Michael Romanoff
 |
Michael Romanoff (born Hershel Geguzin) was a Hollywood restaurateur and actor born 20 February 1890 in Lithuania. He died of a heart attack in Los Angeles, California on 1 September 1971.[1] He is perhaps best known as the owner of Romanoff's, a Beverly Hills restaurant popular with Hollywood stars in the 1940s and 1950s. The restaurant closed in the 1960s.
According to U.S.A Confidential (Mortimer and Lait, 1952), while Romanoff pretended to be Russian royalty, he was actually a former Brooklyn pants presser once named Harry Gerguson.
His Internet Movie Database (IMDb.com) biography states:
Mike Romanoff, the former Harry F. Gerguson, was a successful "professional impostor". He accumulated an enormous fount of knowledge in his numerous travels and occupations around the world (and he attended, however briefly, several leading universities). When Hollywood filmmakers needed a technical adviser for a movie set in Europe, Romanoff claimed to be an expert and drew a comfortable salary. The genial Romanoff was a popular figure among the movie colony, and he opened a restaurant that was frequented by many film stars. Romanoff made few screen appearances, but he can be seen in all his fraudulent glory in Sing While You're Able (1937). David Niven was a close friend, and in his book Bring on the Empty Horses he devotes a chapter to the colorful Romanoff. [1]
In April 1957, he was a mystery guest on the TV panel show What's My Line?.[2][3]
IMDb.com notes that Geguzin immigrated to New York City at age ten, changed his name to Harry F. Gerguson some time after 1900 and married Gloria Lister in 1948.[1]
IMDb.com further explains that Romanoff "claimed to have been born Prince Michael Dimitri Alexandrovich Obolensky-Romanoff, nephew of Tsar Nicholas II. Everyone in Hollywood knew he wasn't, but in a town full of pretenders, it hardly mattered, and "Prince Michael" enjoyed great success as a restaurateur."[1]
The New Yorker ran a series of four profiles, starting October 29, 1932, that traced his history from birth until date of publication. He was deported to France to serve time for fraud.
At an early point in the original (1947) version of Miracle on 34th Street a doctor expresses the opinion that Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) is of no harm to anyone despite his insistence that he is Santa Claus. He compares him to a well-known restaurant owner, whose name escapes him at the moment, who insists that he is a member of the Russian royal family but is otherwise quite normal.
Restaurant
Romanoff's became known for their chocolate soufflés, which were served to each guest in an individual portion. Although Romanoff's restaurant is also famous for popularizing the "American version" of the famous dessert, Strawberries Romanoff, it was originally created by Escoffier when he was the chef at the Carlton Hotel in London - where he called it "Strawberries Americaine Style" by adding ice cream and Grand Marnier to the traditional recipe.
The restaurant closed its doors for good on New Year's Eve in 1962[4], however, the exterior of Romanoff's can be seen in the 1967 Fox film, A Guide for the Married Man. Michael Romanoff himself also plays the maitre'd in a sequence in the film in a studio recreation of the restaurant's interior.
References
Further reading
- Pejsa, Jane. Romanoff, Prince of Rogues Kenwood Publishing
- The New Yorker, October 29, 1932