One of the most compelling, yet forgotten stories of the 20th century.
-- Walter Cronkite
Toots Shor is many things to many people, said Edward R. Murrow of the legendary Manhattan saloonkeeper in 1955. A friend to the famous, a crook to the feds, father, brother, gambler, bum, but most of all Toots Shor was the owner of Americas greatest saloon. Directed by his granddaughter, TOOTS is a provocative, loving and unmistakably authentic portrait of the self-made, unapologetic and quintessentially American man who became the unlikely den-mother to the heroes of Americas golden age. Politicians and gangsters, sports heroes and movie stars -- Sinatra, Gleason, Dimaggio, Ruth, Costello, Eisenhower, Nixon, Warren -- for 30 years, they all found their way to Toots eponymous saloon on New Yorks West 51st Street for food and drink, served up with a heaping side of insults and put downs. From its post-WW II heyday to its devastating decline in the 1970s, this film reveals as much about the city Toots loved as it does about the man and his enduring legacy.
"Cheers to Ms. Jacobson for keeping alive the memory of New York nightlifes golden era, and a man who embodied it." -- Laura Kern, The New York Times
"Bottom Line: A glorious exercise in nostalgia. "Toots" affectionately and vividly recalls a bygone New York era, one in which life was simpler (if not more innocent, as one interview subject points out) and celebrities and ordinary folk could be in close proximity without hulking bodyguards getting in the way. -- Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter
"A nostalgic, meticulously researched full course meal from granddaughter Kristi Jacobson that will whet appetites of fest, specialty and tube diners." - Eddie Cockrell, Variety
3.5 out of 4 stars "Shor's granddaughter Kristi Jacobson has made an unexpectedly good documentary about this sentimental, volatile ex-bouncer's life and timesunexpected, because Jacobson isn't afraid to paint her grandfather (who died, in 1977, when she was 6) as a complicated, reckless and hard-swigging dreamer." -- The Chicago Tribune
