Anthony Pantalone, former Bookbinder's maitre d'

ANYBODY WHO was anybody - and some who weren't anybody in particular - met at Old Original Bookbinder's back in the day.

And the man who greeted them, counseled them, consoled them and sometimes even kept them out of trouble was a distinguised gentleman who was the epitome of cool - the maitre d', Anthony R. Pantalone.

Always attired in a tuxedo, Anthony was charming, witty, and the very soul of discretion. He could just as easily steer a woman into a room out of sight of her husband who was dining with another woman as kibitz with Elizabeth Taylor and Eddie Fisher, Frank Sinatra, George H.W. Bush, Richard Nixon, John Wayne, Liberace, Dick Vermeil, Sparky Anderson - the list goes on and on.

Fred Lavner, longtime friend and patron, told of the time that he and his wife were asked by Anthony to move from a table in the Presidents Room, offering various excuses.

Fred complied and then saw Anthony lead Sinatra and three guests to his original table. He said that he called Anthony over and said, "You made me move for Frank Sinatra?" To which Anthony replied, "When you can sing like him, you can tell me where you want to sit."

That was Anthony Pantalone: the personification of a long-lost tradition of deference, elegance and grace.

Anthony, who worked for 45 years at Bookbinder's, on Walnut Street below 2nd, before it went out of business in 2009, and who held the same position at the famous 500 Club in Atlantic City during its heyday, died Sunday at age 79. He was a lifelong resident of South Philadelphia.

Lavner, who was close to the Taxin family that owned the restaurant, said that Anthony "ran the place like a four-star general and never got the credit he deserved for treating celebs, royalty, real Philly characters, tourists and everyday people with aplomb. A great old Philly guy."

"He had an amazing sense of humor," said his daughter Deborah Lambing. "He was making jokes on his deathbed. We used to say that he had nine lives because he survived so many serious illnesses, and he started counting them on his fingers to see how many he had left."

John E. Taxin, the last owner of Bookbinder's, said that Anthony typified what he called the "golden era of everything."

"There was a simple coolness about him," Taxin said. "He was a true gentleman. He always knew what to say."

The restaurant, which traced its history back to Sam Bookbinder's oyster saloon in 1898, closed in 2002 for a few years, at which time Anthony worked as maitre d' at the Palm.

When Taxin reopened it on a reduced scale, he wanted Anthony back. If necessary, Taxin said, "I would've dragged him back."

Anthony was born in South Philadelphia to Mary and Antonio Pantalone, immigrants from Chieti, Abruzzo, Italy. He graduated from South Philadelphia High School.

He married the former Marlene Zuccari in 1952. She died in 2004.

Besides his daughter, he is survived by another daughter, Marla Carpenter; a sister, Rosalie Cusato; six grandchildren, and one great-grandson.

Services: Funeral Mass 10 a.m. Saturday at Holy Spirit Church, 18th and Hartranft streets. Friends may call at 6 p.m. tomorrow at Carto Funeral Home, 2212 S. Broad St., and 8:30 a.m. Saturday. Burial will be in St. Mary's Mausoleum, Bellmawr, N.J.