PALEY CENTER FOR MEDIA, THE: DOCFEST 2008: TOOTS {LONG VERSION}
Summary
One in a series of evenings and special screenings presented as part of The Paley Center for Media’s ninth annual Documentary Television Festival. Held at The Paley Center in New York, this evening focuses on “Toots,” a documentary about Bernard “Toots” Shor, proprietor of New York City's Toots Shor’s Restaurant in the '40s and ‘50s. Host Pat Mitchell (President and CEO, The Paley Center for Media) offers opening remarks and discusses the background of DocFest.
Mitchell then introduces film critic Jeffrey Lyons, who discusses the production, reads anecdotes about Shor, and relates the experiences of his father -- the late newspaper columnist Leonard Lyons -- at the restaurant. Next, journalist and author Gay Talese, takes the stage and provides details about the people he met and wrote about at Shor's establishment. The film is then screened in its entirety. (For synopsis and credits, see ACCNUM B:93472.)
After the screening, the panelists take the stage: director and producer Kristi Jacobson, who is also Shor’s granddaughter; Shor family friend Perian Conerly, who is featured in the film; and artist LeRoy Neiman, who is featured in the film.
The discussion, moderated by Mitchell, touches on topics such as: how Shor died when Jacobson was six; Jacobson feeling that she got to know her grandfather by making the film; Neiman's coming to understand the “gravity” of Shor’s experiences and losses through the documentary; one of Shor's memorable ways to handle a rowdy patron; Conerly's recollections of Thanksgiving dinner at Shor's home; how Shor arranged for Conerly's husband, New York Giants quarterback Charlie Conerly, to meet his idol, Joe DiMaggio; the restaurant’s reputation as "primarily a guy's place”; how Shor and the restaurant represent “the story of a city” and the times; Jacobson’s gradual understanding of her grandfather's fame and how he “fit into the fabric” of the culture; Shor as “an ideal person in his era”; Neiman's description of an average night at the restaurant; and the many books written about Shor.
Questions from the audience then lead to a discussion of the following: the soundtrack for the film, which includes works by Sinatra; the challenges of securing rights to certain songs; the details of Shor’s death at age 74; Jacobson's three aunts preferring not to talk publicly about their famous father; and the film’s process of achieving wider distribution through the Internet and DVD sales.
Cataloging of this program has been made possible by Verizon Communications.
Details
- NETWORK: N/A
- DATE: October 16, 2008 6:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 2:01:00
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:93566
- GENRE: Seminars
- SUBJECT HEADING: N/A
- SERIES RUN: N/A
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Pat Mitchell … Host, Moderator
- Kristi Jacobson … Panelist
- Perian Conerly … Panelist
- LeRoy Neiman … Panelist
- Jeffrey Lyons … Guest
- Gay Talese … Guest
- Charlie Conerly
- Joe DiMaggio
- Leonard Lyons
- Bernard "Toots" Shor
- Frank Sinatra