 During World War II, New York Mayor Jimmy Byrnes imposed a midnight curfew for all businesses in the city. The clubs were up in arms, but Toots Shor calmed everyone down when he stated:
"Any crum bum what can't get plastered by midnight just ain't tryin'."
In the 1930s and 1940s, Toots Shor's was the place to be in New York City. It was home away from home for the day's famous athletes, ambitious politicians, and Broadway stars. While some called it a restaurant, Toots called his place a saloon. Eat when you drink? That was a crime in Toot's book. The liquor was hard and the food was mediocre. The place allowed women, but they weren't welcome. The center of Toots Shor's was the man himself, burly, impudent, hard-working, high-spirited and sentimemntal, possessor of a great talent for making friends and enemies.
Offered is a rare ashtray, a venerable relic that someone swiped from the eponymous New York saloon. The maroon square ceramic ashtray has 4 cigarette rests and sports the "TS" logo inside and "Toots Shor" on the exterior side. (4 1/8" long x 4 1/8" wide). Handle with care, and pass down to the next generation.
Temple of Palship.
Toots Shor was a New York City landmark and bear-hugging pal of everybody from shoeshine boy to newsstand guy to Joe DiMaggio, Frank Sinatra, Jackie Gleason, Jack Dempsey, Dwight Eisenhower, Frank Gifford, Walter Cronkite, Yogi Berra, Mike Wallace, Edward R. Murrow, Earl Warren, John F. Kennedy, Frank Costello, and Jimmy Hoffa at his "saloon with a soul" on West 51st Street. Palship, as John Bainbridge observes in the nearly-forgotten 1950 profile of Toots, The Wonderful World of Toots Shor, was what the legendary saloon was all about. Being called a "crumb-bum" by Toots meant you'd earned his praise; in contrast, his most bitter insult was to call someone "just a piece of raisin cake." One remarkable book celebrate the great men's club like no other. Rare, previously-owned First Edition.
The Rest is History.
Known from coast to coast, the name "Toots" calls up the smiling, rubicund
face of the nation's most famous saloonkeeper and bum. Toots Shor, born in
Philadelphia, had the good sense to migrate almost immediately to New York's
bright lights. In the legendary speakeasy era he became a legend himself, as
bouncer, guardian, and manager. He opened his own joint in 1940, and the
rest is history. The greats of the sport world and of the stage and films
his bar and delighted in his steak while trying (usually in vain) to match
his prowess as imbiber and raconteur. Toots emerges, intact and unique, in
this loving and unmistakably authentic portrait by Bob Considine, a fellow
bum of long stanging. Rich in names, humor and good stories, it provides a
feast for any reader. Rare, previously-owned 1969 Edition.
Toots in Pen and Ink.
Giants of American culture and sports found in Toots Short a unique sense of comfort, somewhere between his relentless insults and trademark bear hug. One image in particular, drawn for John Bainbridge's book by American cartoonist Alan Dunn, depicts the famous bear hug. Over a period of 47 years, Dunn created 9 covers and nearly 2000 cartoons for New Yorker Magazine. He lived in New York City and studied at Columbia University, the National Academy of Design, and the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation. Dunn defined himself as a "social cartoonist, whose pen is no sword but a titillating feather that reminds us that we do not act as we speak or think."
The First 100-Proof Book Ever Written.
Nearly a quarter-century ago, James Bacon, a close friend of Jackie Gleason since 1949, wrote the definitive biography of The Great One, an intimate portrait of the outrageous comedian and revealing tribute to his relationship with hard-drinking conspirator Toots Shor. Writes Bacon, "When not working on the TV show, Jackie indulged in his great hobby -- lousing up Toots Shor." Previously-owned First Edition.
Toots Shor, the Film.
Directed by his granddaughter, TOOTS is a provocative film, offered on DVD.
It's a loving and unmistakably authentic portrait of the self-made, unapologetic and quintessentially American man who became the unlikely den-mother to the heroes of America's golden age. Politicians and gangsters, sports heroes and movie stars -- Sinatra, Gleason, Dimaggio, Ruth, Costello, Eisenhower, Nixon, Warren -- for 30 years, they all found their way to Toots' eponymous saloon on New York's West 51st Street for food and drink, served up with a heaping side of insults and put downs. From its post-WW II heyday to its devastating decline in the 1970s, this film reveals as much about the city Toots loved as it does about the man and his enduring legacy.
Featuring: Walter Cronkite, Mike Wallace, Frank Gifford, Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, Nick Pileggi, David Brown, Peter Duchin, Maury Allen, Dave Anderson, Bill Gallo, Joe Garagiola, Sidney Zion, Gay Talese, and Gianni Russo.
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