Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's (1998)
In 1995, Chasen's closed its doors after 60 years of serving chili to movie stars and visiting dignitaries, Presidents and the Pope. During its two final weeks, Chasen regulars (actors and producers), staff, and management sat for interviews. There's an Oscar party for 1500, footage and photos of famous diners, and time with Tommy Gallagher, the ebullient head waiter until retirement in 1994, his son Patrick, catering head Raymond Bilbool, general manager Ronnie Clint, hat check girl Val Schwab, ladies' room attendant Onetta Johnson, and foreign- born waiters, including Jaime. When he started in 1970, like other Latins, he wasn't allowed out of the kitchen. It's a family farewell.
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My late father was in "the business" and I had some exposure to the Hollywood crowd in the 60's. I was never lucky enough to dine at Chasen's, but wish I had been. This eatery, along with Scandia, The Brown Derby and Cyrano's have all closed now, victims of neglect. The current clientèle are too health conscious to ever want the truly delicious fare and wonderfully elegant ambiance of a Chasen's. The closest thing we still have to such a place is Musso Frank's on Hollywood Blvd. I have eaten there and am very glad it's still around. You can enter that place and suspend disbelief: it becomes the 1940's and Boogie or Grant or "Stanny" (Barbara Stanwyk) might come walking in at any moment....or so I began to believe after savoring a truly fine vodka martini at the bar.So this documentary did bring back a feeling to me and a longing for those times, my now deceased parents and a sense of loss of a Hollywood that had some real class.
Chasen's restaurant was the place to be when Hollywood was in its golden years, and this documentary covers its last days and says goodbye to an era. Famous for its chili, which Elizabeth Taylor had shipped to Rome during the filming of Cleopatra, their hobo steak, and a special drink called The Flame of Love, Chasen's has a permanent place in Hollywood history. Opened in 1936, it played host to every star in the galaxy. It was the place where the "Shirley Temple" was invented - for Shirley - and where the ladies room attendant inspired Donna Summer to write "She Works Hard for the Money." Unfortunately, times change. Lettuce is in; steak is out. Spago's is in; Chasen's is out. The stars stopped coming, the restaurant lost money, and its new boss, a businessman rather than Dave Chasen and his wife, decided to close.The people who work at Chasen's, it turns out, are as colorful as some of Hollywood's greats. There's Raymond who scoffs at a negative book written by an ex-employee: "He's doing his own thing now. He has a wife with a mustache (pause pause pause)...well, she does"; Tommy Gallagher, who had his picture taken with everyone from the Rat Pack to the Pope; (he died shortly after the filming); the hat/coat check woman, whom we are told has her secrets. "Didn't you tell me Tyrone Power hit on you?" one of the employees asks her. As they give their interviews, they're all soon to be unemployed, some there over 30 years and more.This is a well done documentary that leaves one with sadness and the unhappy realization that nothing is forever. Not even Chasen's.
Just watched it last night on cable and I gotta tell you, my eyes were moist at the end. Remember, it's documenting the "last days" of a Hollywood institution, so it's understandable that the staff, many who were there for decades (working their butts off) are seen as being a little more than bitter. It's the place they called home for years, and it was being taken away from them (as well as their livelihood). The doc is right on in re-telling how Chasen's became overshadowed by the hipper, trendier dining spots frequented by young Hollywood. It was only after the announcement that it was closing that it become the "in" spot again - but it was too late, the writing was already off the menu and on the wall. I went there in 1990 and the place was nearly empty - only a few diners. But the image of the duo sitting at the front table will always linger in my mind - Jimmy Stewart and George Burns enjoying a quiet meal together. It doesn't get any better than that.
I have to agree that it´s a fantastic documentary. I was very surprised to watch it on German TV, because I just stayed at Raymond Bilbool´s place in Hollywood for the second time. If you want to know him better (and you should, because he is even more entertaining, when you meet him an his friends personally), you should definetely consider to visit his Bed&Breakfast Inn in the Hollywood Hills.