Background
John Billingsley was born on March 10, 1900, in North Enid, Oklahoma, United States, the son of Robert Billingsley and Emily Collingsworth. His father was an indifferent provider.
(The long-forgotten STORK CLUB COOKBOOK, originally publis...)
The long-forgotten STORK CLUB COOKBOOK, originally published privately in 1949 by Sherman Billingsley, commemorates the 20th anniversary of the founding of New York's legendary Stork Club, located at 3 East 53rd Street, just east of Fifth Avenue. A favorite Billingsley tactic was to ply his famous guests with presents. Besides neckties for the men and perfume for the ladies, this book, published on the heels of the successful STORK CLUB BAR BOOK by Lucius Beebe, was produced in a limited printing and gifted to regulars, as stated, "friends and discriminating patrons" of the club. It includes recipes from chef Gustave Reynaud for 100 dishes in categories of Potages, Salades, Entrees, Sauces, Potatoes and Vegetables, Egg Dishes, Chinese Specialties, and Desserts. Notable entries include "Walter Winchell Burger," "Poached Kennebec Salmon Steak a la Morton Downey," "Omelette Steve Hannagan," "Coconut Snowball," and "Joan Fontaine's Bananas with Rum." Also included are 24 cocktails by head barman Nathaniel Cook, i.e. "John Garfield's Rob Roy," "Ann Sheridan Cocktail," "Eddie Whittmer's Blessed Event," and, of course, the gin-based "Stork Club Cocktail." This book is reproduced from a "lost" copy of the original STORK CLUB COOKBOOK, personally inscribed by Mr. Billingsley himself. The book reflects the style, flavor and, unfortunately, the mild imperfections of the printing processes of that era. (6 x 9-inch format; 136 pages)
https://www.amazon.com/Stork-Club-Cookbook-Sherman-Billingsley/dp/1453809031?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1453809031
John Billingsley was born on March 10, 1900, in North Enid, Oklahoma, United States, the son of Robert Billingsley and Emily Collingsworth. His father was an indifferent provider.
His family was so poor that Billingsley's schooling ended after the fourth grade.
John’s first earnings came from the sale of discarded whiskey bottles at a penny each to bootleggers, who flourished in the "dry" state of Oklahoma. In 1912, Billingsley moved to Anadarko, Oklahoma, to work with his older brothers in their chain of drugstores, where whiskey was sold under the counter. Leaving Oklahoma in 1917 to see America, Billingsley settled in Detroit, just across the river from an abundant supply of Canadian whiskey. In 1923, with $5, 000 in cash accumulated from the operation of grocery stores in Detroit, Billingsley moved east and acquired a drugstore in the Bronx, New York City, where during the Prohibition years he dispensed whiskey by medical prescription; eventually he owned a chain of twenty such stores in the Bronx and nearby Westchester County. He also invested in real estate and built a number of apartment houses and private homes.
Shortly before the stock-market crash in 1929, Billingsley opened a speakeasy in New York City on West 58th Street, the first of three establishments to bear the name Stork Club. This Stork Club was closed by Prohibition agents, but in 1932 a second version was opened at Park Avenue and 516t Street. With the repeal of Prohibition in 1933 the club moved to its last location, 3 East 53rd Street. There Billingsley's gift for showmanship made his supper club famous. Billingsley capitalized shrewdly upon the new chic of "café society. " By creating an atmosphere of exclusivity in his club, he attracted a clientele that wished to see, or be, celebrities. Pretty young women with a Social Register background, people in the news, syndicated gossip columnists, stage and motion-picture stars, and decorous, well-dressed out-of-town visitors were swept past the red velvet rope in the foyer and seated in one of the club's five rooms. Those deemed sufficiently important or attractive dined in the plush Cub Room, where dinner checks were sometimes not presented.
On holidays and anniversaries, or when "Sherm" was in a genial mood, favored patrons received gifts, ranging from Napoleon brandy to a pedigreed puppy or even an automobile. Billingsley made it easy for even his less notable customers to remember that they had been at the Stork Club. Upon them he bestowed lipsticks embossed with the Stork insignia, powder compacts, gold cigarette holders, tie clasps, golden keys to the club's front door, neckties, garters, and champagne - all appearing unannounced at the patrons' tables accompanied by the owner's card. His customers confirmed this judgment by stealing each year about 2, 000 of the black ashtrays inscribed Stork Club in white letters - and they were welcome to their plunder. At the next table one might see Ginger Rogers, the Darryl Zanucks, Tommy Manville about to announce his latest marital intentions, or Ann Sheridan with Steve Hannagan, the flamboyant press agent who advised his friend Billingsley to "make the customers floor show. " It was at the Stork Club that General Douglas MacArthur was feted after his return from Korea. There Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier announced their engagement, and Lana Turner and Artie Shaw their divorce. J. Edgar Hoover was a frequent visitor, as were the duke and duchess of Windsor and Ethel Merman, for whom a waiter was especially detailed to light cigarettes.
The Billingsley formula for attracting well-heeled patrons included advertising in Ivy League college publications and offering $1 debutante luncheons. When a newsworthy person arrived in New York, Billingsley sent a special invitation along with orchids, a bottle of premium whiskey, perfume, or champagne. One device for keeping the Stork Club in the news was to refuse admittance to a public figure for some alleged misbehavior. Among those banished were Elliot Roosevelt, Humphrey Bogart, and the editor of the New Yorker, Harold Ross, who had published an unflattering profile of the Broadway columnist Walter Winchell. Winchell had his own permanent table in the Cub Room and certified that the Stork Club was "the New Yorkiest place in town. " Two dance bands played in shifts in the mirrored blue and gold main dining room, and two crews of press agents worked around the clock to keep the Stork Club in the news. In addition to all this, Steve Hannagan advised that "one good fight a year is swell for a nightclub. " Among the patrons who obliged were Ernest Hemingway and Johnny Weissmuller, each of whom became annoyed with a convivial stranger and threw a punch.
Josephine Baker, the black entertainer, charged in 1951 that she was discriminated against at the club. A city investigation did not support the charge, but there was picketing by civil rights demonstrators and more picketing by the restaurant workers' union in a labor controversy that dragged on from 1957 to 1962. The 1960's marked the appearance of a new kind of nightclub, the discotheque, which appealed to a new generation of fashionable people who did not feel the need for Billingsley's imprimatur. When the pacesetters deserted the Stork Club, so did the followers. The club closed on October 5, 1965. He died in New York City.
(The long-forgotten STORK CLUB COOKBOOK, originally publis...)
Billingsley married twice. His first marriage, to Ina Dee, ended in divorce in 1924. On August 25, 1924, he married Hazel Donnelly, a former Ziegfeld Follies chorus girl; they had three children.