From Publishers Weekly
F. Scott Fitzgerald, Errol Flynn, Rita Hayworth, Ernest Hemingway, Helen Keller, Marilyn Monroe, John and Jacqueline Kennedy, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor--the list of regulars who patronized New York's exclusive Stork Club is a who's who of early- to mid-20th century society. But this lively, resonant account from Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter Blumenthal (Once Through the Heart, etc.) of the club's rise and fall is more than an exercise in name-dropping. At its heart, it's the story of Sherman Billingsley, the Oklahoma bootlegger who opened the Stork during Prohibition and spent the next four decades keeping gangsters and unions at bay while coddling every rich, influential and famous person he could, plying them with gifts ranging from pure-bred puppies to perfume (called Cigogne, French for "stork"). Billingsley, who served time in Leavenworth for bootlegging, wound up in New York on the heels of one of his convict brothers. There he continued bootlegging (hiding behind his legit business as a drugstore owner) and made a name in real estate before opening the Stork. Media savvy and skilled at mar-keting, Billingsley had a knack for befriending the right people, among them gossip columnist Walter Winchell, who held court at the club for years. The Stork flourished during pre- and postwar years--an era captured vividly by Blumenthal (and well illustrated with a rich supply of period photos). The disillusionment that blanketed the U.S. after the Kennedy assassination, however, heralded the end of those heady times, whichBlumenthal colorfully brings back to life in all their glamour. But the pleasant haze of nostalgia he creates (in telling details such as the 14-karat gold chain inside the club's door) doesn't obscure the ugly union-busting actions that helped bring the club down. 75 b&w photos. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Sherman Billingsley and three partners who turned out to be gangsters founded the Stork Club during Prohibition. Although "Prohibition meant that nothing was prohibited," business languished until premier chronicler of posh doings Walter Winchell dubbed it "New York's New Yorkiest place." Thus, the Stork Club became synonymous with swank, from the Roaring Twenties to the swinging sixties. Blumenthal recounts the club's stories in detail, paying special attention to Billingsley, a character in his own right, not unlike fellow restaurateur^-bon vivant Toots Shor. One episode in particular illustrates something not so good about the good old days, blatant racism. Billingsley was prejudiced, not that that set him apart in his time, and one night either did or didn't tell the staff not to serve Josephine Baker's table. The subsequent brouhaha and what Billingsley's role in it was eventually involved J. Edgar Hoover, Sugar Ray Robinson, Thurgood Marshall, and Winchell. Do pop cultural tableaux get any better than that? Shelve this book proudly next to histories of Studio 54 and other, later Stork Club knockoffs.
Mike TribbyCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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