Restaurants – A New Yorker State of Mind

Comfort Food

Above: Sheila Hibben became The New Yorker's first food critic in 1934. She also wrote several cookbooks, including Good Food for Bad Stomachs, a book that was suggested by New Yorker founder and editor Harold Ross. Hibben was a pioneering advocate for American regional dishes, and despised food snobbery (she wanted to banish the word "gourmet" from the English language). (Wikipedia/Amazon)

Long overdue is a look at The New Yorker’s first food critic, Sheila Hibben, who wrote frankly about the dining scene in her restaurant reviews and in her column “Markets and Menus.” Decades ahead of her time, she drew attention to America’s regional dishes, persuading readers to embrace the comforts of humble, practical recipes during the lean years of the Depression and the Second World War.

Eleventh anniversary cover by **Rea Irvin**, February 22, 1936.

Born Cecile Craik, Hibben (1888–1964) detested food snobbery, and through her pioneering work “persuaded housewives to be proud of their American culinary identity, to embrace traditional regional cuisines, and to reject fancier fare for the sake of fashion,” observed Meaghan Elliott in her 2021 dissertation at the University of New Hampshire.

In addition to her “Markets and Menus” column and restaurant reviews, Hibben also wrote several books including Good Food for Bad Stomachs, which was inspired by New Yorker founder and editor Harold Ross. Plagued by ulcers and discouraged by his limited diet, Ross encouraged his gastroenterologist, Sara Murray Jordan, to write a cookbook with Hibben. Good Food for Bad Stomachs was published in 1951, with a laudatory foreword by Ross, who unfortunately did not have long to enjoy the recipes, dying of heart and lung problems that same year.

DYSPEPTIC DIETER **Harold Ross** brought together the talents of his gastroenterologist **Sara Murray Jordan,** left, with his magazine’s food critic, **Sheila Hibben**, to publish *Good Food for Bad Stomachs. (Wikipedia/The New Yorker)*

Here are excerpts from Hibben’s “Restaurants” column for the Feb. 22 issue, featuring her takes on a couple of the city’s finer dining establishments, including Theodore Titze’s restaurant on East 56th and the famed fare of Charles Scotto at the Hotel Pierre:

KNOWN AS THEODORE OF THE RITZ, the German-born **Theodore Titze** (1879–1953) was a well-known maitre d’hotel—at left, **Ralph Barton** featured Titze as one of his “Heroes of the Week” in the Dec. 12, 1925 issue of *The New Yorker*; at right, a 1933 drawing of Titze by the cartoonist Vinzento Zito—the image refers to Titze’s 1931 departure from New York to take charge of the Castle Harbor Hotel in Bermuda. He later operated other properties in Bermuda before opening Theodore’s at 4 East Fifty-sixth Street. (wikitree.com)

CAN’T MISS IT…Top, postcard image of Theodore’s Restaurant; below, ad for Theodore’s in *Stage* magazine, February 1938. (Etsy.com)

Hibben also wrote about the excellent fare at the Hotel Pierre, where Chef Charles Scotto, an early protégé of the legendary Chef Auguste Escoffier, reigned supreme.

CREAM OF THE CROP…At left, a page from the 1934 booklet *Angostura Recipes* featuring a recipe by famed Chef **Charles Scotto** (1887–1937). At right, undated image of the Hotel Pierre. (The Cary Collection/geographicguide.com)

From 1934 to 1962 Hibben wrote the “Markets and Menus” column, which appeared in rotation with several other columns that were tacked onto Lois Long’s weekly “On and Off the Avenue.” Here is an excerpt from Hibben’s Feb. 1, 1936 column:

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Not Music to His Ears

In his “Notes and Comment,” E.B. White took issue with “the fascism of music” in public places including Grand Central Station and the Central Park skating pond.

SAD CATHEDRAL OVERTONES is how E.B. White described the organ music of Mary Lee Read, who played organ in Grand Central’s north gallery from 1928 until the late 1950s. On the day after Pearl Harbor was attacked she played “The Star-Spangled Banner;” activity on the concourse ground to a halt, causing commuters to miss their trains. She was forbidden from playing the song after that. She has also been credited with saving the life of a man who was planning to commit suicide until he heard her play a moving hymn. (marthahallkelly.com)

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At the Movies

Paul Muni was considered one of the best actors of the 1930s, his talents so appreciated by Warner Brothers that he was allowed to choose his own roles, including the lead in The Story of Louis Pasteur. It was a good choice, as it landed him a Best Actor Oscar in 1936. New Yorker critic John Mosher had these observations:

HE’S ON TO SOMETHING…**Paul Muni** in The Story of Louis Pasteur. One of the best posters for the film was the Italian version at right, the rabid dog promising some some real drama. Muni won the Best Actor Oscar of his portrayal of Pasteur. (researchgate.net/imdb.com)

Mosher also took in The Prisoner of Shark Island, featuring Warren Baxter as a man falsely accused of complicity in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

I DIDN’T DO IT…**Warren Baxter** and **Gloria Stuart** in *The Prisoner of Shark Island.* Moviegoers today will remember Stuart (1910–2010) in her portrayal of the aged Rose in 1997’s *Titanic.* Stuart’s film career would span more than seventy years, 1932–2004. (mubi.com/imdb.com)

Mosher found much to like in a Soviet film about the struggles and hardships of three childhood friends from Petrograd who become nurses to serve the cause of the Bolshevik Revolution.

SOVIET SISTERHOOD…At right, **Irina Zarubina, Yanina Zhejmo** and **Zoya Fyodorova** in 1936’s *Three Women*. It was released in the Soviet Union as *Girl Friends (Podrugi).*

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From Our Advertisers

If you wanted to visit the land of the Soviet film, Three Women, you could have hopped onto this Reliance cruise to Russia as well as to the Summer Olympics in Berlin…in just a little over three years the Germans would invade Poland and these “wonderlands” would become a living hell for many…

…John Groth, who would contribute cartoons to The New Yorker in the 1940s, provided this illustration for a Stage magazine ad…

…the folks at Minnesota Valley Canning Company continued the theme of a rich man returning to his humble roots via canned Green Giant vegetables…here the man is brought to tears over “Niblets”…

…as you might recall, it was a wealthy “Major” who recently (Dec. 21, 1935) sought to rekindle lost youth through Green Giant Niblets…

…and what’s the deal with the Duchess trope found in so many ads?…she has been featured in a Green Giant ad for peas, as well as in ads for tomato and grapefruit juice…

…the magazine’s opening spread once again featured the odd juxtaposition of canned soup and high fashion…

…one-column ads in the back of the book featured illustrations by Peter Wells (at left), and William Steig…

…Book-of-the-Month Club enticed new members with a FREE copy of the Nobel Prize-winning trilogy Kristin Lavransdatter by Danish-Norwegian author Sigrid Undset…

…this colorful ad from the Bermuda Trade Development Board beckoned New Yorkers to trade “slush and chilly winds” for the pink sands of the British island territory…

…the back cover cycled back to Camel cigarettes with a lineup of fashionable debs enticing young women to join their ranks…as Camel smokers, at least…

…more one-column ads, featuring the latest in reading material…

…including the latest edition of The Bedroom Companion…it was one of those “For Men Only” books that compiled some previously published pieces with other contributions…

…the index of the 1935 edition included a number of New Yorker regulars…

…such as E. Simms Campbell…

…and Abner Dean…

LATE NIGHT READING…Clockwise, from top left, 1935 edition of *The Bedroom Companion*; a racy cartoon by **Abner Dean**; comic lyrics by Ogden Nash; a contribution by **Vincenzo Zito**, a well-known caricature artist who particularly favored dogs. (etsy.com)

…on to our other cartoonists, we begin with spots by Constantin Alajalov…

and Richard Taylor…

…Taylor again, a spot in the “Musical Events” section…

…and a Taylor cartoon…

…and we wonder what’s behind the curtain, with James Thurber…

…William Steig continued to probe the downsides of matrimony…

…Robert Day showed who’s in charge at the zoo…

…more club life from Gluyas Williams…

…Richard Decker was in a tight situation…

…Perry Barlow drew up two pages of scenes from Snow Trains that took thousands of skiers from Grand Central to the Berkshires and Adirondacks…

…Leonard Dove delivered a knockout punch…

…Peter Arno raised a question of initiative…

…and Gilbert Bundy sought to spice things up at Popular Mechanics…

A final note: Aside from the recurring Rea Irvin cover, this issue made no reference to the eleventh anniversary…except, on the bottom of page 57…

…a recurring column filler, “The Optimist,” appeared in Issue No. 1, and was featured in subsequent issues until Katharine Angell mercifully put an end to it.

Next Time: Führer Furor…

She Who Must Be Obeyed

The 1935 film She was one of those old movies you’d see on television during the 1970s when there were only three or four channels (plus UHF) and local stations would tap into the “B” movie vault to fill airtime. One of those films was She.

Film critic John Mosher felt a bit sorry for Helen Gahagan, who portrayed “She Who Must Be Obeyed” (aka “She”)—an immortal who ruled an exotic, lost civilization near the Arctic Circle. The challenge for Gahagan was to seem imperious before her co-stars Randolph Scott and Helen Mack, who seemed more suited to the high school hijinks of an Andy Hardy picture. The film was a pretty standard adventure tale, in the mold of producer Marian C. Cooper’s 1933 King Kong, with two explorers falling in love during a perilous journey.

ARCHETYPE…At left, **Helen Gahagan** as “She” (Who Must Be Obeyed). Her costume possibly inspired the Evil Queen in Disney’s 1937 animated *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.* At right, lobby card that promoted the film. (Scifist.net/Reddit)

WHEN YOU PLAY WITH FIRE…She Who Must Be Obeyed (**Helen Gahagan**), believing that the explorer Leo Vincey (**Randolph Scott**) was a reincarnation of his ancestor (whom she loved), and jealous of his girlfriend Tanya (**Helen Mack**), invites Leo to join her in the eternal flame. Unfortunately, her re-entry into the flame that gave her immortality turned her into a dying, withered crone. (The Nitrate Diva/Scifist.net)

The 1887 H. Rider Haggard novel, She, inspired eponymous silent films in 1908, 1911, 1916, 1917, and 1925. The 1935 film reviewed here received tepid reviews and lost money on its first release, however in a 1949 re-release it fared much better. She was re-made in 1965 with Ursula Andress in the lead role, and again in 1984 in a post-apocalyptic film that had virtually nothing to do with Haggard’s novel.

*SHE* THROUGH THE YEARS…Clockwise, from top left, “She” **(Marguerite Snow**) offers a dagger to Leo Vincey (**James Cruze)** in a 1911 two-reel (24 min.) adaptation; **Valeska Suratt** as “She” in the 1917 film (now lost); **Betty Blythe** took the title role in the 1925 production, considered to be the most faithful to the 1887 **H. Rider Haggard** novel; **Sandahl Bergman** appeared dressed for a Jazzercise video in the 1984 post-apocalyptic *She*; and finally, **Ursula Andress** and John Richardson in the 1965 CinemaScope production of *She.* (Wikipedia / digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu / cultcelebrities.com / Reddit)

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Colonial Ambitions

With most of Africa carved up by other European powers (Britain, France, Belgium etc.) in the 19th century, Italy set its sights on Ethiopia, which by the end of the 19th century was the only independent country left on the continent. Ethiopia fought off Italy’s first attempt at conquest in the Battle of Adwa (1896), but with the rise of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, Italy paid a return visit, this time with heavy artillery and airstrikes that included chemical weapons. E.B. White tried to make sense of this latest invasion in his opening comments.

THOSE GUYS AGAIN…Italy invaded Ethiopia on October 3, 1935, a significant act of aggression in the lead up to World War II. Despite facing a technologically superior Italian army (top) equipped with modern weapons, including tanks, aircraft, and chemical weapons, the Ethiopian forces (bottom photo) mounted a strong resistance. (Wikipedia)

In his weekly column, Howard Brubaker mused on the Italian aggressions and other rumblings of the coming European war.

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Author, Author

The writer Willa Cather was a favorite of New Yorker critics, including Clifton Fadiman, however her latest novel was a bit too mild for his tastes.

HERE’S LUCY…**Clifton Fadiman** confessed he was “mortified” to admit that he found **Willa Cather’s** latest novel a bit too gentle. At right, portrait of Cather on her birthday, December 7, 1936. (willacather.org)

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From Our Advertisers

We begin with more fearmongering from the folks at Goodyear, who offered weekly reminders of the perils of not choosing their all-weather tires…

…the Liggett and Myers Tobacco Company conjured up this “naughty maiden” to encourage even timid souls to take up the habit…

…on the other hand, the makers of the upstart KOOL brand kept it simple with their chain-smoking penguin, who was grabbing ever more market share from rival menthol pusher SPUD…

…ads in the back of the book offered up even less sophisticated products, such as Crown Smelling Salts…

…while Dr. Seuss and Norman Z. McLeod continued to make a living with their distinctive illustrations…

…at the very back of the magazine, this tiny ad from Knopf promoted Clarence Day’s Life With Father, published just months before Day’s death on Dec. 28…

…which brings us to our cartoonists…Constantin Alajalov kicked us off with this happy number…

…James Thurber found steamy goings on in the parlor…

…Charles Addams came down to earth with this pair…

…George Price showed us the rough and tumble of news reporting…

…Mary Petty contributed this sumptuous drawing of a croquet match…

…Helen Hokinson was in a transcendental mood…

…and Ned Hilton had a big surprise for one garage tinkerer…

…on to August 10 and a rich summer scene by Arnold Hall:

August 10, 1935 cover by **Arnold Hall.**

“The Talk of the Town” checked the lunch crowd at Mary Elizabeth’s Tea Room, where some preferred to drink their lunch.

TEA AND SWEETS (and cocktails) were among the offerings at Mary Elizabeth’s Tea Room at 36th and Fifth, seen here circa 1912. (*Photo by Karl Struss via Facebook*)

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Comic Relief

Film critic John Mosher offered an appreciation of W.C. Fields, noting that civilization needed films like Man on the Flying Trapeze during those hard years. Mosher also found some worthy distractions in the Jean Harlow vehicle China Seas, but was prepared to consign Spencer Tracey’s latest offering to the “lower circles of cinema hell.”

ANSWERING HIS NATION’S CALL…**W.C. Fields** brought joy to millions during the Depression in movies such as Man on the Flying Trapeze. Above, from left, **Kathleen Howard, Fields,** and **Mary Brian**. (IMDB/Rotten Tomatoes)

SHORE LEAVE…At left, **Wallace Beery, Jean Harlow,** and **Clark Gable** on the set of *China Seas;* top right, **Hattie McDaniel** with Harlow in a scene from the film; below, Gable, **Rosalind Russell,** and C. Aubrey Smith with Harlow in *China Seas.* (musingsofaclassicfilmaddict.wordpress.com / Pinterest)

FRESH FACE…Cinema newcomer Rita Hayworth was credited as Rita Cansino (she was born Margarita Carmen Cansino) in *Dante’s Inferno.* Here she is flanked by **Spencer Tracy** and **Gary Leon**. *Dante’s Inferno* was Spencer Tracy’s final film for 20th Century Fox. It was at MGM where his career really took off. (IMDB)

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All Wet

In his London Letter, Conrad Aiken (pen name Samuel Jeake Jr) examined the priggish ways of England’s seaside resorts.

SITE OF SCANDAL…Bathing huts at Bognor Regis, circa 1921. (bognorregistrails.co.uk)

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Beware the Bachelor

In her “Tables for Two” column, Lois Long examined some of the city’s seasonal escapes for “summer bachelors.”

GHOSTS OF THE PAST…**Lois Long** recommended the air-conditioned lounges of the Madison Square Hotel and the Savoy Plaza (center) or the cooling breezes of the Biltmore roof (right), which featured music by **Morton Downey.** Sadly, all three of these beautiful buildings have been demolished. (geographicguide.com/Wikipedia)

Other more casual venues recommended by Long included Nick’s Merry-Go-Round…

…a menu from Nick’s dated 1937…

…and its cryptic back cover…

From Our Advertisers

…speaking of the Biltmore and Morton Downey, we kick off our advertising section…

…the ad on the left announced the private residences at the Waldorf-Astoria…

Clockwise, from top left, the Waldorf Astoria circa 1930; the Waldorf’s Starlight Roof in the 1930s; after eight years and billions in restorations and renovations, the hotel has seen many changes including the transformation of the Starlight Roof into a swimming pool. Decades of grime were also cleaned from the building’s exterior. (mcny.org/loc.gov/som.com)

…another ad from the makers of Lincoln suggesting that the market for their luxury auto wasn’t confined to citified execs…

…the Camel folks introduced us to their latest society shill…

…I didn’t find much about Beatrice Barclay Elphinstone (1916-1977), described in the Camel ad as a “charming representative of New York’s discriminating younger set”…she did make the Times‘ Dec. 10, 1937 society wedding announcements, however…

…Dr. Seuss was back with another twist on Flit insecticide…

…on to our illustrators and cartoonists, a nice charcoal by Hugo Gellert for a profile titled “Yankee Horse Trader,” written by Arthur C. Bartlett…the harness horse racing legend Walter Cox (1868-1941) was known in New England as “the king of the half-milers”…

…James Thurber contributed this cat and dog face-off to the opening pages…

…Helen Hokinson offered her perspectives on the summer dog show across pages 16-17…

…and for a closer look…

…Gluyas Williams went back to nature in his “Club Life” series…

…Leonard Dove introduced us to an undaunted salesman…

…in the world of George Price, crime didn’t pay…

…Barbara Shermund gave us a rare glimpse into the secret lives of men…

…patronizing words were unwelcome at this chess match, per William Steig…

…Denys Wortman took us on a family outing…

…and we close with Alain, and a mother of multiples…except words…

Next Time: Hays Hokum…

Wining & Dining

Above: The Waldorf-Astoria's Starlight Roof, and a 1930s menu cover. (Facebook/Pinterest)

With summer approaching, the rooftop restaurants were in full swing, and Lois Long continued her exploration of favorite haunts, including one nightclub that drew many Manhattanites across the Hudson to the cliffs of the New Jersey Palisades.

Ben Marden couldn’t wait for the official end of Prohibition when he opened his Riviera Night Club in Fort Lee in 1931. The frequent site of raids until the repeal of the 18th Amendment, the Riviera continued to be a place well known to Bergen County police thanks to clientele that included racketeers and other unsavory types. But to New Yorkers like Long, it was a break from the din of the city to the relative green of the Garden State. Long wrote:

The Riviera closed during the first years of World War II, but it reopened in 1945 after Bill Miller bought it from Marden and apparently cleaned it up. It then attracted the likes of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Martha Rae, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Pearl Bailey until it closed in 1953. It was demolished the following year.

THEY HAD FOOD, TOO…Clockwise, from left, the1936 spring menu cover of Ben Marden’s Riviera featured an illustration of the original Riviera (ringed by nude showgirls), which burned to the ground on Thanksgiving night, 1936; the building that replaced it was called an architectural wonder with its retractable roof, rotating stage, and glass windows that slid down to the floor; **Earl Carroll** and his “Beauties” performed at the Riviera in 1935–they are pictured here at a train station in Los Angeles, 1934. (ebay.com/patch.com/lapl.org)

Long also stayed in town to visit the Waldorf-Astoria’s Starlight Roof.

WITH THE STARS, UNDER THE STARS…Clockwise, from left, cocktail menu from the Waldorf’s Starlight Roof, 1935; outdoor seating on the Starlight Roof Terrace; special menu for the Gala Opening Dinner and Supper Dance on the Starlight Roof, May 14, 1935. It was a favorite destination of **Frank Sinatra, Cole Porter, Katharine Hepburn,** and **Ella Fitzgerald**, among others. (Pinterest)

Long also mentioned the appearance of Ray Noble in the Rockefeller Center’s Rainbow Room. This full-page ad appeared in the June 1 issue:

Other summer season attractions were advertised in numerous back-of-the-book, one-column advertisements:

…and at the bottom of page 64…

Wining and dining were also the topic of the profile, a two-parter penned by Margaret Case Harriman, who took a look at New York’s famed Colony Restaurant.

ORIGINAL TRIO…**Al Frueh’s** caricatures of the Colony’s owners/headwaiters **Gene Cavallero** and **Ernest Cerutti**, who flank chef **Alfred Hartmann**, who was also part owner until he sold his interest to the other two in 1927 and retired to a farm in France. Harriman wrote that Cavallero and Cerutti were “born headwaiters—suave, solicitous, infallible.”

A PLACE TO BE SEEN…From the 1920s to the 1960s New York’s café society dined at the Colony. Rian James, in *Dining In New York* (1930) wrote “the Colony is the restaurant of the cosmopolite and the connoisseur; the rendezvous of the social register; the retreat of the Four Hundred.” Critic George Jean Nathan said the Colony was one of “civilization’s last strongholds in the department of cuisine.” Photo at left of the dining room around 1940; at right, co-owner **Eugene Cavallero** consults with a chef. (lostpastremembered.blogspot.com)

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The Business of News

In his “Notes and Comment,” E.B. White contemplated the meaning of a free press, noting that nearly all media was at the mercy of advertisers. That included The New Yorker, which owed allegiance “to the makers of toilet articles, cigarettes, whiskey, and foundation garments.”

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Cat Lady

“The Talk of the Town” anticipated the arrival of French writer Colette (1873-1954) aboard the S.S. Normandie. This excerpt makes note of her high standing in society as well as her love of cats.

SHE ONCE OWNED AN OCELOT….Colette with her cats in an undated photo; at right, entering New York Harbor on the S.S. *Normandie*, 1935. (Pinterest)

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Public Artists

“The Talk of the Town” noted the latest Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibition…

LENDING THEIR TALENTS…*New Yorker* cartoonists who helped promote the Outdoor Art Exhibition in Washington Square included **James Thurber, Otto Soglow,** and **William Steig.**

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Cutting Remarks

S.J. Perelman offered his thoughts on the decline of the tonsorial arts. In this excerpt, he sees his beloved Italian barber give way to a “knifelike individual in a surgical apron.” Excerpts:

IT’S A SCIENCE NOW, SIDNEY…**S.J. Perelman** worried about the displacement of Italian barbershops by cosmetologists in “surgical aprons,” such as the one modeled by **Helena Rubinstein** at right. (Pinterest)

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Even Those Eyes Couldn’t Help

Film critic John Mosher was sad to report that disappointment was in store for moviegoers who enjoyed seeing Bette Davis in Of Human Bondage. Her latest flick, The Girl from 10th Avenue, featured Davis murmuring “gentle nothings of a vaguely noble monotony.”

GET ME OUT OF THIS PICTURE…Left, **Bette Davis** with Ian Hunter in the uninspired *The Girl from 10th Avenue;* at right, screen shot of Davis in 1934’s Of Human Bondage, the film that made Davis a star. (thefilmexperience.net)

Other items in the editorial section included a casual by Dorothy Parker’s husband Alan Campbell (titled “Loyalty at Pool-Wah-Met”), and Morris Markey examined the Christian Science movement inspired of Mary Baker Eddy, in “A Reporter at Large” piece titled “But Thinking Makes It So.”

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From Our Advertisers

We begin with an advertising theme common through midcentury, namely, that you could smoke certain brands as much as you liked and still be a star athlete (as opposed to a wheezing husk of a human being)…

…not only did these cigarettes “steady your nerves” and preserve your “wind,” they also made for sweet, romantic moments…

…in between puffs you could also enjoy breathing in fumes from leaded gasoline…lead pollution increased by more than 625 times previous levels after leaded fuels were introduced in 1924…

…although they were being outlawed by New York Mayor Fiorello Henry La Guardia, an organ grinder nevertheless made an appearance in an Arrow Shirt ad that offered a lighthearted moment for all involved (except for the dude on ketamine)…

…when jeans were called “dungarees” they were reserved for gardening or fishing…at right you could land a pair of “Crazy Shoes” woven with “garish Mexican colours” for five-and-a-half bucks…

…the makers of White Rock kept it cool with this minimalist ad…

…luxury automaker Packard continued to hang on through the Depression by offering a downscale version…it appears their demographic was middle-aged men and women who still preferred the finer things even if they couldn’t afford them…