Sherman Billingsley

John Sherman Billingsley (March 10, 1896 – October 4, 1966) was an American nightclub owner and former bootlegger who was the founder and owner of New York's Stork Club.

Life and career John Sherman Billingsley was the youngest child of Robert Billingsley and Emily Collingsworth. He was born in Enid, Oklahoma, on March 10, 1896. In later years, Billingsley said he was born in 1900, but this is refuted by both the 1930 census and the Social Security Death Index. His parents had settled in Enid following the 1893 land run. The Billingsley children attended school in a one-room schoolhouse, riding a horse to get to school. When an older brother committed a homicide and was sent to prison, the family relocated to Anadarko to be near him. Upon the brother's release, he enlisted Sherman as an assistant in his bootlegging business.

The family moved again, this time to Oklahoma City, where Sherman was again drawn into the bootlegging business by another of his older brothers. This business extended into Omaha, Toledo, and Detroit. He promoted the club by selecting prominent debutantes to frequent parties there and bring in society cliental. In 1941, he dubbed Betty Cordon, a debutante from North Carolina, as New York's "Number One Glamour Girl"

Billingsley was a friend of mafia boss Frank Costello, who patronized the Stork. On one occasion Costello gave Billingsley $100,000 to hold for him while he was out of the country for a time. Instead Billingsley spent the money to keep the club afloat, he barely managed to recoup the amount before Costello returned. According to Billingsley's daughter Costello expected this and intended to do him a favor. He was also a close friend of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, who regularly patronized the club. Hoover was somewhat embarrassed by his association with Billingsley when it was revealed following a shooting incident Bllingsley was involved in, that he had used Hoover as a reference for his gun permit.

One of Billingsley's mistresses in the late 1930s was actress Ethel Merman. His nephew, Glenn Billingsley, was married to Leave It to Beaver actress Barbara Billingsley, not to be confused with Sherman Billingsley's daughter Barbara, who like his other children, sometimes was figured in publicity about the nightclub.

Billingsley married Hazel Donnelly (1902–1991) on August 25, 1924, and they had three daughters, Jacqueline (Rorke, 1926–1998), Barbara (Mohler, ~1936–2010), and Shermane (1944–2023).