New York Friars Club Explained

The Friars Club
Type:Private social club
Purpose:Fraternal organization
Headquarters:57 East 55th Street
Location:Midtown Manhattan
Coords:40.7609°N -73.9726°W
Leader Title:Dean

The Friars Club is a private club in New York City. Famous for its risqué roasts, the club's membership is composed mostly of people who work in show business. Founded in 1904, it is located at 57 East 55th Street, between Park Avenue and Madison Avenue, in the historic Martin Erdmann House, now known as the Monastery.[1] [2]

History

Early years: 1904–1950

The organization traces its roots to 1904, when representatives of the Broadway theaters working with New York publicists organized the Press Agents' Association to exchange lists of people who were fraudulently receiving complimentary passes to shows. The group regularly met at Browne's Chop House.[3] Shortly thereafter it began its tribute dinners to theatrical celebrities, the first being Clyde Fitch.[3] The impresario Oscar Hammerstein was toasted in 1908, the year in which the Friars moved into a clubhouse at 107 West 47th Street.

The first Friars Frolics were held in 1911, with Abbot George M. Cohan working with Will Rogers, Irving Berlin, who wrote "Alexander's Ragtime Band" for the event, and Victor Herbert. The money generated by the Frolics enabled them to purchase 106-108-110 West 48th Street. Under Abbot Cohan, they laid a cornerstone on the building in 1915.[3] In 1924, Walter Donaldson wrote the music for "My Blue Heaven" one afternoon while waiting in the club for his turn at the billiard table.[4]

Roasting: 1950–present

In 1950, Sam Levenson and fellow comedian Joe E. Lewis were the first members of the New York Friars Club to be roasted. The club has roasted a member every year since the inaugural roasting.[5] Friars Club roasts were first televised in the late 1960s, first as part of the Kraft Music Hall series. From 1998 to 2002, Comedy Central broadcast the roasts.[6] Comedy Central then began organizing its own annual roasts.[6]

Current location

The Friars Club moved into its current headquarters in 1957, an English Renaissance mansion built for Speyer & Company investment banker Martin Erdmann by architects Alfredo S. G. Taylor and Levi in 1908.[7] In 2013, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission proposed designating the Martin Erdmann House as a New York City landmark.[8] The clubhouse was designated as a landmark in November 2016.[9]

Female members

On June 30, 1988, the club approved Liza Minnelli, after applying for regular membership, and after the club’s board of governors changed its constitution to allow female members. The club’s board of governors also elected Barbara Sinatra, Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, Eydie Gorme, Barbra Streisand, Elizabeth Taylor, Dinah Shore, Phyllis Diller and Martha Raye, to honorary membership.[10]

Financial issues

In May 2023, it was reported that the club was facing foreclosure on the Martin Erdmann House due to a building flood, the COVID-19 pandemic and financial irregularities.[11] [12]

Organization

Frederick F. Schrader is credited with suggesting "Friars" as the organization's name. Following the theme, their monthly newsletter is the Epistle. Officers of the Club, as distinct from the Friars Foundation,[13] are given monastic titles:[14] In 2006, Larry King was the dean, Freddie Roman was the Dean Emeritus. Jerry Lewis was the Abbot, named during a roast in New York City. Previous abbots have included Alan King, Frank Sinatra, Ed Sullivan and George M. Cohan.[15]

Friars, Lambs, Players

In the 1960s, the Friars Club, the Lambs Club, and The Players were often confused. The columnist Earl Wilson put it this way in 1964: "Long ago a New Yorker asked the difference between the Lambs, Friars, and Players, since the membership was, at the time, predominantly from Broadway." It was left to "a wit believed to have been George S. Kaufman" to draw the distinction: "The Players are gentlemen trying to be actors, the Lambs are actors trying to be gentlemen, and the Friars are neither trying to be both."[16]

List of roasts

Documentary

In 1999, Cinemax aired Let Me In, I Hear Laughter: A Salute to the Friars Club[34] [35] directed by Dean Ward.[36] It featured previously unseen footage of roasts and interviews with Friars such as Milton Berle, Buddy Hackett, Sid Caesar, Steve Allen, Henny Youngman, Jeffrey Ross, Larry King, Ed McMahon, and Phyllis Diller.[37] [38] It revealed that after comic Parkyakarkus (Harry Einstein) collapsed and died at a 1958 roast for Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, singer Tony Martin decided to sing "There's No Tomorrow" while Einstein was being carried off stage.

Stand-up comedy competition

In 2008, the Friars Club began a stand-up comedy competition, "So You Think You Can Roast!?".[39] On October 24 of that year, the winner performed at the Friars Club roast of Matt Lauer.

Friars Club Comedy Film Festival

The inaugural Friars Club Comedy Film Festival was held in September 2009, opening with the American premiere of the Coen Brothers' A Serious Man.

In its debut year, the festival featured the US premiere of the Coen brothers’ Academy Award–nominated film A Serious Man.[40] Other festival highlights include screenings of Christopher Morris’s Four Lions, and the Oscar-winning short God of Love.[41] In 2011, Jerry Lewis and Russel Simmons presented a comedy achievement award to Brett Ratner.[42]

In 2012, the festival hosted America Ferrera and David Cross, stars of the opening film It's a Disaster. According to The Wall Street Journal, "The festival has quietly become one of the city's most sharply curated cinema gatherings. It takes the funny business seriously."[43]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: History . Friars Club . May 2, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150418054330/http://www.friarsclub.com/sample-page-2/ . April 18, 2015 . dead .
  2. News: Robert . Lipsyte . Comedy Central . . May 30, 2004.
  3. http://www.friarsclub.com/friars_story.htm The Story of the Friars
  4. Book: Ewen, David. All the Years of American Popular Music. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. Prentice-Hall. 1977. 226. 978-0130224422.
  5. Book: Slade, Anthony. The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville. 2012. University Press of Mississippi. 978-1617032493. 197–198.
  6. Fox. Jesse David. The 20 Best Comedy Central Roast Sets Ever. New York. September 23, 2019. July 27, 2018.
  7. http://www.friarsclub.com/Facilities/clubhouse_history.htm The History of The Clubhouse
  8. News: Gray . Christopher . September 12, 2013 . Friars Club Proposed for Landmark Status . en-US . The New York Times . April 12, 2021 . 0362-4331.
  9. Web site: November 22, 2016 . Martin Erdmann House . April 12, 2021 . . 1.
  10. News: N.Y. Friars Admits First Women . 18 September 2023 . Los Angeles Times . Associated Press . 30 June 1988.
  11. Web site: Staff . T. R. D. . 2023-05-20 . Friars Club Faces Foreclosure . 2023-10-07 . The Real Deal . en.
  12. News: Jacobs . Julia . 2023-05-15 . After Decades of Drinks and Laughs, Is It Last Call at the Friars Club? . en-US . The New York Times . 2023-10-07 . 0362-4331.
  13. http://www.friarsclub.com/Foundation/officers_directors.htm 2008 Friars Foundation Officers & Directors
  14. Book: The Friars Club Encyclopedia of Jokes. 9. H. Aaron Cohl . Black Dog & Leventhal. 1997. 978-1884822636.
  15. Boston. Nicholas. Jerry Lewis Roasted Again; An Abbot Amongst Friars!. Observer. October 1, 2016. June 19, 2006.
  16. Book: Wilson, Earl. Earl Wilson's New York. Simon & Schuster. 1964. New York. 49–50.
  17. Web site: Snader . Marc . Humphrey Bogart Roast . youtube . 18 September 2023 . en . 1955.
  18. audio or visuals of roast featured in Let Me In, I Hear Laughter: A Salute to the Friars Club, 1999, Cinemax
  19. News: . Parkyakarkus Dies at Banquet After Giving Comedy Monologue . . November 25, 1958. ("BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., Nov. 24 (UPI)— Harry Einstein... died back stage early today of a heart attack."
  20. https://web.archive.org/web/19991012002751/http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Academy/8135/shawn.html The "Happy Deaths" of Dick Shawn and Parkyakarkus
  21. Web site: The Final Performance of Harry Einstein - Parkyakarkas.
  22. News: Parky Einstein Succumbs After Pocketknife Surgery. 25 November 1958. The Victoria Advocate. 23 January 2011.
  23. Web site: CNN Transcript - Larry King Live: Art Linkletter Discusses His Career in Television - June 30, 2000. cnn.com.
  24. News: COMIC PARKYAKARKUS DIES AT FRIARS DINNER— Doctors Fight to Save Him. Los Angeles Times. 24 November 1958. 25 September 2022. ("...Parkyakarkus was stricken at a Friars Club banquet here last night, the victim of a heart attack. He died early this morning.")
  25. Web site: . . The Friars Roast Johnny Carson . 18 September 2023 . en.
  26. Web site: . . The Friars "Roast" Milton Berle . April 13, 2023 . 18 September 2023 . en.
  27. Web site: . . The Friars Roast Don Rickles . 18 September 2023 . en.
  28. Web site: . . The Friars "Roast" Jack Benny . April 13, 2023 . 18 September 2023 . en.
  29. Web site: . . The Friars Roast Jerry Lewis . April 13, 2023 . 18 September 2023 . en.
  30. News: Jack Carter, Smothers Brothers at Rip-Roaring Friars Roast. Observer. August 15, 2007. Frank. DiGiacomo. October 12, 2003.
  31. Web site: The Roast of Betty White . Friars Club . November 3, 2012 . June 30, 2013 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130711070103/http://www.friarsclub.com/the-roast-of-betty-white/ . July 11, 2013 .
  32. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie Roasts Boomer Esiason at the Annual Friars Club Roast. The Comic's Comic. Sean L.. McCarthy. January 31, 2014. September 23, 2019.
  33. News: Strauss. Chris. Terry Bradshaw was mercilessly roasted by friends and comedians at the Super Bowl. USA Today. January 30, 2015. January 9, 2017.
  34. Web site: Let Me In, I Hear Laughter: A Salute to the Friars . . . 18 September 2023 . en.
  35. Web site: Let Me In, I Hear Laughter . variety.com . 18 September 2023 . February 8, 2000.
  36. News: Why Documenting the Friars Club on Videotape Proved to Be No Joke . 18 September 2023 . International Documentary Association . 1 March 2000 . en.
  37. Cinemax's salute to the Friars Club offers a glimpse of what it was like to be there when the great entertainers entertained themselves.. Dale. Don. January 1, 1980. Style Weekly. September 23, 2019.
  38. Web site: Let Me In, I Hear Laughter: A Salute to the Friars Club. Amazon. March 23, 2004.
  39. Bierly. Mandi. On the Scene: Tom Cruise Helps Roast Matt Lauer!. Entertainment Weekly. November 22, 2016. October 25, 2008.
  40. Love . Matthew . The Friars Club's New, Relevant Comedy Contest . Time Out New York . June 14, 2010 . June 30, 2013.
  41. Friars Club Comedy Film Festival Announces 2010 Lineup . Friars Club . September 13, 2010 . September 23, 2019 . PR Newswire.
  42. Web site: McNary . Dave . Brett Ratner to be honored at Friars fest . . October 3, 2011 . June 30, 2013.
  43. Web site: Serving Up Cinema Laughs from the Friar . The Wall Street Journal . Dollar . Steve . October 23, 2012 . June 30, 2013.

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