The Stephen 'Steve' Crane Omni Thread

Just thought I'd make a thread where you could post stuff about Stephen Crane. Then, if people posted Steve Crane-related stuff and junk, it would all be in the same place.

[ Edited by: pappythesailor 2007-09-05 20:00 ]

(From the Kingsport, TN News 25 August 1967)

'Just Lark,' He Says

CHICAGO (CST) - To hear
Steve Crane tell the tale, it
was all a lark. With his
fortune made as a stockbroker
at the age of 23, he set out
for the Orient. A detour in
the form of romance ("she
was a cute French actress
who threw me over in three
months for someone else") led
him to Hollywood instead.
Nowadays, as top man in
the restaurant management
firm of Stephen Crane
Associates, he isn't too
sensitive over being better
remembered for his two well
publicized marriages to Lana
Turner than for his short
acting career.
'To be honest, I was a
very poor actor," said the
still-handsome-at-50 Crane in
a recent interview. And,
indeed, "The Cry of the
Werewolf" and "Tonight and
Every Night" won him no
prizes at Columbia Studios.
Today, Crane is the
dispenser of the management
magic behind such enterprises
as the Sheraton-Chicago's Kon
Tiki Ports Restaurant. The
Kon Tiki, which was five years
Old Aug. 6, has become
Chicago's' largest restaurant
in volume, grossing more than
$2,300,000 in 1966.
He operates seven
Polynesian restaurants for the
Sheraton chain. He owns four
more restaurants himself and
expects to make that six by
the end of the year.
"I always get pleasure out
of being a host," said Crane,
as he explained his move into
restaurant management. He
got started when he picked
up Lucy's, a restaurant across
from three major studios in
Hollywood, in 1944.
Later, he learned the
Polynesian business from the
master himself, Don Beach,
who founded the Don the
Beachcomber empire.
(Another early disciple of
Texas-born Beach was Vic
Bergeron, of Trader Vic
fame.)
For the .Sheraton chain,
Crane delivered "a complete
management package." This
includes selection of decor and
management, of the food,
service and business
operations of the restaurant,
For this, Stephen Crane
Associates receives a
percentage of the gross.
Crane .believes the
Polynesian theme, successful
as it still is, has reached
a plateau; and he has chosen
to see whether Italian cuisine
can become the golden wave
of the future.
(At the same time, Trader
Vic has arrived at a .similar
conclusion, but is going to
try Mexican cuisine instead
in his new restaurants.)
Though Italian food has long
been a favorite of many
Americans whose antecedents
are not in Italy, Crane thinks
very little has been done to
make the so-called Italian
restaurants "Italian.""Take the average Italian
restaurant and put pictures
of Scandinavian scenes on the
walls and everyone would
believe it was Scandinavian,"
said Crane. His Stephanino's,
Hollywood, has been an
attempt to achieve genuine
Italian decor, and he is
enthusiastic about opening
similar restaurants elsewhere.
Crane's other projects range
from directing the
construction and operation of
the Jamaican Pavilion at
Expo 67 to assisting the
Southern California Edison Co.
in building Calabassas, a new
city near Thousand Oaks and
Universal City.
His firm has grown steadily,
rising last year to 159th on
he list of food service firms,
with revenues of $12,500,000. •
The son of a Crawfordsville,
Ind., tobacco broker, Crane
originally planned to study
aw, and came to Chicago in
1937 with a partial scholarship
to Northwestern University.
But the need for money led
him into the securities'
Business here and in New
York and to his subsequent
"retirement" at 23.

(from the Van Nuys Daily News 22 January 1973)

Luau Stays Popular With 'In Group'

Steve Crane recently inaugurated
a surprise cocktail
hour between 4 and 6
p.m. at his Luau Restaurant
in Beverly Hills. „
"This popular spot
where there is probably
more action in the bar
lounge than any other
place in the country, has
long been the meeting
rendezvous for stars and
the 'in group,' thus making
this Beverly Hills restaurant
one of the most
popular the world over,"
says Crane.
The Luau Restaurant
now is in its 17th year.
First of the Macrane Restaurants
to-be built back
in 1953, the Luau is headed
by Crane, president of
the Macrane Organization
which now numbers 14
restaurants in the Los
Angeles area and the east.
Polynesian Decor
The Luau is said to be
known today all over the
world as one of the most
popular and beautiful Polynesian
restaurants.
The decor is Polynesian
(Which means "many Islands.")
Grass thatched
huts, bamboo ceilings and
a myriad of red, green and
amber lighted rattan lanterns
and glass Japanese
floats add to the meal.
The main dining area Is
accented by a fluorescent
pool whose cascading waterfalls
and dense thickets
of jungle foliage bring the
Fijiian wilds right to the
dinner table. Stern and
pagan tikis from the rich
myths of their native villages
majestically preside
over the festivities with
tile god of rain, sun and
war among tht many represented.
Meuu Varied
Every fixture from the
hand-carved, life-size Samoan
outriggers to the
brass trimmed tables of
varnished "Monkeypod"
wood reportedly are imported
directly from the
Islands.
The dinner menu offers
almost everything Polynesian
with the exception of
steaks and lamb chops.
Among the entrees are
duck Peking (pressed
young duckling, crisped in
peanut oil and served
with wild plum sauce- and
crushed almonds), and
pork tiki (a combination of
pork, mushrooms and cut
vegetables.)
Luncheon is served
from noon daily (except
Sunday) with a menu of
Polynesian and American
cuisine. Also available
during luncheon is a buffet
of chilled salads and
fresh fruit compotes
served from giant sea
shells.
Executive Chef Bing
has been with the Luau
from its opening day.
Many of the waiters, captains
and bartenders also
are Luau veterans of
many years. . .
The Luau Is open for
lunch, cocktails, dinner
and supper seven days a
week. Intimate banquet
facilities, from 20 to 100
people, also are available.
Joe Stellini is the host-
maitre d'.

(from the Pasadena Independent 13 December 1958--It's important to stay on Cheryl's good side!)

Lena's Ex Will Wed Divorcee

HOLLYWOOD. (UPI) Helen
Bedding Demaree, 25, a travel
agency receptionist, yesterday
confirmed reports that she
would marry restaurateur
Stephen Crane, whom she met
a year ago In one of his restau-
rants.
Mrs Demaree, a divorcee
who said she is part Irish, part
mission Indian, and originally
from Lawrence, Kan, said no
date had yet been set for the
wedding to Crane former hus-
band of film star Lana Turner
"We're very good friends,"
she said of Crane's and Lana's
daughter Cheryl tall teen ager
who stabbed to death her
mother's boy friend, Johnny
Stompanato, last April 4 The
girl has been In the custody
of her maternal grandmother
Mrs. Mildred Turner, and was
hospltalized last week for an
appendectomy
The childless fiancee, wear-
ing a four-carat diamond ring
from Crane said she expected
no opposition from Miss
Turner to plans for a trip for
her and Cheryl to Montreal
where Crane Is building a new
restaurant.
Crane said the wedding
would take place after he completes
building two more
restaurants, or approximately
six months.
"No definite date has been
set, but I did give the young
lady a ring," hee said. "She
and Cheryl are very good
friends."
"Stephen and I met about a
year ago," Mrs. Demaree said.
"I had gone to his restaurant
here, the Luau, with mutual
friends. We were introduced,
and we became engaged about
three weeks ago.
"I have met Lana Turner,
and she's always been very
nice to me.'
Mrs. Demaree lives in Beverly
Hills the brown eyed bru-
nette was divorced from architect
James Demaree In 1956
after four years of marriage
Her grandparents live in Coffee-
ville, Kan. She has been in
this area for the last two
years.
Crane was married previously
to Miss Turner, from whom
he was divorced in 1944; Carol
Kuntz. Indianapolis socialite;
and, French actress Martine
Carol.
Cheryl Crane cleared by a
coroner's jury after the Stompanato
killing, underwent an
emergency appendectomy
Thursday and was.expected to
remain at St. John's Hospital
in nearby Santa Monica for
the next five days.

(from the Newport (RI) News 10 April 1958)

Cheryl Did What Anyone would Do Says Her Father

HOLLYWOOD --"Maybe I shouldn't
say it, but I'm proud of my
Cherie.
Steve Crane, handsome ex-husband
of Lana Turner, made that comment
last night about their daughter,
Cheryl Crane.
"She not only did what I, you or
most anyone else would have done,"
he told this reporter. "She was
frozen with fear and she stepped
in to protect her mother."
He was referring to last Friday's
fatal stabbing of Johnny Stompanato.
Cheryl, 14 told police she stabbed
the former Mickey Cohen henchman
when he threatened to disfigure or
kill her mother.
"Cherie loves Lana," said Crane.
"I know I would have moved the same
way to protect my own mother in a
similar situation."
Crane, now 43. became Lana's
second husband in 1942.
They were married in
Vegas, Nev., elopement that paral-
leled, even to the same judge.
Lana's first marriage, to band
leader Artie Shaw.
But the honeymoon was barely over
when Carol Kuntz, an Indianaplois
socialite, said that she too was
married to Crane.
Crane thought he had received
a Mexican divorce, but his expla-
nation did not satisfy an enraged
Lana. She had the marriage an-
nulled.
Lana discovered she was pregnant.
She called Crane in for a
conference.
"Steve was noble and gentlemanly,
as always," Lana once recalled.
"He insisted that we must
remarry for the sake of the child.
And he got his previous divorce
straightened out."
Crane then went into the Army
as a private. In 1944, when Cheryl
was about 6 months old, Lana divorced
Crane.
After the war Crane tried his
hand at acting. Although tall and
handsome as many a movie star,
he had little success.
Some said he was "too nice a
guy" to get ahead in Hollywood. I
About five years ago he put his
natural assets of affability and |
charm to work as a restaurateur.
He is now part owner of the Luau.
one of the most successful restaurants
in Beverly Hills.
In 1949 Crane married Martine
Carol, the French actress. The
wedding took place in the principality
of Monaco, on the French
Riviera. But that marriage, too,
ended in divorce.

(from the Long Beach Press Telegram 15 January 1959)

RUM TIME IN MONTREAL
by Earl Wilson

MONTREAL — Outside, the
snarling wind was snap-
ping men's hats off. A couple
of days before it had been 20
below zero.
But inside the rum-warmed
"Kon-Tiki," in a grass skirt,
sat Miss Tina Louise, the red-
haired Hollywood beauty

whom you've also seen on TV.
Blonde little Priscill a Al-
den who does commercials on
the Arthur Godfrey and Dick
Clark TV shows — was also
wearing something 'South Seas-y'
and skimpy.
"I'll- promise, you, we're
goings to see Montreal replaces
Philadelphia and Newark as suburbs
of New York," a fellow was saying.
"You're mixed up," I told him.
"New York's the suburb
of, Philadelphia and Newark
Ask any Philadelphian'
or New Jerseyite."
Steve Crane, Lana Tur-
ner's ex-husband, grinned up
from his pineapple drink. He
had just opened the Kon-
Tiki restaurant, here at the
Sheraton Mount Royal Hotel.
He has a very successful Holly-
wood restaurant called "the
Luau — and the Canadians
feel he'll lure many New
Yorkers up here. It's only an
hour-and-a-half plane ride.
The Beautiful Wife and I
were celebrating our. 23rd
wedding anniversary. We'd
come, up to improve our
French.
There's a daily French
newspaper (which we can't
read), called "Le Dimanche
Matin." Many stores have
both French and English
signs In the windows. Parts
of Montreal are as French
as France—and cheaper.
And the natives speak
such interesting English. Our
driver mentioned that "there
are not too many traffic today"—
and 'when he saw Tina
Louise in her grass skirt, he
commented, "She is wearing
very few pants."
The opening of a Polynesian
restaurant in Canada
is part of the trend. Alaska
certainly will have one. Steve
Crane will open others for
the Sheraton chain. (Who is
this fellow Conrad Hilton,
anyway?)
Rum DRINKS seem to be
mandatory. I heard one man
say to his wife: "Do you
know what you're drinking?"
"Do you have to know?"
she retorted....

(from da Van Nuys Valley News 2 May 1969)

Kon-Tiki Offers
Sample Appetizers

After visiting his restaurants
in the east, Steve Crane
held an executive board meet-
ing at the Luau Restaurant in
Beverly Hills where they
served special new Polynesian
appetizers prepared especially
executive chef -Bing.
The appetizers will be introduced
in all of Crane's Kon-
Tiki restaurants in the east
and the new one to open in
Hawaii plus the Luau.

Today is Stephen Crane's birthday.

Photos and recipe:
http://threedotsandadash.blogspot.com/2014/02/stephen-cranes-birthday.html

I miss The Luau.

[ Edited by: christiki295 2014-02-07 13:57 ]

Picture of Crane from a Perry Mason show.