John Sherman Billingsley (March 10, 1896 – October 4, 1966) was an American nightclub owner and former bootlegger who was the founder and owner of New York's

Stork Club Stork Club was a nightclub in Manhattan, New York City. During its existence from 1929 to 1965, it was one of the most prestigious clubs in the world. A symbol of café society, the wealthy elite, including movie stars, celebrities, showgirls, ...

Life and career

John Sherman Billingsley was the youngest child of Robert Billingsley and Emily Collingsworth. He was born in Enid,

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

, on March 10, 1896."Billingsley" American National Biography: Baker-Blatch, Oxford University Press, 1999, Page 775 (In later years, Billingsley said he was born in 1900, but this is refuted by both the 1930 census and the Social Security Death Index.) His parents had settled in Enid following the 1893 land run. The Billingsley children attended school in a one-room schoolhouse, riding a horse to get to school. When an older brother committed a homicide and was sent to prison, the family relocated to Anadarko to be near him. Upon the brother's release, he enlisted Sherman as an assistant in his bootlegging business. The family moved again, this time to

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...

, where Sherman was again drawn into the bootlegging business by another of his older brothers. This business extended into

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest c ...

, Toledo, and

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

. In Detroit at age 18, Billingsley was arrested and convicted on federal charges. He was sentenced to 15 months in prison, and spent time in Leavenworth before his conviction was reversed. When his brother ran out on his Detroit mob partners, he left for New York, with Sherman joining him within a short time. Billingsley began buying drug stores in New York City and even started his own real estate office to help him acquire drug stores. In 1929, he created the Stork Club, which he owned. From the time of the speakeasy until the 1960s, he held court on East 53rd Street. According to Ralph Blumenthal in his 2000 book, ''Stork Club'', another New York nightclub owner named Mary Louise Cecilia Guinan, widely known as Texas Guinan, introduced Billingsley to her friend, commentator

Walter Winchell Walter Winchell (April 7, 1897 – February 20, 1972) was a syndicated American newspaper gossip columnist and radio news commentator. Originally a vaudeville performer, Winchell began his newspaper career as a Broadway reporter, critic and ...

, in 1930. In his column in the ''

New York Daily Mirror The ''New York Daily Mirror'' was an American morning tabloid newspaper first published on June 24, 1924, in New York City by the William Randolph Hearst organization as a contrast to their mainstream broadsheets, the ''Evening Journal'' and ''N ...

'', Winchell called the Stork Club "New York's New Yorkiest place on W. 58th". One of Billingsley's mistresses in the late 1930s was actress

Ethel Merman Ethel Merman (born Ethel Agnes Zimmermann, January 16, 1908 – February 15, 1984) was an American actress and singer, known for her distinctive, powerful voice, and for leading roles in musical theatre.Obituary '' Variety'', February 22, 1984. ...

. His nephew, Glenn Billingsley, was married to '' Leave It to Beaver'' actress

Barbara Billingsley Barbara Billingsley (born Barbara Lillian Combes; December 22, 1915 – October 16, 2010) was an American actress. She began her career with uncredited roles in ''Three Guys Named Mike'' (1951), '' The Bad and the Beautiful'' (1952), and '' Inv ...

. (The actress should not be confused with Sherman Billingsley's daughter Barbara, who like his other children, sometimes figured in publicity about the nightclub.) Billingsley married Hazel Donnelly (1902-1991) on August 25, 1924, and they had three daughters, Jacqueline (Rorke, 1926-1998), Barbara (Mohler, ~1936-2010), and Shermane (age 77 as of 2022).

References

Bibliography

* Blumenthal, Ralph, ''Stork Club: America's Most Famous Nightspot and the Lost World of Café Society'' (Little, Brown and Company, 2000) (hc); (pb)

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Billingsley, Sherman 1896 births 1966 deaths Businesspeople from Oklahoma Burials at Ferncliff Cemetery Nightclub owners American restaurateurs Nightlife in New York City Place of birth missing Businesspeople from Enid, Oklahoma 20th-century American businesspeople