High life
Hit job
Taki
New York Mortimer's is a brick-lined, black-panelled imitation mahogany American type of pub that looks like the inside of a fireplace. It is also the trendiest watering place in New York. Located on 75th Street and Lexington, one block off Park Avenue, it caters to the kind of crowd that affects British upper-class mannerisms. The men wear cardigan sweaters and work in Wall Street. The women belong to committees dedicated to save some landmark building, drive estate cars and never have more than two children. Both sexes speak as if their jaws were tightly wired shut.
Mortimer's proprietor is a gentleman called Glen Birnbaum. He made his fortune selling polyester shirts before going into the chic restaurant business. Like most New Yorkers, Birnbaum is a snob and an anglophile. Unlike his heroes, however, Birnbaum is successful. He hires upperclass Englishmen to run the place, with amazing results: it is jammed and the profits are tremendous. (The/food is also very good as Birnbaum hired the sous-chef of the Connaught.) The present greeter is Anthony Russell, son of Lord Ampthill, a twenty-seven-year old, good-looking young man, and a very talented musician to boot. Anthony is a great favourite with the crowds. Everyone tries to speak like him. He also has another asset. His girlfriend, Floret= Michard Pellisier, is the recognised high priestess of the jet-set.
It was in this kind of atmosphere that a most bizarre murder plot took place recently, with F.B.I. agents posing as Mafia hit men, and a homosexual triangle thrown in for good measure. The mess began when Birnbaum, fifty, and a self-admitted homosexual, took a nostalgic cruise with designer Bill Blass to, where else, the Greek islands. Once in Mykonos, where else, Birnbaum became enamoured of a young waiter who served him an aperitif in a sidewalk cafe. Birnbaum told Blass he was unable to continue the cruise and remained in Mykonos. He proposed that the young Greek should come back to America and help him run Mortimer's. Stefanos, the waiter, agreed with alacrity. But there was a slight problem. Stefanos was married, had a child and lived with his parents and sister. Birnbaum, however, flew the whole tribe back to New York and set them up on the East Side. Stefanos worked as a co-greeter with Anthony Russell.
The set-up was terrific. Russell drew them in with his upper-class manner, Stefanos charmed them with his oleaginous Mediterranean ways. Then came trouble. Stefanos, being Greek, was a gambler. But, unlike in Greece, in New York one paYs. Especially as there are people in black hats who remind you to. Stefanos gambled, lost, and was about to become part of the landscape when a miracle took place. Birnbaum, in a moment of ecstasy, On" fessed to him that he was leaving him the, restaurant upon his death. Stefanos sighe.° with appreciation and anticipation. it seems. He told the men with black hats that payment was imminent. Then he thought about getting Birnbaum knocked off. That is when he got stupid. Not Used to modern technology, he shouted over the telephone and he was overheard. Two, F.B.I. Men came in to Mortimer's and pretended to b! mafiosi. Anthony Russell gave them a table. Stefanos fingered Birnbaum an offered two thousand dollars. He was arrested on the spot. But American laws being designed:t° protect the criminal rather than the vicnal] Stefanos was out on bail last week attu working — this time, as a simple waiter —la 3 restaurant two blocks away from Mnr' timer's. Glen Birnbaum says he is not angrY* Just disappointed. He plans to stick with upper-class Englishmen from now on. The place, needless to say, is more crowded than ever. And Stefanos denies that he was phr sically involved with Birnbaum. When' saw him yesterday he said to me, 'Glen might be, a homosexual but he's also an alcoholic.
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