Sardi's

Country:	USA / English

Place and history

"Sardi's" is a restaurant located in New York City theater district at 234 West 44th Street, between Broadway and Eighth Avenue. It was founded in March 1927 by Vincent Sardi Sr. (1885 - 1969). His son, Vincent Jr. (1915 - 2007), took over "Sardi's" in 1946 and the full control after the death of his father.

To note that scenes of two films, namely "Country Girl" (1951 / with Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly and William Holden) and "Please Don’t Eat the Daisies" (1960 / with Doris Day and David Niven) were filmed at the "Sardi's".

Over a thousand of caricatures of Broadway celebrities, a large part of them drawn between 1921 and 1926 by Russian refugee Alex Gard, are adorning the walls of the retaurant, thus giving the place a real typical aspect.

Lee Falk at "Sardi's"

The restaurant is considered an institution in the Broadway theatre district. From the fifties to the seventies, it was also one of the Lee Falk's favorite place when he stayed in New-York (for example on March 1950 as a guest at Bill Slater's Luncheon at Sardi's, aired from the restaurant, Lee Falk explaining there the technique of writing a successful adventure strip). The restaurant was also the place where was held the annual meeting of the "Friends of the Phantom" people, as Ed Rhoades and Pete Klaus, the 1993 review founders. Meetings were also held in holiday dinners for many years in presence of Lee Falk plus some of "The Phantom" fans and comics artists, such as Sy Barry.

An unpleasant incident...

Al Capp and Ham Fisher, creator of the popular comics "Joe Palooka", had been on bad terms for several years. Even if during the thirties, and before the creation of "Lil' Abner", Al Capp had been hired by Ham Fisher for ghosting on "Joe Palooka", they quickly clashed over the creation of characters in their respective comics. Several years after, a regrettable dispute had indeed arisen between the two cartoonists regarding certain drawings by Al Capp that Ham Fisher was suspected of having falsified in order to submit them to the "Comics Magazine Association of America", an organization tasked with developing a moral code in the field of comics.

On December 27, 1955, Ham Fisher was found dead after planned an overdose of medication. Jay Edward Maeder, Jr., the newspaper columnist and editor and comic strip writer, reported that this feud was profond, describing a bizarre incident in the aftermath. Indeed, Lee Falk told Maeder that he ran into Capp at the Sardi’s restaurant shortly after Fisher’s funeral. The two comics creators talked abou comics for a while, and eventually the conversation turned to the recent sorry demise of Ham Fisher. Al Capp said to Lee Falk, in laughing a harsh laugh of the victor: “Ennobled it. He has ennobled our feud.” Then Capp turned to address the entire room, always saying “He ennobled it” and braying “It is a noble thing he did.” Then Falk stared into his glass and told Jay Maeder having thought to himself:, "The man thinks this is "Tristan and Isolde" (a tragedy that explores several themes, such as death and betrayal.

Views

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  Bob Griffin, Ed Rhoades, Lee Falk and Pete Klaus at "Sardi's".
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  Pete Klaus, John Rocca, Lee Falk and Ed Rhoades at their last dinner at "Sardi's"
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  Mentalist "The Amazing Kreskin", Ed Rhoades, and Lee Falk at "Sardi's"
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  From film "Country Girl"
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  From film "Please Don’t Eat the Daisies".
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  Book "Curtain Up At Sardi's" by Vincent Sardi Jr & Helen Bryson, 1957
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  Book "Off the Wall at Sardi's" by Vincent Sardi
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  Vincent Sardi in front of a wall of caricatures.

Links

• "Sardi's" official web site: [1]
• Wikipedia article: [2]
• About "Sardi's", "New York Social Diary" article: [3]
• About the place and the cook: [4]
• "The Muppets" at "Sardi's", "You Tube" video: [5]
• Meeting Lee Falk at the "Sardi's", article by Pete Klaus: [6]
• "Hubris and Chutzpah", article by Pete Klaus: [7]