Stork Club
Stork Club was a nightclub in Manhattan, New York City. During its existence from 1929 to 1965, it became one of the most prestigious clubs in the world. A symbol of café society, the wealthy elite, including movie stars, celebrities, showgirls, and aristocrats all mixed in the VIP 'Cub' Room. The club was established on West 58th Street in 1929 by Sherman Billingsley, a former bootlegger from Enid, Oklahoma. After an incident when Billingsley was kidnapped and held for ransom by Mad Dog Coll, a rival of his mobster partners, he became the sole owner of the Stork Club. It remained at its original location until it was raided by Prohibition agents in 1931 after which it moved to East 51st Street. From 1934 until its closure in 1965, it was located at 3 East 53rd Street, just east of Fifth Avenue, when it became world-renowned with its celebrity clientele and luxury. Billingsley was known for his lavish gifts, which brought a steady stream of celebrities to the club and also ensured that those interested in the famous would have a reason to visit.
Until World War II, the club consisted of a dining room and bar with restrooms on upper floors with many mirrors and fresh flowers throughout. Billingsley originally built the well-known Cub Room as a private place where he could play cards with friends. Described as a "lopsided oval", the room had wood paneled walls hung with portraits of beautiful women and had no windows. A head waiter known as "Saint Peter" determined who was allowed entry to the Cub Room, where Walter Winchell wrote his columns and broadcast his radio programs from Table 50.
During the years of its operation, the club was visited by many political, social, and celebrity figures. It counted among its guests the Kennedy and Roosevelt families, and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. The news of Grace Kelly's engagement to Prince Rainier of Monaco broke while the couple were visiting the Stork Club. Socialite Evalyn Walsh McLean, owner of the Hope Diamond, once lost the gem under a Stork Club table during an evening visit to the club. Ernest Hemingway was able to cash his $100,000 check for the film rights of For Whom the Bell Tolls at the Stork Club to settle his bill.
In the 1940s, workers of the Stork Club desired to be represented by a union, and by 1957, the employees of all similar New York venues were union members. However, Billingsley was still unwilling to allow his workers to organize, which led to union supporters picketing in front of the club for many years until its closure. During this time, many of the club's celebrity and non-celebrity guests stopped visiting the Stork Club; it closed in 1965 and was demolished the following year. The site is now the location of Paley Park, a small vest-pocket park.
History
Early history
The Stork Club was owned and operated by Sherman Billingsley an ex-bootlegger who came to New York from Enid, Oklahoma. The Stork Club first opened in 1929 at 132 West 58th Street, just down the street from Billingsley's apartment at 152 West 58th Street. Billingsley's handwritten recollections of the early days recall that he was approached by two gamblers he knew from Oklahoma in his New York real estate office, proposing to open a restaurant together, which he accepted. The origin of the name of the club is unknown; Billingsley once remarked, "Don't ask me how or why I picked the name, because I just don't remember." New York City's El Morocco had the sophistication and Toots Shor's drew the sporting crowd, but the Stork Club mixed power, money, and glamor. Unlike its competitors, the Stork stayed open on Sunday nights and during the summer.One of the first Stork Club customers was writer Heywood Broun, who resided in the vicinity. Broun's first visit to the Stork was actually made by mistake; he believed it to be a funeral home, but he soon became a regular, and invited his celebrity friends, as the name of the club spread further afield. Before long, Billingsley's Oklahoma partners sold their shares to a man named Thomas Healy. Eventually, Healy revealed that he was a "front" for three New York mobsters. Billingsley was kidnapped and held for ransom by Mad Dog Coll, who was a rival of his mob partners. Before the ransom money could be collected by Coll, he was lured to a telephone booth, where he was shot to death. After the incident, the secret gangster partners reluctantly allowed Billingsley to buy them out for $30,000.
Another New York nightclub owner, Texas Guinan, introduced Billingsley to her friend, the entertainment and gossip columnist Walter Winchell, in 1930. In September 1930, Winchell called the Stork Club "New York's New Yorkiest place on W. 58th" in his New York Daily Mirror column. That evening, the Stork Club was filled with moneyed guests. Someone else who read Winchell's column in 1930 was singer-actress Helen Morgan, who had just finished filming a movie on Long Island. Morgan decided to hold a cast party at the Stork Club, paying the tab with two $1,000 bills. Winchell became a regular at the Stork Club; what he saw and heard there at his private Table 50 was the basis of his newspaper columns and radio broadcasts. Billingsley also kept professionals on his staff whose job was to listen to the chatter, determine fact from rumor, and then report the factual news to local columnists. The practice was seen as protective of the patrons by shielding them from unfounded reports, and also a continual source of publicity for the club. Billingsley's long-standing relationship with Ethel Merman, which began in 1939, brought the theater crowd to the Stork; there, she had a waiter assigned to her whose job was just to light her cigarettes. 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. The police asked guests to quietly pay their checks and leave the building; this took two hours. In 1934, the Stork Club moved to 3 East 53rd Street, where it remained until it closed in October 1965. Billingsley's guest list for the 53rd Street opening consisted of people from Broadway and Park Avenue. He sent out 1,000 invitations for champagne and dinner. The women found much to like about the fresh flowers everywhere and the mirrored walls, while the men were pleased to see their favorite dishes on the club's menu, as well as many of their personal and business friends at the opening. When the Stork Club became a tenant in 1934, the building was known as the Physicians and Surgeons Building. Many of the medical tenants were unhappy about the night club moving in, but in February 1946, Billingsley purchased the seven-story building for $300,000 cash, evicting the doctors to expand the club.
By 1936, the Stork was doing well enough to have a million-dollar gross for the first time. Young debutante Brenda Frazier made her first visit to the Stork Club in the spring of 1938; she became a regular, bringing many young people from the society set with her. Billingsley welcomed young people who were not old enough to drink. He encouraged them to gather at the Stork Club by inviting debutantes to the club and holding a yearly "Glamor Girl" election. In 1941, he selected the North Carolina debutante Betty Cordon as the year's glamour girl. As the father of three daughters, Billingsley kept an eye on the young people, making sure they were not served alcohol and that they were able to have an enjoyable time at the Stork Club without it.
The Stork Club previously provided live entertainment, but after Billingsley realized the reason people came to the club was to watch people, he abandoned the floor shows in favor of giving expensive gifts to regular customers of the club. A live band was provided in the main dining room for dancing. Billingsley had a keen sense for business. Before he purchased the building where the Stork Club was, the yearly rent for the space it occupied was $12,000. Billingsley rented out the hat- and coat-check area to a separate concession for $27,000 a year. This paid the rent for the Stork Club, leaving $15,000 annually to cover bad checks. When Ernest Hemingway wanted to pay his bill with a $100,000 check he received for the movie rights to For Whom the Bell Tolls, Billingsley told him he would be able to cash the check after the club closed at 4:00 am. He kept the Stork Club's name vivid in the minds of his patrons through mailing lists and a club newsletter. Billingsley was also aware of the need for a good working relationship with the press; food and drink for reporters and photographers assigned to cover the Stork Club were on the house.
Controversies
Tax raid
In early 1944, New York mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia ordered a check on the books of all major city night clubs. City tax accountants soon investigated the Stork Club, the Copacabana, and other city night spots. By July, auditors turned in a report claiming that the clubs were overcharging patrons on tax, sending the city the proper amount, and keeping the overbilled sums. One Saturday in July, city officials arrived at the Stork Club with a court order granting permission for them to seize the club's property for the amount that was claimed to be overcharged as taxes, plus penalties. The total for the Stork Club was $181,000. Billingsley, out of town with his family, was notified. The club's employees refused to turn anything over to the officials, who were intent on closing it.Upon his return, Billingsley firmly protested that the Stork Club did not owe the city any money and was up to date on its tax payments. A compromise was reached: the club could stay open as long as a custodian for the city was allowed to be on the premises. Billingsley was eventually able to get a court order to eject the custodian, but the case dragged on for five years, costing Billingsley $100,000.