Celebrity News

Legendary cabaret club, closed since 1951, relaunched NYE

The Diamond Horseshoe — the glamorous cabaret club in the basement of the Paramount Hotel that was open from 1938 to 1951 — relaunched on New Year’s Eve with a $20 million renovation, and some of its original denizens were there.

Actor Peter Gallagher was on the scene with his wife, Paula Harwood Gallagher, and mother-in-law, Paulette Harwood, who was a dancer at the original club when it was owned by lyricist Billy Rose. Harwood told us she started working at the club when she was just 14 years old, and danced there for a decade.

The new spot opened with a show called, “Queen of the Night,” created by Randy Weiner, as well as one of the producers of “Sleep No More,” with contributions from Simon Hammerstein, designer Thom Browne and others. Harwood was tearful when she was brought to the stage for applauding guests, including Hammerstein, Sir Ian McKellan, Andre Balazs, and Michael Avedon.

The immersive, wild “Queen” show included a writhing naked woman, eyedroppers of olive juice squirted into guests’ mouths, an arty torture chamber, acrobats hanging from the ceiling, and a menu including whole pigs and lobsters served in bird cages. Harwood explained it now “looks very different.”