Who Was WHERE! Ted Hook’s Backstage

By Kati Neiheisel***Intrigued by NLE’s Who Was Who!, I want to know who was where. I want to know about the hot and happening restaurants, clubs and piano bars of previous decades. As New York City fights its way back after two years of fits and starts, perhaps the past can inspire new paths forward for the city’s nightlife.

Ted Hook’s Backstage was “New York’s Most Theatrical Restaurant.” In 1975, after dancing in the chorus of over 400 movies and working as secretary to Tallulah Bankhead, Ted Hook opened Backstage, the legendary restaurant/piano bar at 318 W 45th Street, next door to the then Martin Beck Theatre—now known as tthe Hirschfeld. Hook knew everyone from stage and screen. Combined with his mischievous charm, generous nature and clever marketing skills, this made Backstage the place to be for a nearly a decade. Each night around 11:30, Hook would announce who was in the room. On any given night, this could be Lucie Arnaz, Richard Burton, Carol Channing, Harvey Fierstein, Waylon Flowers, Rock Hudson, Ethel Merman, Anne Miller, Liza Minnelli, Charles Pierce, Debbie Reynolds, Chita Rivera, Gloria Swanson, Elizabeth Taylor, Mel Torme, Kay Thompson, Lana Turner, Margaret Whiting and more.

You never knew who would get up and sing at the piano bar, which featured pianists such as Charles DeForest, Stan Freeman, Peter Howard, and Milton Setzer. Principal pianist Steve Ross, who was declared “crown prince of Manhattan piano bars” by The New York Times in 1977, pulled in crowds with his elegant style and in-depth knowledge of 1930s and 40s show tunes. Ross accompanied many a star, but a highlight was accompanying Ginger Rogers on “But Not for Me” from Girl Crazy, fifty years after the musical made her a star. Ross acknowledged, “Backstage was a big chapter in my life indeed.”

Songwriter John Meyer remembers Backstage as glamorous and lively, full of joy and surprise. “I played the piano there from time to time singing show tunes. One night, Liza Minnelli was there. Ted said, ‘John, would you ask Liza to sing?’ Liza replied, ‘I don’t mind singing, but I’d like that woman to sing first,’ pointing to a woman a few seats away. It was Dolly Dawn, a singer from the 1930s who had worked with orchestra leader George Hall and introduced the standard “You’re a Sweetheart.” Dolly sang, then Liza sang “With a Song in My Heart.” It broke the place up! Margaret Whiting and I also did a show there: Meyer & Whiting Sing Whiting & Meyer. I sang her father’s songs, and she sang my songs. Ethel Merman was in the audience and talked through the whole show!”

“Backstage was magical in a way that couldn’t happen now,” said video journalist and former head waiter, Richard Ridge. “What was different about Backstage was that stars wanted to be seen. On every table was a Ziegfeld lamp, with lamp shades that would be stenciled with the star’s name. So and so is coming—make a lamp shade!” It was a perpetual party when New York really was the city that never sleeps. Backstage Burgers were served after midnight and the kitchen stayed open until 3:00 AM. The popular Chita Bita, a rum cocktail named for Chita Rivera, was available at the bar until 4:00 AM. According to Ridge, “Restaurants come and go, but there was something very special about Backstage. And everybody loved Ted.”

Ann Talman, who made her Broadway debut as the daughter of Elizabeth Taylor in the 1981 revival of Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes, fondly remembers “our show was next door at the Martin Beck Theatre. Ted had a party for us to come see lamp shades they made with our names, one for each cast member. I still have mine! They knew not to put ‘Liz’. It was ‘Elizabeth’! I remember Ted vividly with his red hair. He was delightful, like a leprechaun. He loved show business and treated us like royalty.”

I found an unexpected connection to Backstage in friend and director Geoff Stoner, who worked as a waiter after auditioning with hundreds of hopefuls. He remembers the Bernard Johnson designed jumpsuits with a zipper from neck to crotch, meant to make waiters look like stagehands. He remembers Barry Manilow in leather, and Sylvia Sidney slapping his hand when he tried to take her drink away: “I’m not done with that!” But his best memory is of Sylvia Syms singing “My Ship.” “It blew me away.”

Kati Neiheisel is a 2018 MAC Award nominee for her New York Debut, Among the Stars, performed at Don’t Tell Mama with musical director Gregory Toroian and directed by Deb Berman. Her show, Yesterday…Once More, with the Gregory Toroian trio and directed by Lina Koutrakos, celebrates the musical legacy of the Carpenters with a final performance on Saturday, March 26, 2022, at Pangea.

Photos : Courtesy of Richard Ridge