The Helen Morgan Page

… 1933, REPEAL became the law of the land.

Ninety-one years ago today, Utah (yes, Utah) became the thirty-sixth state to ratify the 21st Amendment to the U. S. Constitution, thereby repealing the 18th Amendment, a.k.a., Prohibition.

And Utah did so unanimously.

For the record, the 18th Amendment, ratified on January 16, 1919 and which went into effect January 17, 1920 stated:

After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.

The 21st stated:

The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.

However, the amendment added:

This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.

Repeal did not take seven years to ratify. It took just over seven months.

On February 20, 1933, Congress passed the Blaine Act. The order of ratification at the state level is as follows:

1. Michigan: April 10, 1933 (99–1)
2. Wisconsin: April 25, 1933 (15–0)
3. Rhode Island: May 8, 1933 (31–0)
4. Wyoming: May 25, 1933 (65–0)
5. New Jersey: June 1, 1933 (202–2)
6. Delaware: June 24, 1933 (17–0)
7. Indiana: June 26, 1933 (246–83)
8. Massachusetts: June 26, 1933 (45–0)
9. New York: June 27, 1933 (150–0)
10. Illinois: July 10, 1933 (50–0)
11. Iowa: July 10, 1933 (90–0)
12. Connecticut: July 11, 1933 (50–0)
13. New Hampshire: July 11, 1933
14. California: July 24, 1933
15. West Virginia: July 25, 1933
16. Arkansas: August 1, 1933
17. Oregon: August 7, 1933
18. Alabama: August 8, 1933
19. Tennessee: August 11, 1933
20. Missouri: August 29, 1933
21. Arizona: September 5, 1933
22. Nevada: September 5, 1933
23. Vermont: September 23, 1933
24. Colorado: September 26, 1933
25. Washington: October 3, 1933
26. Minnesota: October 10, 1933
27. Idaho: October 17, 1933
28. Maryland: October 18, 1933
29. Virginia: October 25, 1933
30. New Mexico: November 2, 1933
31. Florida: November 14, 1933
32. Texas: November 24, 1933
33. Kentucky: November 27, 1933
34. Ohio: December 5, 1933
35. Pennsylvania: December 5, 1933
36. Utah: December 5, 1933 (20–0)

On the 5th of December, at exactly 5:33 in the afternoon, Joe Weber of Weber and Fields downed a glass of champagne in the Hunting Room of the Hotel Astor and New York went wet, but not wild.[i] Most nightclubs limited themselves to beer, wine, and champagne, lest some last-minute snag cause a legal hangover. Cocktails would wait a bit.

At the Simplon, also in New York, Helen was crowned ‘Queen of Repeal.’

Don Dean, the Oklahoma-born South American big band leader, in Los Angeles at the time, flew to New York and the Simplon just for the occasion.

On today’s anniversary, follow Helen’s lead – responsibly – and lift a glass to Repeal!

This site serves as a companion to Helen Morgan: The Original Torch Singer and Ziegfeld’s Last Star, which was published on September 3, 2024.

---

[i]       Lewis, Emory, “A Toast to Repeal”, Cue, December 1953.