RARE! “Restaurateur/ Con Man” Michael Romanoff Hand Signed Album Page

Description: Up for auction "Restaurateur" Michael Romanoff Hand Signed Album Page. ES-4572 Harry F. Gerguson (born Hershel Geguzin, February 20, 1890 – September 1, 1971), known as Michael Romanoff, was a Hollywood restaurateur, con man and actor born in Lithuania. He is perhaps best remembered as the owner of the now-defunct Romanoff's, a Beverly Hills restaurant popular with Hollywood stars in the 1940s and 1950s. He claimed to be a member of Russia's royal House of Romanov (sometimes spelled "Romanoff" in English). This was widely known to be untrue throughout his career, but press reports tended to treat the deception as a humorous matter. The New Yorker ran a series of five profiles, starting October 29, 1932, tracing Romanoff's history from birth until date of publication, including his having been deported to France in May of that year to serve time for fraud. According to U.S.A Confidential (Mortimer and Lait, 1952), though Romanoff pretended to be Russian royalty, he was actually a former Brooklyn pants presser. Geguzin immigrated to New York City at age 10. He changed his name from Hershel to Harry F. Gerguson some time after 1900 and married Gloria Lister in 1948. At times, he passed himself off as "Count Gladstone the son of William Gladstone, "Prince Michael Dimitri Alexandrovich Obolensky-Romanoff", nephew of Tsar Nicholas II, William Wellington or Arthur Wellesley. Romanoff died of a heart attack in Los Angeles, California, in 1971 aged 81. From 1941 to 1962, Romanoff's was located at 326 North Rodeo Drive, and had another location at 140 South Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. In 1951, it moved to a new location at 240 South Rodeo Drive. Romanoff generally snubbed his clientele, and preferred to lunch with his dogs. KCET's Hadley Meares writes of the restaurant, which used an elegant monogram consisting of a crown sitting over two capital letter 'R's back to back: "The décor was masculine and clubby with comfortable booths, the dance floor well waxed, the cigarette girls lovely, and the waiters well-trained and Jeeves-like." While Romanoff's featured a typical country club-style menu with items like Waldorf salad, tomatoes stuffed with crab, filet mignon, frog legs, eggs Benedict and sausages on toast, the restaurant became known for its chocolate soufflés, which were served to each guest in an individual portion. Although Romanoff's restaurant is also known for popularizing the "American version" of the famous dessert Strawberries Romanoff, it was actually created by Escoffier when he was the chef at the Carlton Hotel in London – where he had originally called it "Strawberries Americaine Style" - strawberries in Grand Marnier, blended into whipped cream and softened ice cream. Noodles Romanoff, a dish of noodles and cheeses that originally appeared at Romanoff's in the mid-1950s, became a popular item often mentioned in Hollywood reporting. Later, after Romanoff's went out of business, the dish was served at Stouffer's Top of the Rock Restaurant in Chicago. When Stouffer's closed that restaurant, the company transferred Noodles Romanoff to its newly formed frozen food grocery division. Soon, various companies' versions of Noodles Romanoff could be purchased in grocery stores for preparation at home. It was a popular side dish on American dinner tables through the 1960s, and recipes for it are widely available on the Internet. The restaurant closed its doors for good on New Year's Eve in 1962; however, the exterior of Romanoff's can be seen in the 1967 Fox film, A Guide for the Married Man. Romanoff himself also plays the maitre'd in a sequence in the film in a studio recreation of the restaurant's interior. In the 1960 film Strangers When We Meet Kirk Douglas and Barbara Rush are seen dining at Romanoff's restaurant. Mike Romanoff himself make an uncredited appearance.

Price: 129.99 USD

Location: Fort Lauderdale, Florida

End Time: 2024-08-29T18:49:10.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 USD