Allen Charges Dinner at Chasen’s

Here’s Allen’s card from the rolodex at Chasen’s Restaurant in West Hollywood. If the staff needed to verify that a diner had a charge account at the restaurant, this is what they checked.

Please observe:

• The account was opened in May 1962. Allen took Betty to dinner and a performance of “Critic’s Choice,” the play they were to co-star in during the summer of 1962. Did Allen open the account specifically for the very first date/”business meeting”?
• On the reverse of the the card, you’ll also note that Allen charged a meal on September 23rd of 1962; likely this was one of his many courting trips to the West Coast prior to their April 1963 engagement.
• Betty’s 51st, 54th, 56th and 57th birthdays appear to have been celebrated at Chasen’s; as there are stamps for January 17th in those years.