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photography courtesy of stanley paul A PUMP ROOM MAINSTAY After his initial 13 weeks, Paul returned to New York, but was soon back at the Pump Room and became a permanent fixture at the Ambassador for the next decade. He came to know an amazing array of entertainers who, at that time, always made the hotel their Chicago home—whether performing at the Ambassador or merely staying there during local visits. A favorite was Bette Davis, whom Paul originally got to know on the East Coast. According to the maestro, "When she would come into the Pump Room, she never wanted to sit in booth one. She always wanted to sit with me at the piano, where she would smoke cigarette after cigarette. I thought I would choke after a half hour of this, but I couldn't tell her not to smoke. You couldn't tell Bette not to do anything!" He continues, "On top of that, she would start singing along with the orchestra—I might add, in a different key. Bette Davis might have been one of the greatest film stars of all time, but singing was a craft she never quite mastered." Paul also has many poignant memories of Judy Garland, particularly dur- ing one of her last stays at the Ambassador not long before her death at age 47 in 1969. "While I had met her brief ly in New York, I really got to know her well at the Pump Room. One of the last times was very memorable—primarily because it almost killed me," declares Paul. "She was sitting with Irv and Essee Kupcinet having dinner, and I started playing all of her songs. She sent a note up to the piano, 'Thank you for the joy you are giving me tonight.' We always hit it off, but that night she invited me up to her suite, and it just went on and on. She never slept. I never saw her taking pills, but that must have been what kept her up. It got to be three, then five, then seven in the morning. Everybody else had left, but Judy wouldn't let me leave. Finally, I told her I had to get some sleep, and she said, 'Okay, but please stay until I fall asleep.' "This went on for four nights in a row. I'd play the piano in her suite and she'd sing. The voice was pretty much gone by then, but she still knew how to style a song and deliver it. But after those four days, I told people, 'Another few days with Dorothy and I'd be over the rainbow myself!'" One of the Pump Room's true regulars over the years was Frank Sinatra. According to Paul, Ol' Blue Eyes would come in quite often, but Paul once decided he didn't want to do the usual and play Sinatra's best-known hits. "I knew he liked [the great jazz cabaret singer] Mabel Mercer, who would often sing lesser-known songs by famous composers. So I played some lesser- known Cole Porter and Gershwin songs—things the average person wouldn't know, but I figured Frank would like that. Later that night, as I walked by his table, Sinatra said, 'Stanley, I enjoyed the set. Those were good selections.' Coming from Sinatra, that was pretty high praise—he was not one to be effusive with the compliments. That meant a lot to me." Among Paul's other favorite diva memories was almost making a record with Gloria Swanson. But after only one rehearsal, the project stalled because the actress slipped into her Norma Desmond character from Sunset Boulevard and became more obsessed with what she'd wear for the album cover than with getting the album actually recorded. Then there was the Easter brunch at the Pump Room, shortly after Phyllis Diller had her first face-lift. "It was back when face-lifts—or at least people admitting to having them—was something new," says Paul with a smile. "We were all sitting there waiting for Phyllis to arrive from a gig at Pheasant Run. Among those at the table was Hermione Gingold, who was quite elderly at that point and almost seemed to be nodding off. Everyone was dying to see Phyllis's 'new' face. Suddenly, during a lull in the conversation about Phyllis's visage, Hermione piped up, 'She's probably so gorgeous she's getting [rav- aged] on the highway coming back here even as we speak!'" Other memories from those years range from hanging out with Carol Channing when Hello, Dolly! was still a new show, to observing Joan Crawford dining alone, "always with a tall glass of water in front of her…. I told Victor, the maître'd, 'I've never seen anyone drink that much water,' to which he replied, 'Stanley, that's not water. That's 100 -proof vodka!'" But a Paul favorite was the always-f lamboyant Zsa Zsa Gabor. "I'll never forget the night Zsa Zsa, George Hamilton, and I watched the Academy Awards in my apartment at the Ambassador," recalls Paul. "Zsa Zsa's run- ning commentary was hilarious. It was the year Barbra Streisand tied with Katharine Hepburn for best actress. Zsa Zsa knew where every woman's piece of jewelry came from—both the jeweler and who had given it to the actress wearing it. Zsa Zsa was a character. She used to borrow dresses from stores like Saks, wear them, be photographed in them, and then take them back the next day. When someone told her, 'Zsa Zsa, you can't do that,' she would simply say, 'They should be glad I wore it, darling!'" NEW BEGINNINGS After Paul left the Pump Room in the 1970s to launch his own society orches- tra, he became the go-to guy for many of Chicago's social and charity events. "Of course, in those years there weren't that many charity balls. There was the Boys Club of Chicago's Summer Ball— which was the first big party I played, after starting my orchestra. Then there was the September Gala for Children's Home + Aid, the Crystal Ball for Mi- chael Reese Hospital, and the Service Club gala, but overall nothing like the many charity balls we have today." Paul has played for more weddings than he can count, but he notes that the planning for those happy occasions has changed a lot since he started playing them. "It used to be that the mother of the bride would make all the decisions. She might turn to the bride who was merely sitting next to her and say, 'Dear, what song do you want for your first dance?' That would be it. Today, often the mothers don't even show up. The kids do all the planning, and often the grooms have a lot to say as well." And when it comes to private ceremonies, Paul is constantly amused by all the people who say, 'You played at my bar mitzvah.' "I've probably only played about 10 bar mitzvahs in my life, but a lot of people seem to think I was the orchestra for theirs." While he has led his orchestra for many, many weddings, Paul loves recounting a tale from a number of years ago: "I was at some country club and this lovely couple—well into their 90s—came up and said, 'You played at our wedding!' I knew I didn't, but I didn't want to be rude. 'When were you married?' I asked. "When they told me '1939,' I knew that was impossible, but since they insisted it was me, all I could say was, 'Sure. Great!'" While Stanley Paul clearly relishes looking back on the amazing career he's already had—and sharing tales of his experiences with so many stars—he very much lives in the present, and is equally passionate about his continuing role as Chicago's designated society bandleader. More importantly, he's looking for- ward to the future. He's no spring chicken, but he still exudes the disarming charisma of that confident young bandleader who stepped into the Pump Room 50 years ago. "I love making music, and I love making people happy," he smiles. "How many people do you know who can go to work every day and look out at a great group of people smiling and dancing? I'm a very lucky guy." MA "Sinatr a Said, 'Stanley, i enjoyed the Set.' that meant a lot to me." 130 michiganavemag.com