"Fogadjunk, hogy én vagyok itt az egyetlen pasas, aki nem tudja, mi lesz a vége." Állítólag Toots Shor amerikai étteremtulajdonos mondta, amikor barátai elvitték a Hamletre.
grafika: Erdély Dániel
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"I bet I'm the only guy here who don't know how the thing comes out."
Toots Shor
---------------- About Toots Shor -----------
From: Norman A. Schorr & Co.
369 Lexington Avenue New York 17, N.Y. TN 7-0575
For: Straus-Duparquet, Inc,
33 East 17th Street, New York 3, N.Y.
Toots Shor's New Restaurant Previews at Hotel Show
NEW YORK - A preview of Toots Shor's new restaurant, now nearing completion, will be displayed at the National Hotel Exposition at the New York Coliseum, November 6-9.
Straus-Duparquet, Inc., the firm which is furnishing and equipping the actual restaurant, is re-creating a 300 square foot section of the main dining room as Part of its Hotel Show exhibit.
The "model" Toots Shor's will be complete with seating for 12, a fireplace, oak floors, and Flemish bond brick wall. But no bar or kitchen.
Scheduled to open Officially in mid-December, the real Toots Shor restaurant is being built at 27-39 West 52nd Street at a cost of $1,500,000- Kitchens, refrigeration, furniture, furnishings and supplies are being furnished by Straus-Duparquet which collaborated with Charles Luckman Associates in the design of the restaurant. H R H Construction Corporation is the builder.
Toots Shor's restaurant will retain its traditional atmosphere of "conviviality in the midst of luxurious surroundings." Although the three-story restaurant will be entirely new, it will resemble the famous "old" Toots Shor's in many respects.
The oversized circular bar, a New York landmark when Toots Shor's restaurant was one block south on West 51st Street, is being repeated on the main level just past the door in the new establishment.
There is one significant new note being added: a play for female customers. A light, feminine decor will be featured in the lover level dining room. Here the chairs will be smaller in scale than in the main dining room, the floors will be carpeted, the walls will present an arched effect through the use of cherry wood panels alternating with vinyl wall coverings, and one wall will be illuminated to give the illusion of sunlight filtering in.
Focus of attention in the main dining room will be a Flemish bond brick wall in the center of which is a large fireplace with a distinctive hand-hammered, angular-shaped bronze hood. The chairs are light oak, upholstered in a deep red plastic.
Seating capacity of the three dining areas is 600. The basic color on the main and lover levels is crimson. On the mezzanine level grey predominates. Each level has its own bar to facilitate service.
Straus-Duparquet, which designed, fabricated and installed the kitchens in Toots Shor's former restaurant, is responsible for all food service facilities in the new one. These include the main kitchen on the lower level, a supplementary kitchen on the main level and a service pantry on the mezzanine. Each of the two kitchens will have its own oyster counter with a man on duty whose only job will be to open shellfish.
Some of the special china, glassware and flatware being prepared for the new restaurant, as well as some of the pieces of stainless steel kitchen equipment, especially fabricated for use in the restaurant, will be displayed at the Hotel Show.
Charley Conerly, ace quarterback of the New York Giants professional football team, joins Toots Shore and C.W. Robbins, Executive Vice-President of Straus-Duparquet, Inc., in a sneak preview of Toots Shore's new restaurant. A section of the restaurant has been recreated as part of the Straus-Duparquet's exhibit at the National Hotel Exposition, now being held at the New York Coliseum.
The restaurant's scheduled to open in mid-December at 27-39 West 52nd Street, is being furnished by Straus-Duparquet which collaborated with Charles Luckman Associates, architects, in designing the restaurant.
The actual restaurant will seat 600. The "model" section here sits just 12.
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Shor, Toots 1
Toots Shor, New York restaurateur, boarded a taxicab some months ago, and asked the driver, "Know of a decent restaurant? I'm a stranger here."
"Yes, sir," said the cabby. "One of the greatest eating places in this whole world is Toots Shor's on Fifty-second Street. I'll drive you straight there."
At the end of the journey Toots was so pleased that he slipped the cabby a ten-spot, saying, "Keep the change."
"T'anks," said the driver. "T'anks indeed, Mr. Shor!"
Cerf, Bennet.
Quoted in: Reader's Digest Fun & Laughter: A Treasure House of Humor, (N.Y.: Reader's Digest, 1968).
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Behind the Scenes:
Toots Shor
This "snapshot" was written by Audrey in her book, Love, Alice.
Toots Shor's restaurant on West 52nd Street was both convenient and convivial to Mr. Gleason. He liked the host, the patrons, the atmosphere and the liquid refreshments. Toots' famous line was, "A bum who ain't drunk by midnight ain't trying," and some of the great names in sports, entertainment, business and politics used to spend hard hours trying.
Love Alice --
My Life as a Honeymooner
is available online for $14.95 plus shipping and handling. Click here.
Jackie's friendship with Toots smut have begun at the old "Club 18." Toots had started as a bouncer, did well and opened one of the most popular restaurants in New York known for hearty food, steaks, chops, huge slabs of roast beef, etc. Before Jackie struck it rich, he used to patronize Toots' because Toots would carry him on the cuff.
Toots said to me, "How do you like that bum?" (Toots' favorite term of endearment used only for those he loved.) "He'd come in here with his friends, dead broke, order everything in the house and when the check came, he'd sign with a big flourish, leaving a large tip for the waiter and captain, and I'd have to give them the tip! At one time he was into me for over $10,000. I gotta hand it to him, thought,when he got into the big money, he came by and handed me the cash, saying, "Here's what I'm sure I owe you."
I used to go to Toots' a lot. One night he told me a couple had come in from Omaha and complained to him bitterly about their steaks. They said, "We have much better steaks than this in Omaha." Toots, ever the genial host, said, "So what , when you're through eating, you're still in Omaha!"
Possibly inspired by the ranks of New York professional athletes sharing the festive board one night, Jackie suggested that Toots and he have a race around the block for double or nothing on the bill. A race between two men of such girth that the tying of their shoes required planning and stamina, had the patrons loud in their comments, none of which will be repeated here. Jackie had only one stipulation. If they both ran the same direction, a copy might take out the two of them, thinking he had felons fleeing the scene.
Jackie would run west on 52nd, north on 56th Avenue, east on 53rd, south on 5th, and west on 52nd to the restaurant. Toots would do the same course in reverse. There is no record of any bets being laid by the gambling crowd at the bar, as the "sprinters" took their marks and then hurled themselves down the sidewalks. Pedestrians leapt for cover rarely having seen fat, middle-aged men charging down the street either running from or to cardiac arrest.
Glider Gleason flagged a taxi on 6th, sank into the back seat as they covered 53rd and pulled up halfway down the block at 5th. Five bucks for one-block ride was aces with the hackie. Swifty Shor panted to his own door only to find Jackie toasting him with his own Scotch.
When Toots finally could breathe again and the blood returned to his brain, he recalled that he had not passed or been passed by Jackie at any time in the race. Toots never used foul language but he came close that night. Jackie paid. He never said whether it was doubled or not.
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Toots Shor's restaurant
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