Friday, January 05, 2007

Obit: Vincent Sardi Jr.,91, Owner of Legendary Sardi's Broadway Restaurant

The ANNOTICO Report

Sardi's restaurant is located in the theatre district of NYC, and is known for it's hundreds of caricatures of show-business celebrities that adorn its walls, Sardi's opened at its current location in 1927.

Vincent Sardi and his wife Eugenia (Jenny) opened their first restaurant, called "The Little Restaurant", at 146 West 44th Street in 1921. When that building was slated for demolition in 1926, they accepted an offer from the theater magnate Shubert brothers to relocate to a new building down the block.

When business slowed after the move to the new location, Vincent Sardi was looking for a gimmick to attract customers. Recalling the movie-star caricatures that decorated the walls of Joe Zelli's, a Parisian restaurant and jazz club, Sardi decided to recreate that effect in his establishment. The first official caricature was of  Ted Healy, the vaudevillian of Three Stooges  fame. Sardi's son, Vincent Jr., took over restaurant operations in 1947,

Frequent mentions of the restaurant in newspaper columns by Walter Winchell  added to Sardi's growing popularity. Winchell was a member of a group of newspaper men, press agents, and drama critics that met for lunch regularly at Sardi's and referred to themselves as the "Cheese Club", and included Heywood Broun, George Jessel, and Ring Lardner.

The restaurant became known as a pre and post theater hang-out, as well as a location for opening night parties. Vincent Sardi, a theater lover, kept the restaurant open much later than others in the area to accommodate the schedules of Broadway performers.

Alex Gard, who was the first caricaturist, created more than 700 caricatures for the restaurant, died in 1948. John Mackey took over, but was soon replaced by Don Bevan. Bevan did the drawings until 1974 when he retired, and was replaced by Richard Baratz and continues to the present day.

While the Sardi family was Italian, the cuisine of their restaurant is not; rather it tends toward "English food" , a continental menu .Considered a Broadway institution, Sardi's was actually the birthplace of the "Tony Award". and still today, Sardi's is the location of the announcement of the Tony Award nominations each year, as well as the presentation of the outer Critic Circle Awards.

Currently, there are more than 1,300 celebrity caricatures on display at Sardi's.

On the day Jimmy Cagney died, his caricature was stolen from the Sardi's wall. Since then, when drawings are done, the originals go into a vault, and two copies are made. One goes to the lucky subject of the caricature, the other up on the Sardi's wall. This way, potential thieves won't have their moment.

In 1979, Vincent Sardi, Jr. donated a collection of 227 caricatures from the restaurant to The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. [From Wikipedia]

 

OBITUARIES

Vincent Sardi Jr., 91;Broadway eatery was where stage stars were drawn, literally

Los Angeles Times

From the Associated Press

January 5, 2007

 

NEW YORK  Vincent Sardi Jr., owner of Sardi's restaurant, the legendary Broadway watering hole where for decades the New York theater district celebrated its opening nights, died Thursday. He was 91.

Sardi died of complications related to a urinary tract infection in a hospital in Berlin, Vt.,said Max Klimavicius, managing partner in the restaurant.

"This is a loss to the restaurant and the Broadway community," said Klimavicius, who knew Sardi for more than three decades. "He was a true gentleman, a one of a kind."

Sardi's, located in the heart of midtown Manhattan's theater district, was a magnet for celebrities, particularly in the years before and after World War II, and many of them, especially when they were appearing on Broadway, had their caricatures on its walls.

...Sardi's was once a place where deals and careers were cemented.

"His restaurant was the focal point for meetings in the business,".... "They all ! ate and hung out there. It was the theatrical hangout."

....Sardi was a larger-than-life figure, a beloved man from a bygone era who worked the room and everybody in it with much skill, a consummate host.

Sardi's father started the restaurant in 1921, and the son took over around 1945 after serving in the Marines during World War II. Sardi, who was born in New York, eventually sold the restaurant in 1985 but took control of it again about five years later. Sardi then retired in 1997. His grandson, Sean Ricketts, now manages the eatery.

...The restaurant's enduring success proved that the quick-witted Sardi was more than a personality....To be able to have the staying power for these years, it's a testimony to the kind of operator he was,...He...loved to try different dishes.

 

 

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