Turner Auctions + Appraisals is pleased to present Ephemera from the Stork Club, Walter Winchell & More on Saturday, September 12, 2026, at 10:30 am PDT. Much of the auction comes from Harold A. Layer, Professor Emeritus (retired) at San Francisco State University. Among these lots are his collections of the Stork Club and Walter Winchell, and two lots of card and board games/prototypes by Mr. Layer. Other auction sources include the SFO Museum for San Francisco photos and ephemera, San Francisco’s Cliff House for signed celebrity photos, and other collections and estates.
The Stork Club was a famous nightclub in Manhattan, New York, open from 1929 to 1965. Symbolizing the era’s cafe society, it hosted many wealthy patrons, movie stars and other celebrities, including Ernest Hemingway, Prince Rainer and Grace Kelly, and the Kennedy and Roosevelt families. Among the lots in the auction are ephemera, publicity photos, and mementos, including items related to owner Sherman Billingsley, onetime bootlegger from Oklahoma. Billingsley and gossip columnsit and radio broadcaster Walter Winchell were close associates, and Winchell became a Stork Club regular, saying the club was "New York's New Yorkiest place on W. 58th." The gossip and information he acquired at his private Table 50 often became the juicy fodder for many columns and broadcasts.
Walter Winchell (1897-1972) was a famous American newspaper gossip columnist and radio commentator who invented modern celebrity journalism. Originally a vaudeville performer, he reached at the height of his career in the 1930s-1950s an audience of 50 million people who read his syndicated columns or listened to his radio programs. Most of the Winchell items came from the Butterfield & Butterfield sale of "The Winchell Files" (from Winchell's estate) in 1990 and 1991. Winchell lots include letters, documents, photos, and other ephemera related to his early theater days, his famous gossip column and iconic radio broadcasts; and his celebrity, journalism, and political connections. Of note are letters from FBI G-man J. Edgar Hoover to Winchell, related to their close association during the kidnapping and murder trial of Charles Lindbergh’s baby, along with other trial-related letters and photos.
Other items in auction include 19th and 20th century books, prints and posters; Victorian cards and postcards; space ephemera; vintage Apple devices; 1960s rock and counterculture posters; and much more.
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