Courtesy of Northgate Real Estate Group
In its heyday, New York City’s Friars Club was full of giggles, thanks to its famously risqué comedy roasts of celebrities from Milton Berle to Donald Trump and Betty White.
But now, one man is facing a situation that he says is no laughing matter.
The beloved late DJ William B. Williams was a longtime club member — so much so that he was named the Friars Club Man of the Year in 1984, just two years before his death. Now that the club is shuttered and facing an uncertain future following a recent foreclosure sale of its Manhattan property, Williams’ son, Jeffrey Williams, wants a piece of his dad returned to him.
“Well, here we are, however many years later, and here I am begging and pleading with a company in California to get my father’s picture back,” Jeffrey told The Post.
The club, a haven for entertainers, was founded in the early 1900s by press agents, and quickly attracted vaudeville, Broadway and Hollywood stars. Radio and television personalities soon followed and, by 1958, the club owned a multi-story townhouse at 57 E. 55th St.
The summer Williams passed away, Jeffrey said the club told him it would honor Williams by naming the first-floor bar the William B. Williams room. Club brass asked for, and Jeffrey said he lent them, a giant framed photograph of Williams that was displayed prominently over the bar.
A decade later, when the Friars renamed the bar room for Billy Crystal, and bumped Williams’ name and photo to the club’s billiards room, Jeffrey reiterated his wishes that the photo remain on loan — and he would like it back one day if something were to happen to the club.
Then, something happened to the club.
Years of fiscal mismanagement followed by a flooded kitchen and COVID-19 lockdowns stifled membership renewals. The club stopped making payments on a $13 million mortgage to Irvine, California-based Kairos Investment Management. After the club was shuttered for good in 2022, Kairos took them to court.
In early December, at the foreclosure auction of the building, Kairos made what is known as a “credit” bid of $17.2 million for the past due amount, plus interest, and became the official owner of the landmarked Midtown townhouse.
“The photo has no value to anyone who would buy that building except me,” said Jeffrey, who has been trying for months to retrieve the framed work from the real estate agent, the trustee and Kairos. And still, the building’s future end use is unclear. “If a government buys it [for a consulate], they won’t want a picture of my father, and the longer it sits there, the more of a chance it will disappear. They will send in people to clean out the room and it will end up in the garbage.”
The six-story English Renaissance-style property still has plenty of furniture, fitness equipment, full liquor bottles and celebrity memorabilia scattered within its 14,541 square feet between Park and Madison avenues.
Greg Corbin of Northgate Real Estate Group, who initially marketed the 33-foot wide property for the foreclosure sale, had suggested future uses ranging from a residential conversion, consulates and cigar clubs, to private clubs and restaurants. While the exterior was landmarked by the city in 2016, the interior was not.
A source said the lender is assessing the value of the memorabilia before it makes any decisions or resells the building. Items that include boxes of blank honorary membership certificates, a bronze bust of Ed Sullivan and autographed posters could be cataloged and sold, for instance, by a celebrity memorabilia specialist like Julien’s Auctions.
So far, Julien’s Auctions hasn’t been contacted, but CEO David Goodman said, “This portrait of the beloved radio icon and Friars Club legend William B. Williams, the GROAT (Greatest Roaster of All Time), is priceless for any seriously funny collectors of comedy and broadcasting memorabilia. All jokes aside, Julien’s, whose record-breaking auctions of entertainment icons have included many of the Friars Club honorees from Jerry Lee Lewis to Frank Sinatra, would love to throw our hat in the ring to represent the auction of the pantheon of comedy.”
Kairos did not return requests for comment.
Meanwhile, related to the club’s closure, Jeffrey is facing another awkward problem.
His father bought three graves in the Friars Club section of the Kensico Cemetery in picturesque Valhalla, where Soupy Sales and other members are buried.
Under the cemetery rules, however, someone from the club needs to approve the “opening” of a grave before anyone can be buried, which the cemetery confirmed to The Post. That wasn’t an issue when Jeffrey’s father died, nor when his mother, Dorothy “Dottie Mack” Williams, passed away in 2019. But now, the club is kaput and there’s no one for the cemetery to call.
The club’s last dean, attorney Arthur Aidala, did not return a request for comment.
“I am wondering how long I will have to be in a freezer before they can open the grave?” Williams quipped.