Past Appearances

For the older set among us, the term “café society” conjures up images of night clubs with candlelit tables, where gentlemen wore suits, ladies fancy dresses and the tuxedoed orchestra played those ornate melodies that turned a night out into a memory. Among the well-heeled, who frequented these venues, there was none more renowned than the Rainbow Room at the top of 30 Rockefeller Center.

For Arnie Gruber, pianist, vocalist and one-time music director at the Rainbow Room, the memorable experiences, during his every-Friday-night, three-year engagement were too many to recount.

“I led a 10-piece orchestra,” he said. “I played for Paul McCartney. I did three of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s birthday parties.”

That he would land the assignment at the Rainbow Room was perhaps a foregone conclusion, given Gruber’s resume, which included stints at the Waldorf, the St. Regis and the Pierre, the crème de la crème of New York hotels.