Remembering Bob Harrington

While doing research for my previous post about a 1990 tour of gay Greenwich Village, I found a December 1991 clipping from Bob Harrington’s “Bistro Bits” column tucked into my journal. Harrington’s column was a regular feature in the performing arts publication Back Stage. In pre-internet days, performers would buy this print weekly for the audition listings. “Bistro Bits” was a column highlighting the cabaret scene. It was here that the annual Bistro Awards began in 1985 – created by Harrington to honor excellence in cabaret .

Another prominent feature in Back Stage at the time were the obituaries. Every week there would be death notices for entertainment industry professionals – usually young men dying far too young of “undisclosed causes.” This was at the height of the AIDS crisis and the stigma surrounding it may be lost on those too young to remember. “AIDS complications” were seldom cited in obituaries and listing it as a cause of death could be considered slander. That said, some men began to request its inclusion in their eventual obit: a final act of defiance in a world that was dragging its feet to find a cure.

I mention this to give some context to the level of courage it took for Harrington to write this column.

Robert William Harrington was born on October 2, 1950 in Richmond Hill, Queens and grew up in East Meadow on Long Island. Harrington graduated from East Meadow High School in 1968. He was just a couple of years younger than both of my parents, who graduated from W.T. Clarke, East Meadow district’s other high school. He then went on to study at SUNY Oneonta, where he graduated in 1972.

Harrington honed his writing skills while working as a bartender and became known as an expert on the cabaret scene. In 1982, he began writing a column for the Long Island monthly magazine NightLife. He continued writing for the publication when they moved to New York City in 1984 and also launched his “Bistro Bits” column in Back Stage. In 1986, he began contributing reviews for the New York Post, and was an occasional guest on Joe Franklin’s local television talk show.

Harrington was a driving force behind the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs and also very active with Hearts & Voices, an organization that brought music to AIDS patients.

A few months after his announcement in Back Stage, Harrington was quoted as saying; “I’ve gotten tons of letters from people who have survived five, ten years with AIDS. This is the ’90s. We don’t have to die, we’re gonna make it.”

Bob Harrington died on October 19, 1992. He was 42 years old and was survived by his mother and three brothers.

A tribute was held at Caroline’s on November 12, 1992. The show was hosted by Jamie deRoy with performances by Julie Halston, Nancy Lamott, Jim Caruso, Margaret Whiting and Karen Saunders. All proceeds went to Hearts & Voices.

Another tribute took place the following month:

The following year, The Bistro Awards named Rosemary Clooney as the first recipient of their highest honor: The Bob Harrington Lifetime Achievement Award.

Back Stage editor-in-chief Sherry Eaker spent several years compiling Harrington’s “Bistro Bits” columns into a book. The Cabaret Artist’s Handbook: Creating Your Own Act in Today’s Liveliest Theater Setting was published in 2000.

See Also:
A Stroll Though 1980’s NYC
Julius: The Bar That Never Changes
Debbie At The World (1989)
1991: Homo Alone
Neeka Shaw: The Forgotten Showgirl
David on The Robin Byrd Show
Keith Haring In Heat Magazine (1992)
Blueboy 1980: Gays of NYC
New York City: In Touch For Men (1979)
Madame Spivy’s Alley Cat