From the Archives: America’s Last Crooner – The Riviera’s Tony Martin

Dancing under the stars atop the Palisades in formal wear, amidst the glamour and elegance of a mid-20th century supper club is a wonderful image for the mind. 

This image remains a distant memory for those who were there and represents a time we wish was here again for just one night for those of us who were not yet born during the wonderful life of the Riviera nightclub of Fort Lee. 

But the memory of the nightclub does have a soundtrack that we can listen to in every form, from a 78 rpm antique record, to a digital version in our own 21st century. From Victrola to iPod, that soundtrack would be the songs of Tony Martin.

Tony passed away this past week at the age of 98. He was still at work, and a few years ago performed at Feinstein’s in New York City. Truly the last singer of his great generation of singers and the last survivor of an era of American popular music that began really with Bing Crosby and Russ Columbo – the era of the American crooner. 

This era started with the advent of the microphone, and in the early 1930s, after the untimely death of Russ Columbo, Bing Crosby became America’s singing troubadour and most recognizable crooner. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Perry Como, Nat King Cole, Bobby Darin and many others followed.

Tony Martin was the last of this breed, and he carried on the tradition from the depths of the Great Depression of the 1930s into our current Great Recession of the 2010s. As one obit noted, Tony was the last of the pre-Sinatra era singers, one whose style was not influenced by Sinatra. When Sinatra made his recording debut in 1939, Tony Martin was already an established singer and had a number of hit records. Tony was a contemporary of both Crosby and Columbo and was a good friend of Columbo’s.

This being a Fort Lee piece, as always, all roads lead to Fort Lee, and this road to Fort Lee for Mr. Martin was paved by Fort Lee Riviera owner Bill Miller.

Miller booked Martin into Fort Lee’s Riviera for many successful performances in the late 40s and early 50s until the Riviera itself closed in 1953. This venue was a perfect setting for the elegant crooner.

Imagine a night when you and your date, dressed to the nines, pulled up to the Riviera, just a turn off Hudson Terrace. The entrance appears Oz like in art deco glamour and Technicolor charm. The valet opens your door and takes your car as you and your date walk through the doors and enter into the extravagance of one of America’s premiere nightclubs of the 20th century. The uniformed doorman opens the portal of this palace, and here, your maitre d', Mr. Jack Bruno, wears a crisp tuxedo and flashes a charming smile as he leads you to your waiter for the evening, Lou Gallo. 

Lou guides you through the 1,000-seat dining room as you weave past tables and recognize famous faces such as Sophie Tucker, Eddie Cantor and a new young comedian Jackie Gleason there to work the late show. Lou seats you and your date ringside as the lights of the nearby George Washington Bridge reflect on the ceiling to floor windows, which curve around the dining room. 

Here in this glamourous perch atop the Palisades you order cocktails as the lights dim. The spotlight then shines on the stage, which revolves to display a wonderful band and a stylish singer at the microphone, Tony Martin. 

Martin’s opening is his hit song, "La Vei En Rose." Thus, the soundtrack to this evening is the crooner Tony Martin, and his voice is the silver wrapping on this Christmas present of a memory.

Fort Lee native Tom Austin’s recent book, "Bill Miller’s Riviera, America’s Showplace in Fort Lee, New Jersey," mentions Tony Martin at length: 

When Martin appeared in Fort Lee, the cars were parked from the George Washington Bridge Plaza on Hudson Terrace all the way up north to the town of Englewood Cliffs.  It seemed everyone wanted to see and hear Tony Martin, the guy who made women swoon.  The fact is Tony Martin would bring so many people to the club that sometimes three shows a night were needed to fill the demand.  Of course, Tony Martin didn’t come cheap.  Newspapers reported that Miller was paying out $10,000 per week just to pay Martin’s salary.

For a review of Martin's June 1953 performance at the Riviera, click here.

The late Lou Gallo, the most colorful of the many colorful employees of Fort Lee’s Riviera, was our link to this nightclub past. Lou would tell us of the horseshoe pit the Riviera employees had outside the nightclub's kitchen door. Here, many of the performers of the Riviera competed with the staff in games of horseshoes – a game not often associated with swanky nightclubs. Lou would say Sinatra was not a great horseshoe player, but Tony Martin was the best.

Some years ago, I called the home of Tony Martin in California in hopes of chatting with him about his years at the Riviera. He was not home, but I did speak with his wife, the lovely and talented Cyd Charisse. Tony was out at the golf club.

As the next few years passed, I was unable to connect with Tony, and for that I have regrets. However, through the eyes and ears of Fort Lee residents who were there, I feel in a way as though I did get to see the last American crooner perform at the Riviera. 

So if you travel to the Palisades of Fort Lee, just north of the George Washington Bridge, and you come across portions of a sidewalk and the outlines of a curved foundation, be very quiet, because here in the ruins of this great nightclub you just might hear a few bars of "La Vei En Rose" as crooned by Tony Martin.