19 September 2009

things #3

I don't smoke. but I like souvenirs. so there are a few ashtrays in my house. this one brings back so many memories.



Cleveland-born Ted Hook was a dancer. he appeard in some 400 films -- from "Miss Sadie Thompson" to "Some Like It Hot." later he was a Las Vegas chorus boy. then personal assistant to Tallulah Bankhead & Joan Blondell. in the '70s he opend a restaurant calld Backstage next to the Martin Beck Theater on Broadway. it quickly became my favorite NYC watering hole.

the stories -- mine & those of others -- are endless abt this special place. I became addictd to the brandy alexanders made by Kim the bartender on whom I had a terrible crush. one year I even had a birthday party there.

like so many other things that shine & disappear Backstage is no longer. it became an Asian restaurant & then I think a sports bar. but for a decade it was an integral part of my visits to the City.

1 comment:

Bill Fogle said...

Oh how neat. At one point I intended to do a series of objects which would serve as a place to start writing. It didn't happen. I think I have lost my nerve (read, confidence).

The deepest part of memory isn't stored by scent, as they say, but by place ... location ... landscape. In theater the sets can be suggestive and minimalistic, but in the life the opposite is true.