TOOTS

DC Premiere

Pull up a barstool, take a step back in time and enter the world of one of New York's greatest impresarios. TOOTS is director Kristi Jacobsons' loving tribute to the legendary saloon keeper-and her grandfather-Toots Schor.

Growing up the only "Jew kid" in a largely Irish neighborhood in Philadelphia, Toots endured the proverbial school of hard knocks before moving to New York City, where his fighting prowess won him a job as a speakeasy bouncer during Prohibition. This big, boisterous, "putty-faced" man attracted a legion of loyal friends. The contacts he made during this formative period helped him establish his own eponymous tavern at 51 West 51st Street.

In New York's post-war party years, everyone who was anyone was at Toots Schor's club. Journalists, sports stars, actors and regular folks mingled under the watchful and protective eye of the man who called himself "Tootsie the pretty Jew." With his formidable charm, he cultivated lasting friendships with the era's brightest stars. He went beyond a first name basis with his clienteleÑto him, Sinatra was Òthe dagoÓ and Joe DiMaggio Òthe other dago.Ó Others, from Frank Gifford to Jackie Gleason, were simply Òcrumbums.Ó

TOOTS paints a vivid picture of that vanished New York where hard-drinking newspapermen, lovable rogues and larger-than-life celebrities gathered in the city's watering holes to drink, shoot the breeze and just get along famously. This film is a memorable document of what was, in the words of writer Nick Pileggi: "Not a more innocent time, but a simpler time."

-Paul Meyers

DIRECTOR BIO
Kristi Jacobson has been involved in documentary filmmaking since 1993. Her debut feature documentary AMERICAN STANDOFF premiered at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival and broadcast on HBO's award-winning America Undercover series. Her body of work tackles a wide range of social concerns, including violence against women, workers' rights, HIV and AIDS, capital punishment and homelessness, and has been featured on HBO, A&E, Lifetime, ABC, Sundance Channel and PBS. Most recently, she served as director/producer on PBS's eight-part Emmy™-nominated series Colonial House.

Print Source:
Alicia Sams
Catalyst Films
426 Broome Street, #B
New York, NY 10013
917.763.3810
alicia@catalyst-films.com

PRECEDED BY...SHORT HISTORY OF SWEET POTATO PIE AND HOW IT BECAME A FLYING SAUCER
Nina Gilden Seavey
USA, 2005, 17 MINUTES

Residents at the St. Mary's Court Retirement Community in Washington D.C. agree that nothing is better than Pearl Mallory's sweet potato pie. This tender and humorous portrait of the aged residents reveals how simple things often have the greatestê meaning.

Print Source:
Nina Gilden Seavy, The Documentary Center, George Washington University
805 21st Street NW
Suite 519 MPA
Washington, DC 20052
202.994.6787
seavey@gwu.edu

6/18 at 6:30 PM

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