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Maxine Kirk (né Eleanor Maxine Jones; 24 June 1916 Illinois – 29 May 2004 West Monroe, Louisiana) was an American singer, Broadway and film dancer, and swing band leader from Illinois who flourished from 1930 to 1941.

Career
She graduated from Austin High School in Chicago.

She studied dance in Chicago with Muriel Abbott (née Merriel Mayne Abbott; 1893–1977), who, in 1921, married Philip Lewin, MD (né Philip Lewinsky; 1888–1960)

Performance venues and acts

 * Was one of "Abbott's Kids" as a child performer
 * Began performing at age 14
 * 19??: Ben Bernie's show
 * 2 years with Ted Lewis
 * 1934: Chicago, Club Minuet (cabaret)
 * 1936: Hi Hat Club, Chicago
 * 1936: Broadway, Gold Diggers
 * 1937-1939: Maxine Kirk and Her Melody Men of Swing
 * 1939: The Glass House of the Graemere Hotel, 3400 Washington, Chicago
 * 1938: Sang with Del Coon and His Orchestra (Adelbert Benjamin Coon, Jr.; 1902–1952)

Band members in 1937

 * Maxine Kirk (leader and vocalist)
 * "Doc" Mize, Bob Alexander (alto saxes and flutes)
 * Jessie Webb, John Pollack (tenor saxes and flutes)
 * Clem Kuchera, Royce Janszen, Buddy Baker (trumpets)
 * Vernon Coers (né Vernon Victor Coers; 1916–2001) (trombone) – who, later, was longtime Director of Bands at Dickinson High School in Texas.
 * Ken Rizer (bass and violin)
 * Eddie Hagan (drums and vibraphone)
 * Red Cizek (piano)
 * Arrangers: Buddy Baker, Red Cizek

Territory band dates

 * Bob (or Bobby) Grayson and His Orchestra (formly, in 1936, Bob Geltman, Cincinnati; né Robert M. Geltman; 1916–1970)
 * Managed by Mills from 1936 to about 1937; then Consolidated Radio Artists, Inc. in 1938
 * Featuring floorshow performance by Maxine Kirk
 * Opening Monday, February 15, 1937, Blossom Heath, Shreveport
 * May 8, 1937, Texas State College for Women, Denton


 * Maxine Kirk and Her Melody Men of Swing
 * The below dates following a "triumphant Eastern tour"
 * August 7 1937 – August 27, 1927, Three Mile Inn, Monroe, Louisiana
 * September 1,1937, Water Valley, Mississippi
 * September 4, 1937, Cooper Club, Henderson, Texas


 * Michelle Linsey Holland, Where East Texas Dances: The Cooper Club of Henderson, Rusk County, and Popular Dance Bands, 1932-1942, Masters Thesis, Baylor University (May 2007)


 * Art Berry and His Band
 * Featuring Maxine Kirk
 * January 3, 1938, Atrium Cafe, Indianapolis

Ex-husband
Larry Azarki (né Lazare Solomon Asarhi; 1904–1977); changed name to Larry Lawrence
 * In the 1937 Dallas City Directory, Azarki is listed as being with CRA and married to Lucille, living at 5825 Tremont
 * Dallas City Directory
 * See Loftin-White Circuit (1928) – Edward H. Loftin & S. Young White
 * Larry Azarki (aka Lazare Asarhi) formerly with CRA (Consolidated Radio Artists)


 * "Harry Moss Shifts," Variety, December 1, 1937, pg. 47


 * "Bob Sylvester has been released by Harry Moss' Associated Radio Artists, after a brief association following Moss' disassociation with consolidated Radio Artists recently."


 * "Association with Erma Pegram of charlotte, N.C., who acted as southern rep. for Moss, has also been dropped. Moss now negotiating with Larry Azarki of Dallas and Leo Salkin of Chicago, another alumnus of CRA, to aid in their respective territories on usual combo booking deals"


 * Consolidated Radio Artists, Inc. (band booking division of National Broadcasting Company?)
 * Incorporated 4 August 1937, New York
 * Charles E. Green, President


 * America's Finest Orchestras


 * New York
 * 30 Rockefeller Plaza


 * Cleveland
 * Keith Building


 * Chicago
 * 32 W. Randolph Street


 * Hollywood
 * 9028 Sunset Boulevard


 * San Francisco
 * 111 Sutter Street


 * Mills Opens Dallas Office


 * Irving Mills has opened a branch office of Mills Artists, Inc., in Dallas, Texas, to service that territory for Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Ina Ray Hutton, Benny Meroff, the Britton Band, Lucky Millinder and other Mills clients. C. J. Buckner, J.M. Bryan and Larry Azarki are in charge of the new office.


 * "Mills Open Up New Branch Office In Southwest," Capitol Plaindealer (Topeka, Kansas), Vol. 1, No. 8, November 8, 1936, pg. 7
 * Irving Mills has opened a branch office of Mills Artists, Inc., in Dallas, Texas, to service the southwest territory for Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Ina Ray Hutton, Benny Meroff, the Britton Band, Lucky Millinder, and other Mills attractions.


 * C.J. Buckner, J.M. Bryan and Larry Azarki are the staff in the new branch, which is located in Suite 1416-17-18 Gulf State Building in Dallas.


 * In February 1938, Azarki joined the Central Booking Office in Chicago, handling night clubs and theatres

Family
Maxine Kirk married Septeber 8, 1937, in Leland, Mississippi, then divorced sometime before 1940, the re-married – all to Larry Lawrence (né Lazare Solomon Azarki [Asarhi]; 1904–1977), who, among other things, had been a booking agent for big bands in the latter 1930s. Larry Lawrence had been married twice before.

Parents Maxine Kirk (née Eleanor Maxine Jones) was born around 1917 in Illinois to Edgar R. Jones (1889–1917) and Marguerite M. Kirk (1895–1986). She had one brother, Kenneth Kirk Jones (1914–2003). After the death of her father in 1917, her mother remarried to Benjamin Berl Grichter, MD (1891–1977), an ear, nose, throat physician based in Chicago.

She was marred to Russian-born Larry Solomon Azarski (aka Lazare Solomon Asarhi, aka Azarhi Lazer, aka Lawrence Azarhi; 1904–1955), a booking agent for territory bands out of Chicago and Dallas. Together, they had one daughter:
 * 1) Barbara Beryl Azarki (born 2 October 1938 Chicago).

Larry Azarski worked in Dallas for Consolidated Radio Artists, Inc. – the band booking division of National Broadcasting Company – and Mills Artists Agency – a division of Irving Mills Publishing. Larry Azarki and Maxine Kirk divorced sometime before 1940.

Reviews

 * "Maxine Kirk and Her Melody Men of Swing is a splendid organization." – New York Press ???
 * "The greatest band of its kind in the country, without a doubt." – Chicago Press ???
 * "I never head anything like them before." – Post-Dispatch
 * "Rhythm like that of Miss Maxine Kirk is found in very few male leaders. No other girl leader has accomplished the same results." – Cleveland, Ohio


 * Source: ["Maxine Kirk" (advertisement), Monroe News-Star, August 16, 1937, pg. 2