Name: Elaine Stritch
Age: 2/2/25
Neighborhood: Upper East Side (Ed note: She lives in the Carlyle Hotel)
Occupation: Actress, currently performing cabaret at Café Carlyle through October 8.
Who’s your favorite New Yorker, living or dead, real or fictional?
Most doormen.
What’s the best meal you’ve eaten in New York?
The next one.
In one sentence, what do you actually do all day in your job?
Try to stay in the moment and celebrate what’s going on at the time it’s going on. Like being alive.
What was your first job in New York?
The New Amsterdam Theatre in Erwin Piscator’s production of William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. I played Feste — the clown.
What’s the last thing you saw on Broadway?
Follies.
Do you give money to panhandlers?
Why not?
What’s your drink?
Not what I wish it could be. If I had to choose: sugar-free tonic (Canada Dry) — icebox cold.
How often do you prepare your own meals?
Often. You can’t go for room service every night.
What’s your favorite medication?
Massage.
What’s hanging above your sofa?
Who cares? — it belongs to the Carlyle.
How much is too much to spend on a haircut?
Over an hour.
When’s bedtime?
A safe blood-sugar.
Which do you prefer, the old Times Square or the new Times Square?
Any old Times Square will do.
What do you think of Donald Trump?
I think well of him.
What do you hate most about living in New York?
No umbrella in the rain.
Who is your mortal enemy?
The common cold.
When’s the last time you drove a car?
With or without a license?
How has the Wall Street crash affected you?
What crash?
Times, Post, or Daily News?
I get the Times delivered everyday. Does that answer your question?
Where do you go to be alone?
Still looking.
What makes someone a New Yorker?
Stamina.
