Hamptonites Celebrate Friars Club at NYC Dinner

Is Patsy’s in midtown Manhattan the new Friars Club? It looked like it on a Tuesday night late in March when 100 of the old gang got back together, including some Hamptonites, appropriately enough in the upstairs “Sinatra Room.”

Friar and WPIX reporter Marvin Scott has vacationed in Quogue for years. He also has “40 years of fond Friars memories. The roasts, George Burns, Milton Berle, Jerry Lewis, I miss the club.”

Another Quogue resident, Stanley Friedman dropped by the event. “A certain percentage of the members had to be in show business,” he said. “But a certain percentage were non-show business. I was in politics and practiced law. I was a member since the late 1970s. I saw Freddie Roman there. It was a clubhouse. Every generation had one.”

Other members in the room included Bridgehampton’s Bill McCuddy. “I was an honorary member when they were trying to revive the place. Another Hamptons guy brought me in. Hollywood Producer Mike Tadross. They had a big table in the dining room and if you came in alone they seated you next to Jerry Lewis. It was crazy and cool.”

Singer Julie Budd has performed many times in the Hamptons. She snuck into the Friar’s “before it was also a woman’s club. Eventually they gave me my own night. I sang Sinatra tunes because I worked with him.” She was just one of the performers who roamed the private dining room serenading the crowd. It’s not a young bunch.

Douglas Elliman Real Estate broker Nicholas Compagnone sat at the children’s table, he’s 31. “I met some real characters there. Those are my favorite people.” His uncle Ralph Compagnone was on the board and brought him in. The elder Compagnone says wistfully “I saw Henny Youngman, Joey Adams, it was just very special.”

Other Hamptons members not in attendance include Bill Boggs, Brooke Shields, Carol Alt and producer Jamie deRoy.

Patsy’s man in the kitchen Sal Scognamillo says evenings like this could become a habit. “We miss it, and tonight was an honor, and you’re all welcome back any time.” Friedman has a suggestion if they all want to come to the Hamptons this summer. “Bobby Van’s is nice and it’s centrally located. You can find members from Remsemburg to Montauk.”

Who knows, maybe the ghost of Sinatra will drop by.