The Stork Club Cookbook and Bar Book - (Excelsior Editions) by Sherman Billingsley & Lucius Beebe (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

Relive the glory days of New York's poshest night spot with recipes and drinks you can prepare at your own home!

In its heyday, The Stork Club was the "place to be seen" among New York's glitterati. Gossip columnist Walter Winchell held the corner table, recording the comings and goings of the brightest stars of stage and screen-including Lauren Bacall, Bette Davis, and Ralph Bellamy-along with shining literary lions-from Ernest Hemingway to Dashiell Hamett and Anita Loos-to politicians and bigwigs-including regulars like J. Edgar Hoover. And the Club's host-Sherman Billingsley-became famous for keeping the fun going to the early hours of the morning. The Stork Club Cookbook and Bar Book brings back these two classic works along with Shermane Billingsley's own "How to Throw a Stork Club Party" and her memories of her father's nightclub. Long unavailable in print, and never gathered together before, the entire suite of classic works is introduced with a brief history of the Stork Club by Broadway historian Ken Bloom. You'll be able to follow in the culinary footsteps of major stars while you enjoy Quail à la Jane Russell and Eggs Eva Gabor that you can whip up in your own kitchen. You'll tipple along with your favorite bar-hoppers, enjoying drinks like Nelson Eddy's Alexander the Great and Ralph Bellamy's Scotch Sour right in your own living room!

Review Quotes

"The new edition of Sherman Billingsley's Stork Club Cookbook and Bar Book is a delicious treat and a vibrant, sparkling trip into the world of the most famous night club of the twentieth century. If one were to research the most glamorous club in the United States from 1930 thru the mid 1960s, there would be one club mentioned--The Stork Club! There was not a more sensational club in Manhattan, or anywhere else. 'Everything that rises must converge' and no doubt Flannery O'Conner meant at 'The Stork.' The food and ambience attracted youthful and beautiful debutantes like Brenda Frazer and Gloria Vanderbilt, and during World War II generals and uniformed soldiers laughed and danced with their wives and girlfriends. Movie star handsome John F. Kennedy brought many a date to the club, and the Roosevelts and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor frequented regularly. The most celebrated Broadway and Hollywood stars--Cary Grant, Gary Cooper, Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio, Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart, Judy Garland, Bert Lahr, Ethel Merman, and giants like Ernest Hemingway and Orson Wells--all enjoyed evenings at The Stork. This was the place to be seen and the Cub Room was 'the room.' Sadly we cannot visit today, as it closed its doors in 1965, but we can taste the delicious cuisine of chef-in-chief, Gustave Reynaud as he directs us in its preparation, and enjoy an Omelette Gloria Vanderbilt or a Stuffed Squab Damon Runyon, followed by a Lucille Ball Pink Lady! This book contains over 100 recipes and a charming introduction by Shermane Billingsley, the club owner's daughter. The energy, the pulse of the brightest club that gleamed for over thirty years, can be experienced and tasted in this delightful, expanded edition." -- Jane Lahr, author, editor, agent

"The new edition of Sherman Billingsley's Stork Club Cookbook and Bar Book is a delicious treat and a vibrant, sparkling trip into the world of the most famous night club of the twentieth century. If one were to research the most glamorous club in the United States from 1930 thru the mid 1960s, there would be one club mentioned-The Stork Club! There was not a more sensational club in Manhattan, or anywhere else. 'Everything that rises must converge' and no doubt Flannery O'Conner meant at 'The Stork.' The food and ambience attracted youthful and beautiful debutantes like Brenda Frazer and Gloria Vanderbilt, and during World War II generals and uniformed soldiers laughed and danced with their wives and girlfriends. Movie star handsome John F. Kennedy brought many a date to the club, and the Roosevelts and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor frequented regularly. The most celebrated Broadway and Hollywood stars-Cary Grant, Gary Cooper, Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio, Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart, Judy Garland, Bert Lahr, Ethel Merman, and giants like Ernest Hemingway and Orson Wells-all enjoyed evenings at The Stork. This was the place to be seen and the Cub Room was 'the room.' Sadly we cannot visit today, as it closed its doors in 1965, but we can taste the delicious cuisine of chef-in-chief, Gustave Reynaud as he directs us in its preparation, and enjoy an Omelette Gloria Vanderbilt or a Stuffed Squab Damon Runyon, followed by a Lucille Ball Pink Lady! This book contains over 100 recipes and a charming introduction by Shermane Billingsley, the club owner's daughter. The energy, the pulse of the brightest club that gleamed for over thirty years, can be experienced and tasted in this delightful, expanded edition." - Jane Lahr, author, editor, agent

About the Author

Sherman Billingsley founded and ran The Stork Club, and his daughter Shermane has kept its legacy alive over the decades. Lucius Beebe was an American journalist, raconteur, and man about town famous for his coverage of the nightlife of the 1930s and 1940s.