Bernard Shor was an American proprietor of a restaurant "Toots Shor's Restaurant".
Background
Bernard was born on May 6, 1903 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, the third child of Abraham Shorr, a German immigrant of Austrian descent, and Fanny Kaufman, who was born in Russia. They lived over their candy store, "a Jewish family in a Catholic neighborhood. "
Although some have suggested the nickname "Toots" was a corruption of "Tootsie, " Shor denied any knowledge of its derivation.
Young Toots learned to play baseball on the sandlots, to shoot pool in church recreation centers, and to fight in the streets.
Education
Shor went to South Philadelphia High School, often cutting classes to hustle pool. Although he would have preferred a boxing career, he attended Drexel Institute part-time and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania for a year. He said he never brought it up because "I wouldn't want people to think I was educated. "
Career
Shor worked for a cousin's shirt company and for a time represented BVD underwear as a traveling salesman, but he preferred city life. In Atlantic City, New Jersey, he was hired as a lifeguard despite the fact that he could not swim.
Toots moved to New York City in 1930, living rent-free in the Central Park South apartment of a cousin. Unemployed, he philosophized, "I don't want to be a millionaire; I just want to live like one. " Street tough and confident, he worked at a succession of speakeasies as a greeter, bouncer, and occasional bookmaker.
Toots was hired as manager. In 1936 he bought the tavern with borrowed money. That same year he won $50, 000 betting on his beloved New York Giants, then lost it all on the World Series. Those were exciting days for Shor. "I was learning how to live, " he reminisced. "I learned how important it was to be a spender. " But in 1939 Shor was forced to sell the tavern to pay a gambling debt.
Out of action, he waited for another opportunity. It arrived with a tip from Horace Stoneham, owner of the New York Giants, that the Sixth Avenue el tracks would be razed. Shor borrowed $50, 000 to buy a property at nearby 51 West Fifty-first Street. Proud to be called "saloonkeeper, " he opened Toots Shor's in 1940. During World War II he patriotically chastised those who complained about the midnight curfew: "Any bum that can't get drunk by midnight ain't tryin. '" .
After the war, the restaurant operation expanded and Toots added sports murals - "hand-painted pictures, " he called them. Toots Shor's "the saloon with a soul, " was a showcase for entertainers, athletes, and sportswriters, and a hangout for Shor's friends like Joe DiMaggio and Frank Sinatra. Shor earned, and enjoyed, his reputation for hard drinking and his notoriety for verbally abusing customers.
Shor was featured on "This Is Your Life, " a program that his pal comedian Jackie Gleason called the "worst TV show he ever saw. " In 1959, Shor sold the lease of his restaurant for $1. 5 million.
He reopened the next year at 33 West Fifty-second Street, lost money, and was closed for failure to pay taxes. Before looking for a new location, Shor vacationed in Europe and guessed, "I'm probably the only bum who went to Europe and came back as ignorant as when I left. " The ground breaking in October 1960 for the new Toots Shor's at 5 East Fifty-fourth Street was attended by numerous luminaries, including Chief Justice Earl Warren and former heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey. When the restaurant opened, with a mortgage secured through the intervention of Jimmy Hoffa, it looked like the old place: oak floors, wood paneling, and a circular bar. Again the menu featured roast beef hash, but no dishes that contained garlic or that Shor could not pronounce. Business fell off gradually. The restaurant was bankrupt in 1971.
Shor died in New York City.
Achievements
Bernard Shor founded a legendary restaurant, Toots Shor's Restaurant, in Manhattan. He was known as a "saloonkeeper", friend, and confidante to some of New York's biggest celebrities during that era. But only in his restaurant celebrity alone was not enough to receive first-class service in Shor's restaurant. Later he sold the lease for his restaurant for $1. 5 million.
Personality
Shor, who weighed as much as 275 pounds, was "an oversized cherub" to friends, an uncouth loudmouth to critics. Shor was extremely sentimental and a serious mourner, organizing the funerals of departed friends and honoring their memories with prodigious drinking bouts.
Connections
In November 1934, Shor married a former showgirl, Marion ("Baby") Volk; they had four children. Shor and his wife Marion ("Baby") lived for many years in a 12-room double apartment at 480 Park Avenue.
