Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's (1998)

I recall as a kid, watching "I Love Lucy" reruns, that Chasen's and The Brown Derby were THE celeb-spotting places to eat. But, if that's all they offer, they'll be dead as soon as the celebs move on to the next New Kid In Town, like The Ivy. They will never forget you 'til somebody new comes along.Watching "Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's", I saw golden age celebs by the dozens, who hadn't dined there in decades, acting like they were visiting beloved family. The staffers seem to be staring and saying internally "Where ya been all these years? We wouldn't have to close if you'd eaten here once in awhile!".But, whose fault is that? The restaurant business is very demanding and fickle. If you don't keep pace with what the dining public wants --- not just wax-works celebs to ogle --- you go out of business.Having been in such a position, I felt deeply for the many loyal employees to knew their best employment days were about to end forever.However.... I'm really glad I'll never again have to listen to loudmouth celeb-worshipper Tommy Gallagher, who just had to be in EVERY celeb photo snapped there; and I'm glad I never had to work for mincing, caustic bully/queen Raymond Bilboon, who seriously needs a good b-slapping in the ladies' room. I'm glad I never got stuck sitting next to them on a plane. Maybe those two are why the celebs no longer went there.

My late father was in "the business" and I had some exposure to the Hollywood crowd in the 60's. I was never lucky enough to dine at Chasen's, but wish I had been. This eatery, along with Scandia, The Brown Derby and Cyrano's have all closed now, victims of neglect. The current clientèle are too health conscious to ever want the truly delicious fare and wonderfully elegant ambiance of a Chasen's. The closest thing we still have to such a place is Musso Frank's on Hollywood Blvd. I have eaten there and am very glad it's still around. You can enter that place and suspend disbelief: it becomes the 1940's and Boogie or Grant or "Stanny" (Barbara Stanwyk) might come walking in at any moment....or so I began to believe after savoring a truly fine vodka martini at the bar.So this documentary did bring back a feeling to me and a longing for those times, my now deceased parents and a sense of loss of a Hollywood that had some real class.

Know that, as of yet, I have not seen this documentary. So why might I be arrogant enough to comment? My father, Jack Loveland, was General Manager of Chasen's 1949-1966. He passed in 1967. I grew up in the bowels of Chasen's; knowing Dave Chasen (and to a very limited extent, a few contacts with Maude Chasen) and brother Phil. I knew more about the wine cellars, the pantry (and pantry chef Joe), the freezers, meat preparation areas, and unseen corridors than just about anyone. As a wee boy I rolled butter into balls to placed into iced silver bowls, vacuumed the dining room floors, took inventory in the deep freeze. I knew where they kept the massive barrels of MSG and spent hundreds of hours doing child-drawings on the backs of unused menus (brought home by my dad). I heard stories of how Peter Lorre spent massive amounts of time in those wine cellars with my dad pouring his movie salaries down his throat in the form of rare bottles and vintages. Bob Hope gave me a toy wind-up tank when I was five or so. Every once in a while we would get a case of chili or a cake or a Per Al's cheesecake as gifts. Oh, yeah - I never ate in the dining room. Ever.So just finding out about this DVD from Wikipedia and our noble host, IMDb, I look forward to viewing this video with a very prejudiced eye. From the comments, should hope for an accurate presentation of the hard-working staff. I note Tommy Gallagher is cited, and I remember him well. With any restaurant, presentation - by waiters and bartenders and maitre-d's - as well as the celebrity owners and customers is they typical fodder for the most amicable of filmmakers. Here, as with others, however, they had best beware. Some of us know far more than you do, and it had better be a fair and balanced presentation! Yea, I have a voice on the web (albeit minor) and a history of reviewing film. One so close to my heart and dear to my memory will indeed undergo the harshest of scrutiny, and this small piece will indeed lead to a review of microscopic detail. (One day, soon, to show up under IMDb's Miscellaneous links.) Should anyone care to send me a review copy, I'd be delighted. As is, I am grateful for a tribute of any sort to a Hollywood / Beverly Hills landmark, an important meeting place and watering hole for many celebrities; provided by a group of very fine people who worked hard for a living.

I have to agree that it´s a fantastic documentary. I was very surprised to watch it on German TV, because I just stayed at Raymond Bilbool´s place in Hollywood for the second time. If you want to know him better (and you should, because he is even more entertaining, when you meet him an his friends personally), you should definetely consider to visit his Bed&Breakfast Inn in the Hollywood Hills.