Stork Club
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The Stork Club was one of the famous nightclubs in New York City during the 1930s–1950s. It was located at 3 East 53rd Street, just off Fifth Avenue, now the location of Paley Park.
The Stork Club was owned and operated by Sherman Billingsley (1900-1966) an ex-bootlegger who came to New York from Enid, Oklahoma to find his brother and liked the city. From the end of Prohibition until the early 1960s, the club was the symbol of Café Society. Movie stars, celebrities, the wealthy, showgirls, and aristocrats all mixed here. El Morocco had the sophistication, and Toots Shor's drew the sporting crowd, but the Stork Club mixed power, money and glamour into a new mix that spelled excitement.
Billingsley's mistress for a number of years was Ethel Merman. She introduced him to the mass media commentator Walter Winchell. The real entertainment at this club was the patrons themselves, and Winchell with his outspoken wit told it all. He once called the Stork Club "the New Yorkiest spot in New York".
The green canopy, the blue-uniformed doorman with his whistle at the ready, the heavy bronze door swinging to admit only the chosen few while crowds of craning gawkers and autograph hunters tried to get a glimpse of what today we would call the rich and famous, are all gone. The sanctum sanctorum, the Cub Room ("the snub room"), was guarded by a captain known to everyone as "Saint Peter" (named after the saint who guards the gates of heaven. Ernest Hemingway; Charlie Chaplin; J. Edgar Hoover; Frank Costello; Dorothy Kilgallen; the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, once given the cold shoulder there by Walter Winchell; the Kennedys; Elizabeth Taylor; Gloria Vanderbilt; the Roosevelts; the Harrimans; Frank Sinatra; the Nordstrom Sisters; Brenda Frazier; Judy Garland; Erik Rhodes; Marilyn Monroe; this was a glittering world, perhaps the most enchanting nightclub ever.
The Stork Club was a television series hosted by Billingsley who circulated among the tables interviewing guests at the club. Sponsored by Fatima cigarettes, the series ran from 1950 to 1955. The Stork Club was also featured in several movies, including The Stork Club (1945) and Alfred Hitchcock's The Wrong Man (1956).
As a fascinating side note, Storck Brewery of Slinger, Wisconsin produced a beer throughout the 1950's bearing the label "Storck Club." This was highly controversial, and although it was not spelled the same as the famous Stork Club of New York City, the Club eventually brought a lawsuit forcing the Brewery to cease and desist their production of that brew. They alleged that the very close similarity between the names would cause customer confusion, and that it represented an infringement on their respected trademark. These labels are highly sought after by collectors today, since they were produced in very limited quantities.
[edit] Further reading
- Blumenthal, Ralph, Stork Club: America's Most Famous Nightspot and the Lost World of Café Society, ISBN 0-316-10531-7
