 Billingsley later wrote that Merman had offered him $500,000 to leave his wife and that he turned down the offer.Prohibition agents closed the original club on December 22, 1931, and Billingsley moved it to East 51st Street for three years.It was raided on August 29, 1932, at the 51st Street location after an angry patron lost a quarter in a coin machine and notified police.