From Playboy Swings to Tea under the Palms – the fascinating history of New York’s Plaza Hotel told by Patty Farmer a historian, best-selling author, businesswoman and former model. She talks to Sophie Sadler at her home in Lagos.
I met Patty in her elegant new apartment overlooking the marina, which has what must be one of the best views in Lagos. Both she and the interior decor are elegant and chic! I am therefore not surprised to learn that her background is in worldwide real estate and venture capital, and she is obviously good at picking out prime property. However, I am not here to discuss property; I am here to discuss her new book, Tea Under the Palms.
I am surprised that an American is writing about tea. Surely, this is a subject most suited to a British author. But it turns out that the Americans are now embracing the tea ritual as much as the Brits but, of course, in a more sophisticated manner than the ‘fancy a brew’ tradition. According to Patty, tea rooms are springing up all over American and European cities, and the tea ritual is becoming more chic.
Patty has been fascinated with the glamour, magic and history of New York City’s quintessential Plaza Hotel ever since the day her mother introduced her to the ritual of afternoon tea at the hotel’s Palm Court when she was just seven years old. Palm Court is the Plaza Hotel’s iconic, swanky venue for high-end breakfast and afternoon tea. A few years and a large property portfolio later, and Patty is living in the Plaza. I asked how she managed that. “I had my chequebook with me,” she laughs.
For those who don’t know, the glamorous Plaza Hotel was the inspiration for the book, and later, the 2003 television movie Eloise at the Plaza. A destination hotel, only a few of its select units are sold as luxury condo residences. Patty says she turned up at the right time and, although there was a waiting list, she managed to bag one by putting down a deposit then and there! As a hotel resident, Patty saw films like Bride Wars (2009) being shot, which got her thinking about all the movies filmed there through the decades and the history of this landmark building.
However, it was only when the financial crisis of 2007 brought a steep decline in the property market that Patty was able to explore her curiosity. It was during this time, when no one was doing any real estate business, that she started on a journey that was to take her into writing.
“I do not do well with time on my hands. I was living at the Plaza and knew it had this rich history – its ‘Persian Room’ nightclub, located in the Plaza from 1934–1977, attracted many famous stars. I went to the concierge and asked to look through the archives, but they said there were none. The Hilton owned the building along with Zsa Zsa Gabor and then Donald Trump. They took all the memorabilia when they left, so all this rich history was lost. The history of the club intrigued me enough to research and chronicle its history.”
Patty put together a research team for her own personal interest. “I wanted to find out the whos, whats, whens and whys. I knew I could only do this by talking to people who had been there in its heyday. Growing up, I was always around society and celebrities, and I had friends in that world, so I started asking people, ‘Do you know Jack Jones? Do you know Tony Bennett? Can you get me an invitation?’ It worked. So I had all these great interviews on tape and transcribed, and I was lucky. Someone recommended an agent, and they were able to sell my first book.”
Playboy Swings was a best seller and focused on the musical entertainment of the Playboy Clubs. “ I think my niche is the personal interview—I did 300 interviews for this book.”
I find it strange for a strong businesswoman to celebrate the Playboy brand, but I did not know that putting aside the bunny girls, Hugh Hefner left behind a positive legacy, including his devotion to music and colourblind entertainment. “Playboy Swings, with the subtitle: How Hugh Hefner Changed the Face of Music, is a double entendre because he not only shone the spotlight on jazz, but he is also widely credited for integrating his stages,” Patty tells me. At this time, America was still a segregated country, but Hefner disregarded that and was only interested in who was the best musician, comic, singer, regardless of race.
Radio host Bob Porter reviewed the book, writing “One might not immediately think of Hugh Hefner as an important contributor to the jazz scene of the 1950s and early 1960s, but he was all of that and more. The magazines, the TV shows, the Jazz festival and the Playboy Clubs were important components in the production of jazz artists. Playboy and its associated enterprises brought the music to people who might otherwise not be aware of it. All this is neatly documented by Patty Farmer.”
People hear the name Playboy and they think it is all about centrefolds, however Patty wrote about the music, detailing all the legends that played at the Playboy club, including Paul Anker, Patty Austen, Aretha Franklin and The Beatles. And from those who had passed away, Patty learned their stories from authentic sources. “Because of my background as a business person, I always had a terrific team that ensured authenticity, and I think that is how I got my reputation. The people I interviewed and journalists [I talked to] knew I was not going to do a hatchet piece. My accuracy was spot on and that’s how I built my reputation.”
Because of the accuracy, success and writing style of Playboy Swings, and later Playboy Laughs, the company asked Patty to write for Playboy magazine from 2015 to when the company changed their format and ended the monthly magazine. (It’s now a quarterly online publication.) She says she fell into writing as it was fun. And with a list of interviewees like she can boast, who wouldn’t have fun? Barbara Streisand, Paul McCartney, Al Jarreau, Patti Page, Diahann Carroll, Polly Bergen, Kaye Ballard, Shecky Greene, Trinidad Lopez and Lily Tomlin to name but a few. However, not all eggs were easy to crack. She spent a lot of time interviewing Joan Rivers. “She was very no-nonsense; she didn’t sit and tell jokes. She is there to get the job done and, at one point, I thought she was interviewing me. She told me, ‘I hope you have done your homework; you know I wasn’t hatched as a headliner.’ I was able to reply that I was familiar with her initial career in a trio. I think she was impressed by my research and it broke the ice.”
Patty also interviewed Tony Bennett, and he became a good friend. At his 90th birthday party, she met Paul McCartney. Stevie Wonder was also in attendance. “If you get an invite like that, everyone just assumes you belong, so it’s a dream for someone who loves the entertainment world like I do.”
Mitzi Gaynor, Hollywood legend, superstar, actress and singer, wrote the foreword for her book, Starring the Plaza, released in 2017.“The building was built in 1907, and the book describes all the movies, events, premieres, and stories from the plaza in a beautiful glossy book full of pictures.”
After years of researching and chronicling various aspects of the Plaza, the management asked Patty to write a book about the history of tea so that, when asked by guests, they could direct people to a fun historical accounting of the tea tradition. They also sell the book in their boutique. “The universe was calling,” she tells me.
Before tea became the public property of the working class, it was the preserve of royalty. As Patty explains in the book, the Portuguese Princess Catherine de Braganza brought tea to her husband, Charles II, as part of her dowry. He used it to pay off the national debt, but his queen introduced tea to her British husband and, consequently, the whole of Britain.
Patty says that the elegant ritual of taking tea is having a revival and that many business people in New York are using tea as an icebreaker in their meetings. “The millennials have discovered it and might go to a tea room now rather than a bar!” Patty believes that in a crazy world, tea and “pulling out your Sunday manners” is a good antidote in a hectic world. Tea Under the Palms is printed in a compact size, making it popular to give as a favour or in gift bags.
Patty´s next book will be a more Anglo-centric exploration of tea culture, which will include a delve into Agatha Christie and tea. Patty explains, “Agatha Christie is one of the best-selling authors of all time. Only Shakespeare and the Bible have beaten her. Every single one of her novels, short stories and plays have tea in it. Clues are discovered while Miss Marple has afternoon tea or Poirot reveals the murderer over a pot of tea. It’s a fascinating paradigm.”
Patty originally came to Portugal looking for a business investment but fell in love with the Algarve and decided to make it her home permanently. Now that she is winding down her business affairs, she is turning more and more to writing and can envisage a time when she can sit in Portugal and only be occupied with her word processor.
She has made many friends, takes Portuguese lessons three times a week, and has become very involved in the community. She actively supports the local dog shelter Cadela Carlota, and has become the proud dog mom of Marina. Patty calls Marina the Lagos Canine Goodwill Ambassador and she has become quite a star due to regular posts on Patty’s Instagram @patty_does_portugal. “Marina brings happiness and love to visitors and neighbours throughout the Algarve, and wherever she and I go, people just love getting their pictures taken with her,” Patty tells me.
It’s difficult to sum Patty up in a closing paragraph. She intrigued me. She is a best-selling American female author, Hollywood historian, and businesswoman who has been drawn to the Algarve despite it being the polar opposite of where she came from. Despite coming from a notoriously cut-throat world, she exudes warmth and friendliness, which makes it easy to see why so many stars have opened up to her. She just needs to watch out for one thing here – that she doesn’t get overshadowed by her dog!
Excerpt from Playboy Swings:
One of the earliest artists that Victor (Lownes) hired for the Chicago Playboy Club was Aretha Franklin. “We were her first big engagement,” says Victor. “Later on, she concentrated on singing, but in 1960, she both sang and played piano. Keith (Hefner) was the room director, and he suggested we fire her because he didn’t think she was any good. I liked both her singing and playing and said, ‘No, we’re keeping her.’” To be fair to Keith, this young woman’s destiny wasn’t clearly written yet in 1960, she only turned eighteen in March of that year, and it would have been impossible to predict so early that she would later fuse jazz and gospel music and create soul music in the process.
Victor feels as if he got the last laugh in this instance, “Of course, she became a big star. Occasionally, I have fun reminding Keith of his suggestion.”
“Tea, and afternoon tea in particular, is a small pleasure but an unparalleled one,”declares author and culture maven Patty Farmer. “Wars have been waged, royal marriages arranged, companies formed, and world problems solved over a perfect cup of tea.
It’s neither inebriating, expensive, nor fattening, and yet there’s nothing quite so effective for regaining one’s equilibrium and perspective—or simply relaxing.”
