The Stork Club

THE STORK CLUB!

 


Sherman Billingsley’s Stork Club was America’s most enchanting nightclub, a glittering world where starlets stalked millionaires; Jack wooed Jackie; Hemingway knocked down the warden of Sing Sing; headwaiters reaped $20,000 tips; Hoover partied; and Winchell, the Stork’s scribe in residence, gave a notorious cold shoulder to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
 

Sherman with Rocky Marciano
Sherman with Rocky Marciano

 

Chaplin and Boyer
Mr. & Mrs. Charlie Chaplin with Charles Boyer


Simmering beneath the romantic surface of the ultimate café society rendezvous was a tale of mob and muscle:  Billingsley's baby had been born from the ashes of prohibition; he found himself surrounded by Jazz Age gangsters and fought running battles against racketeers throughout the life of the club.

 


From Prohibition to the dawn of disco, Sherman Billingsley's Stork Club was New York's most famous nightspot. Celebrated by Walter Winchell, the club drew celebrities from Joe Dimaggio and Marilyn Monroe to J. Edgar Hoover, Frank Sinatra, and JFK and Jackie.
 

Vanderbuilt and Kennedy
Mr. & Mrs. Alfred Vanderbilt (top left) with
Rep. John F. Kennedy

Sherman Billingsley
Sherman Billingsley