This is not his profile, that is coming. But I will say this. 3 year Ivy Style member (over that the FB Group) Anthony Kalamut find the interesting stuff, and starts interesting conversations. His profile is coming (my fault, I have to do the interview) but my friend Anthony Kalamut is a survivor, a gentleman, and never ever boring.
He turned us on to the tobacco they used to see at Brooks.
Pipe tobacco you used to be able to buy at the Madison Avenue Brooks. Oh wait. There is an awful lot you used to be able to buy at the Madison Avenue Brooks.
And for me, this:
Brooks Brothers Cigars. The Ivy-Style Cigar is coming. You get to a certain size and everyone has their own cigar. Joe Rogan has his own cigar. I remember when The 21 Club was open, and they had their own cigars. Don’t ask me the year (am betting it was ’94ish?) but after my first real turnaround gig, I took the next year off but hung around. Here was my day. Early morning in Westchester, then the train in, stop at Brooks and buy one thing (that used to be my game, it gave me an excuse to go back) and then an errand or whatever, then 21 for Happy Hour and a cigar. Wore a suit every day. When I told people I was between assignments absolutely nobody commented on why I was wearing a suit.
Speaking of Brooks, Mr. Kalamut was kind enough to let us know that this was on their site the other day. As he put it: Talk Amongst Yourselves.
Oh man.
Like I say, his profile is coming soon, but the other day he let us with this debate about whether the movie or the television series was better.
I am embarrassed to say that I have seen neither. But I will say this, today there is no difference between a movie and a series. I heard a Ben Affleck interview this week where he talked about his industry and how going to the movies “is over.” Such changes. And I mean, there is an argument about Mr. Affleck’s intelligence to be made (WHO LEAVES JENNIFER GARNER??) but as I understand it he is banned from some casinos because he can count cards and he definitely made a compelling argument about about the movie industry as it stood is over.
John Houseman was a serious actor, but a little before my time. I do remmember him from the Smith Barney television commercials. He wears a bow tie well.
Yes, it certainly kind of Mr. Kalamut to look at the BB site, so that we don’t have to. C’mon, now, everyone knows the game. Nobody buys that ridiculous stuff, not even as a gag gift. Just like ridiculous mannequin displays, it’s a marketing ploy to get the curious to look at their site and maybe buy a necktie or something.
I wonder if that is pipe tobacco or cigarette tobacco, or one in the same. We rolled our own well into the 80s and it was tasty, believe it or not.
Sounds like a pretty great time between assignments. No surprise nobody commented on your suit: I thought you *had* to wear at least a jacket and tie at 21. Is the place reopening? I hope so.
That shirt makes me think of those terrible stripey “party” shirts the spray-tanned bros would wear in the early-mid 2000s. Maybe it’s the preppy angle on those.
And I haven’t seen either form of Paper Chase yet, either. Looking forward to the profile of Mr. Kalamut.
@Nevada I think it just another version of the “fun shirt” that was popular in some circles. Supposedly they were created in the factory out of leftover pieces for new shirtmakers to practice, then they found there was a market for them.
So of course {eye roll} Brooks has to apply the concept to other clothing pieces, but I can’t imagine anyone wearing that in public. Maybe it’s like fashion shows, no one actually wears the stuff that you see on the runway, it’s just marketing.
Watching “Paper Chase” with GF. I was in law school. Houseman, on screen, asked a question, close up of face, he barks out “What is the answer?”. I slid way down in my seat, GF asks why, I reply “I forgot the answer.”
Yeah, parts of it were pretty real.
@Linkman,
Thanks for the link. The label does specify pipe tobacco. I guess I should have been more clear, i.e., what is the difference? or, what was the difference?
@ AndrewK247, thanks for the clarification. I didn’t make the connection that it counts as a Brooks “fun shirt,” but that makes sense. I like the idea of the fun oxford shirts, but this one and its skin-tight fit is just too much, and I gather most I-S readers would agree. Good for a laugh though.
I don’t remember tobacco at Brooks, but I do recall the cigar counter at 21 from the late 80s/early 90s. I would occasionally buy a cigar there, for the novelty as much as anything, and smoke it in the lounge with cognac after dinner, feeling very grown up and old fashioned as a newly minted lawyer.
Things changed very slowly on West 52nd Street. It felt like a time machine in some ways. It was probably the last place to employ a restroom attendant, who was also a lay preacher and probably made a good living from tips. The job was passed down from father to son, also a lay preacher, at some point.
Like a western saloon, the bar proper had no seats, although there was a lounge with comfortable chairs and tables. About 10 years ago, they added a bar with stools and its own abbreviated menu in the lounge, which was comfortable for a drink and a burger, and a bit less stratospherically priced than the restaurant itself.
The place also had a bank of wooden phone booths near the men’s room with a telephone operator stationed at a desk just outside. The phones in the booths had no dial; you gave the operator the number and she connected you, and you tipped her after the call. You could also request that a phone be brought to your table, and the waiter would bring in a heavy black phone and plug it in to an outlet above the banquette. Even 30 years ago, that was a definite novelty. Unless something has changed, cellphone reception was very poor even after everyone had a phone in his pocket, so maybe that at least had some practical basis.
I do not believe that 21 has reopened, but hope someone will take the plunge. The artwork alone makes it well worth a visit, and there aren’t that many time machines left.
perhaps the idea is that if you have on a tux, you will not see anything other then the white tuxedo shirt elements, like a chipp novelty tie hides it’s ‘tongue in cheek’ aspects.
JR Tobacco in Washington, DC sold 21 Club cigars ca. 1990. I believe I still have 21 cigar box somewhere. They were legit smokes. As for The Paper Chase, I think the important point is that the TV series was AS GOOD AS the movie. I actually recorded the movie on TCM a week or so ago and will try to watch it in the next few days. I highly recommend it. Finally, as for the formal fun shirt, it’s one of the few things I kind of like at B2 these days, but of course I would wear it under a dinner jacket, which would not be removed, so it would be my little secret (like a CHIPP suit lining). I’m afraid the folks who are buying this shirt today can’t wait to strip off their jacket on the dance floor and parade around in their tartan glory. So the problem is the intent behind the shirt. B2 made this shirt to be paraded, whereas Mr. Winston would have made it to be concealed. My father had a gorgeous custom made navy blue suit that concealed a bright pink paisley lining and no one EVER saw it except him (and me).
I had decided a while back, even before the virus and vaccination idiocy began, to never visit New York again. After reading Charlottesville’s description of his time at 21, I may have to reconsider if 21 reopens.
I just looked up 21 and saw a headline from March of this year from the New York Times that the space was to be “reimagined”. I’m sure it is going to turn out well.
Will – Thank you for your appreciation of my attempt to describe one of the last windows through which I was privileged to peek into gracious days gone by. No doubt ’21’ changed a good bit between opening as a speakeasy during the Great Depression and the first time I visited nearly 60 years later, but the good bones and general atmosphere were still there, not to mention the Remington bronzes and remarkable paintings from the first part of the 20th century. The original Peter Arno drawing for the New Yorker on a column in the bar, for example, always gave me a smile. And the restaurant continued to have the Salvation Army Band in to give concerts every Christmas season. The tradition began when, like a scene from Guys and Dolls, Jack Kriendler, the original owner, invited them in to get warm on a snowy night sometime in the late 30s, which is a nice memory for this time of year.
However, I share your trepidation. The word “reimagined,” when spoken of any classic, is definitely cause for alarm. I hope they don’t ruin it. As someone once said, the only sequels to do justice to the originals were the New Testament and The Godfather Part II.
Just curious: is your new avatar Siri Fischer-Schneevoigt? Interesting choice.
Cheers and best wishes for a very merry Christmas to you and all.
The occasional silly patch shirt (a lazy “design” to be honest) isn’t what bothers me about Brooks. What bothers me is the very limited choice of almost everything they offer. Just compare their website to, say, J. Crew. Especially their shoes and accessories pages. It’s as if they’re trying to get rid of what’s left… and then what? The fact they don’t offer their “original” OCBD in exact sizes is a shame. Besides, they’re not even made in USA anymore, am I right?
I like some of their stuff, but everything looks as if the company is… going out of business. I was really hoping they will surprise us with something for the Christmas season, but there is nothing.
I had not thought about “The Paper Chase” since the television series in the early 80s. Thank you for bringing it to mind! That tuxedo shirt is confusing and tacky.
John Houseman was a serious actor, but a little before my time. I do remmember him from the Smith Barney television commercials. He wears a bow tie well.
Yes, it certainly kind of Mr. Kalamut to look at the BB site, so that we don’t have to. C’mon, now, everyone knows the game. Nobody buys that ridiculous stuff, not even as a gag gift. Just like ridiculous mannequin displays, it’s a marketing ploy to get the curious to look at their site and maybe buy a necktie or something.
I wonder if that is pipe tobacco or cigarette tobacco, or one in the same. We rolled our own well into the 80s and it was tasty, believe it or not.
Sounds like a pretty great time between assignments. No surprise nobody commented on your suit: I thought you *had* to wear at least a jacket and tie at 21. Is the place reopening? I hope so.
That shirt makes me think of those terrible stripey “party” shirts the spray-tanned bros would wear in the early-mid 2000s. Maybe it’s the preppy angle on those.
And I haven’t seen either form of Paper Chase yet, either. Looking forward to the profile of Mr. Kalamut.
@Hardbopper:
It was pipe tobacco:
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5494/14632397806_f33cf16362.jpg
@Nevada I think it just another version of the “fun shirt” that was popular in some circles. Supposedly they were created in the factory out of leftover pieces for new shirtmakers to practice, then they found there was a market for them.
So of course {eye roll} Brooks has to apply the concept to other clothing pieces, but I can’t imagine anyone wearing that in public. Maybe it’s like fashion shows, no one actually wears the stuff that you see on the runway, it’s just marketing.
Watching “Paper Chase” with GF. I was in law school. Houseman, on screen, asked a question, close up of face, he barks out “What is the answer?”. I slid way down in my seat, GF asks why, I reply “I forgot the answer.”
Yeah, parts of it were pretty real.
@Linkman,
Thanks for the link. The label does specify pipe tobacco. I guess I should have been more clear, i.e., what is the difference? or, what was the difference?
I remember seeing cans like this: https://www.rubylane.com/item/254486-AD23/1950s-Sir-Walter-Raleigh-Tobacco-Humidor#mz-expanded-view-696912887007
@ AndrewK247, thanks for the clarification. I didn’t make the connection that it counts as a Brooks “fun shirt,” but that makes sense. I like the idea of the fun oxford shirts, but this one and its skin-tight fit is just too much, and I gather most I-S readers would agree. Good for a laugh though.
@Hardbopper.
As far as I remember, it wasn’t fine-cut tobacco, and would have torn cigarette paper.
I don’t remember tobacco at Brooks, but I do recall the cigar counter at 21 from the late 80s/early 90s. I would occasionally buy a cigar there, for the novelty as much as anything, and smoke it in the lounge with cognac after dinner, feeling very grown up and old fashioned as a newly minted lawyer.
Things changed very slowly on West 52nd Street. It felt like a time machine in some ways. It was probably the last place to employ a restroom attendant, who was also a lay preacher and probably made a good living from tips. The job was passed down from father to son, also a lay preacher, at some point.
Like a western saloon, the bar proper had no seats, although there was a lounge with comfortable chairs and tables. About 10 years ago, they added a bar with stools and its own abbreviated menu in the lounge, which was comfortable for a drink and a burger, and a bit less stratospherically priced than the restaurant itself.
The place also had a bank of wooden phone booths near the men’s room with a telephone operator stationed at a desk just outside. The phones in the booths had no dial; you gave the operator the number and she connected you, and you tipped her after the call. You could also request that a phone be brought to your table, and the waiter would bring in a heavy black phone and plug it in to an outlet above the banquette. Even 30 years ago, that was a definite novelty. Unless something has changed, cellphone reception was very poor even after everyone had a phone in his pocket, so maybe that at least had some practical basis.
I do not believe that 21 has reopened, but hope someone will take the plunge. The artwork alone makes it well worth a visit, and there aren’t that many time machines left.
perhaps the idea is that if you have on a tux, you will not see anything other then the white tuxedo shirt elements, like a chipp novelty tie hides it’s ‘tongue in cheek’ aspects.
AJ
JR Tobacco in Washington, DC sold 21 Club cigars ca. 1990. I believe I still have 21 cigar box somewhere. They were legit smokes. As for The Paper Chase, I think the important point is that the TV series was AS GOOD AS the movie. I actually recorded the movie on TCM a week or so ago and will try to watch it in the next few days. I highly recommend it. Finally, as for the formal fun shirt, it’s one of the few things I kind of like at B2 these days, but of course I would wear it under a dinner jacket, which would not be removed, so it would be my little secret (like a CHIPP suit lining). I’m afraid the folks who are buying this shirt today can’t wait to strip off their jacket on the dance floor and parade around in their tartan glory. So the problem is the intent behind the shirt. B2 made this shirt to be paraded, whereas Mr. Winston would have made it to be concealed. My father had a gorgeous custom made navy blue suit that concealed a bright pink paisley lining and no one EVER saw it except him (and me).
I had decided a while back, even before the virus and vaccination idiocy began, to never visit New York again. After reading Charlottesville’s description of his time at 21, I may have to reconsider if 21 reopens.
Cheers,
Will
I just looked up 21 and saw a headline from March of this year from the New York Times that the space was to be “reimagined”. I’m sure it is going to turn out well.
Sheesh,
Will
Will – Thank you for your appreciation of my attempt to describe one of the last windows through which I was privileged to peek into gracious days gone by. No doubt ’21’ changed a good bit between opening as a speakeasy during the Great Depression and the first time I visited nearly 60 years later, but the good bones and general atmosphere were still there, not to mention the Remington bronzes and remarkable paintings from the first part of the 20th century. The original Peter Arno drawing for the New Yorker on a column in the bar, for example, always gave me a smile. And the restaurant continued to have the Salvation Army Band in to give concerts every Christmas season. The tradition began when, like a scene from Guys and Dolls, Jack Kriendler, the original owner, invited them in to get warm on a snowy night sometime in the late 30s, which is a nice memory for this time of year.
However, I share your trepidation. The word “reimagined,” when spoken of any classic, is definitely cause for alarm. I hope they don’t ruin it. As someone once said, the only sequels to do justice to the originals were the New Testament and The Godfather Part II.
Just curious: is your new avatar Siri Fischer-Schneevoigt? Interesting choice.
Cheers and best wishes for a very merry Christmas to you and all.
@Sacksuit
I too noticed that you new avatar is Siri Fischer-Schneevoigt (later Siri Schnéevoigt), and wondered if there was a family connection.
The occasional silly patch shirt (a lazy “design” to be honest) isn’t what bothers me about Brooks. What bothers me is the very limited choice of almost everything they offer. Just compare their website to, say, J. Crew. Especially their shoes and accessories pages. It’s as if they’re trying to get rid of what’s left… and then what? The fact they don’t offer their “original” OCBD in exact sizes is a shame. Besides, they’re not even made in USA anymore, am I right?
I like some of their stuff, but everything looks as if the company is… going out of business. I was really hoping they will surprise us with something for the Christmas season, but there is nothing.
Charlottesville,
I just happened to see her picture someplace and found her expression and beauty beguiling.
Merry Christmas all,
Will
I had not thought about “The Paper Chase” since the television series in the early 80s. Thank you for bringing it to mind! That tuxedo shirt is confusing and tacky.
Will – Beguiling beauty is definitely the phrase. Haunting, even.
I echo the praise of The Paper Chase, book, film and TV series.
Merry Christmas to all.