NIGHTCLUBS: Eddie’s Comeback

When Mrs. Eddie Fisher’s singing husband opened at the Waldorf’s Empire Room in Manhattan last week, she decided to make it a party. To the midnight show (the earlier dinner show is considered on the square side) she asked 72 guests, including Gloria Vanderbilt, Ingemar Johansson, aging Aly Khan and his durable friend, French Model Bettina, Arthur Loew Jr. (of the movie Loews) and his bride, who is Tyrone Power’s widow. A strict seating plan enforced by flacks and headwaiters deployed the guests at six reserved tables, each equipped with three massive tins of caviar and assorted beverages. Dressed remarkably simply (she wore no jewelry other than diamonds), and more beautiful than ever, Hostess Elizabeth Taylor had just made her hush-provoking entrance when a crisis faced her. A party of 15, variously described as headed by a Brooklyn dentist or a merry widow, who had seen the earlier show, refused to make way for some of Liz’s guests.

“Goddamn it,” said she, nervously twisting her next-to-last engagement ring (Mike Todd, 29.5 carats), finally persuaded the party to move by offering to pay their check (circa $500). “Listen, lady,” the squatters told her (or so she reported later), “we knew Eddie when he was a waiter at Grossinger’s, and our money is as good as yours.”

The suspense mounted. Lights were extinguished, musicians scrambled to their chairs on the bandstand. Eddie’s father, Joe Fisher, a retired suitcase manufacturer from Philadelphia, turned to Aly Khan. “Prince,” said he, “have some caviar. Me, I like herring.” Aly nodded gravely. “Yes, Monsieur Fisher père,” he replied, “when a herring is good, it is very, very good, but when it is not good, it is awful.”

Eddie Fisher, when he finally appeared to sing, turned out to be neither very good nor awful. He belted out such numbers as Another Autumn, Wish You Were Here, Let Me Entertain You in a loud, clear voice, without much style or emotional variety. But he was an undisputed smash with the customers who packed the Empire Room night after night, long after Liz, the Prince and the stubborn Brooklyn dentist had departed. Having lost his TV show in the furor over his divorce from Debbie Reynolds, and suffering chronically from poor record sales, Eddie Fisher seemed to be making a comeback.