their new and surprising decision. They explained there was no legal basis to reject the permit.
The State Liquor Control Board entered the story because all establishments that served liquor had to have their live entertainment requests permitted by the board. Local opposition tried to get the Board to investigate possible obscenity issues with the entertainment. The Board found no reason not to grant the permit.
And, at this point the trail runs cold. There were no more articles about the Papa Guiseppe’s story in the Vermont Standard. And the Woodstock Town Clerk’s office has no minutes of Select Board meetings before 1990. So, if anyone has more information about this flash of moral controversy please get in touch through the History Center.