STAGE: Looped (closes 4/11)

Based on a real event, LOOPED takes place in the summer of 1965, when an inebriated Tallulah Bankhead stumbles into a sound studio to rerecord (or ‘loop’) one line of dialogue for her last movie --Die, Die, My Darling. Ms. Bankhead was known for her wild partying and convention-defying exploits that surpassed even today’s celebrity bad girls. Given her intoxicated state and inability to loop the line properly, what ensues is an uproarious showdown between an uptight film editor, Danny Miller, and the outrageous legend.

She answered her front door naked. She went out in public without panties. She drank like a fish, popped pills, smoked like a chimney, cursed like a sailor, slept indiscriminately with men and women – and was eminently and shockingly quotable. Long before today’s misbehaving celebrities, there was acclaimed star of stage and screen, Tallulah Bankhead. (source)

Hush Yo' Mouf!!

A little vintage southern in the city gossip courtesy of Time Out NY:

Monkey Bar
Though Monkey Bar opened in the '30s, its simian murals weren't painted until the '50s.
Tennessee Williams made his home at the Hotel Elysee above the Monkey Bar. He died there in 1983, allegedly from choking on a bottle cap.

Tallulah Bankhead also lived in the Elysee and was known for her provocative behavior at the restaurant—one tale has her on the piano wearing a mink (and nothing else).


Graydon Carter's revamped version of Monkey Bar is open now.