I always thought it would be interesting to write a novel about Clancy. There would be considerable creative latitude, since very little is known about Clancy. He may or may not have been Irish; he may or may not have been involved in horse racing; he may or may not have had a proper Christian name, or even a real surname. In fact, all we do know of him is that in the early 20th century he owned a bar on the lower East Side of New York
Somewhere along the line, Clancy ran afoul of someone, whether it was gamblers due to his debts, the police due to their demand for graft, or from other members of New York's considerable demi-monde, we cannot know. Maybe it was due to outstanding bills for haberdashery. In any case, Clancy actually found it prudent to completely dismantle the bistro, piece by piece, and move it across the sea to Paris in 1911, where there was a growing community of American expatriates.
Once there, Clancy became partners with Tod Sloan, a prominent former jockey known primarily for a manner of life that was lavish beyond his means, and their business became the New York Bar, a meeting place of choice for many of the American military while serving in France. However, their co-management of the bar was as troubled in Paris as was Clancy's in New York, save for the hiring of the barman from Ciro's of London, Harry MacElhone.
MacElhone would be what is now called a "mixologist", in that he invented signature cocktail recipes that would become all the rage for a time, only to be replaced in popularity by his next creation. However, even the presence of Harry the bartender could not keep Clancy and Sloan solvent, and the New York Bar of Paris went up for sale in 1923.
MacElhone, being a Scotsman, did not drink while working and saved his money, enough that he was able to purchase the bar from Clancy and Sloan. It was then re-named "Harry's New York Bar" and became an historic way-point in any study of the period between the world wars.
[Sloan would die of cirrhosis ten years later; Clancy would disappear into history. See what I mean about creative latitude?]
During the high point of international residency in Paris, Harry's became the place for expatriates to hide from creditors, meet with a paramour, write a short story, slowly kill yourself with alcohol, recall the vivid days of service in WWI, and have your mail delivered. If a physical location could be regarded as a muse, then Harry's served that role, too, as Ernest Hemingway wrote portions of Men Without Women and The Sun Also Rises in its dark corners, and George Gershwin composed "An American in Paris" on its piano.
[An aside: We should note that during this period, as Prohibition was in full cry in the United States, ironically the only "New York" bar in the world was the one in Paris.]
In fact, as with places noted on earlier Thursdays, over the decades Harry's would become the Paris clubhouse for many who were prominent in the creative fields, such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Humphrey Bogart, Coco Chanel, Sinclair Lewis, Jack Dempsey, Rita Hayworth and her husband [of the time] the Aly Khan, the Duke of Windsor [maybe not creative, except in interpreting the English law of succession and the role of Defender of the Faith], and even Irish poet Brendan Behan, who worked there as a bartender.
Ian Fleming even writes of the sixteen-year-old James Bond reciting the bar's address from cautious memory to a Parisian taxi driver in what was to become his first, rather prosaic, adventure.
If you wish to gauge the influence of this small bistro on international culture, suffice it to note that if you have ever ordered a Bloody Mary, you are partaking in one of Harry's lasting contributions to gastronomic culture, as it was supposedly invented by Harry in his bar as a popular hangover treatment.
Harry's New York Bar is still in business, as it has been for over a century, and is still owned and operated by Harry's descendants. More may be read online, of course, along with a collection of tales, either true or fabulist, no one can say. After all, do you ever really trust any story told to you in a bar?
