Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 155-007
Date: Monday, November 20, 1972 at 8:36 AM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President); Val, Claudia
Recording device: Camp David Study Table
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/155-007

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite it as authoritative.

[0:00] Hello.
[0:01] Good morning.
[0:01] How are you, sir?
[0:02] Hi, Claudia.
[0:03] How are you?
[0:03] I'm fine, thank you.
[0:05] Claudia, I wondered if you would do some checking for me.
[0:07] I'm at Camp David.
[0:08] That's the reason I'm by myself.
[0:10] That's why I'm calling Reverend Rose.
[0:14] There's a possibility, and this isn't the greatest, that I may have to go to New York Friday and Saturday nights because I have some business up there with some political people and also some legal stuff.
[0:27] Anyway, I was wondering...
[0:30] If you would check to see if there's anything in New York that's worth seeing, it's clean.
[0:38] Yes, yes.
[0:39] And the musical comedy stuff on Friday or Saturday.
[0:42] Also, if there's a hockey game.
[0:44] Also a hockey game.
[0:45] Let's see, what the hell else is there in New York?
[0:48] I guess the opera, nah, that's stuff.
[0:50] No, that would not— If you're addressing, I hate that Lincoln Center.
[0:55] Yes, and I do happen to know that the operas that are playing this weekend are quite heavy ones, too, you know, the Wagnerian ones.
[1:02] No, no.
[1:03] You wouldn't want to see anything like that.
[1:05] Now, we've seen Don't Own a Debt.
[1:06] Yes, uh-huh.
[1:07] And I don't want anything that's dirty, you know.
[1:09] No, I understand.
[1:10] I understand that.
[1:11] I don't want anything that's too, frankly, too Jewish.
[1:14] Right.
[1:15] Like—
[1:16] Well, I mean, I don't mind something.
[1:19] I mean, but that's something that's just going to be so overwhelmingly a message type thing.
[1:24] Right, right.
[1:25] I understand.
[1:26] I understand.
[1:26] But anything really good, even a good play, anything old is all right.
[1:31] I don't mind if there's, I don't know whether there's 1776 still playing up there.
[1:35] No, no, it's the picture now.
[1:38] They've made that into a picture.
[1:39] How about Rockefeller Centers or something good there?
[1:41] Oh, well, that's what's playing at Radio City, 1776.
[1:46] The movie, yes.
[1:49] How good is the picture?
[1:51] They say it is excellent.
[1:53] How are the Rockettes?
[1:56] They're marvelous.
[1:57] They're doing now, you know, the Nativity.
[2:00] Part of the show is the Nativity, and the other part is a great big extravaganza of Americana.
[2:09] They say it's quite good.
[2:12] Well, that might be a possibility.
[2:14] But if you would run them down.
[2:16] I sure will.
[2:16] To see what the bill of fare is.
[2:21] I'd be very happy to do so.
[2:23] You know, in terms of the restaurants in New York now, the only one I really have much affection for is, well, of course, except the little ones.
[2:31] is Cote Basque because our friend is there, you know.
[2:35] Yes, yes, uh-huh.
[2:36] What else is good?
[2:38] Caravelle is good.
[2:40] What?
[2:40] La Caravelle.
[2:41] Caravelle.
[2:43] Uh-huh.
[2:44] Then there's a little one, let's see, the... Lutece?
[2:49] Oh, no, no, I know that.
[2:51] They clip you there.
[2:53] Most of them clip you, but no, there's one that's sort of more of a luncheon place.
[2:56] It's called...
[2:59] the French name the frog or the, let's see, what do they call it?
[3:05] La Grande Ouille, La Grande Ouille.
[3:07] La Grande Ouille, yeah.
[3:08] Yes, yes.
[3:08] That's owned by one of the former Soule people.
[3:10] Yes, yes, and that is marvelous.
[3:12] That really is very, very good.
[3:14] Is that all right for evening?
[3:15] Yes, extremely so, extremely so.
[3:18] Or is it good before a show, for example, or not?
[3:23] Mm-hmm.
[3:23] It is extremely very, very good, particularly, too, before a show.
[3:28] Because I don't think that they're open that late, you know?
[3:30] Yeah.
[3:32] Because most theaters now are 7.30.
[3:35] Ooh.
[3:37] Do people then go to dinner around hot 6?
[3:39] Yeah, they go in around 6 or 6.15, something like that, you know?
[3:44] My God.
[3:45] I know.
[3:46] Isn't that early?
[3:48] A lot of them just wait and have supper after the theater at 10 o'clock.
[3:53] Oh, yeah.
[3:54] And then you go to the places that are open for the supper.
[3:56] That might be more fun.
[3:58] twenty-one than gets the overflow at that time.
[4:02] You still like twenty-one?
[4:03] Yeah, that's very good.
[4:05] I like it.
[4:05] The last time I was there, it seemed to me that it slipped a bit.
[4:09] All of our old friends are there, but I think that they're so overloaded and so popular, I thought that they had— So I had dinner there one night last week, and I thought, you know, it was good.
[4:19] You still had the old flesh?
[4:21] Oh yes, yes.
[4:24] There's nothing new, in a way.
[4:26] No, nothing new, no.
[4:27] Nothing that has been fun or anything.
[4:33] But I will, you know...
[4:43] Well, there are some places, you know, like Corvadas or Chez Vito and places like that that are still going.
[4:50] But it wouldn't like that.
[4:52] No.
[4:52] All right.
[4:52] You make a rundown.
[4:53] Give me a call back.
[4:55] I certainly will.
[4:56] Okay.
[4:57] I'm not here...
[4:58] Just call the Military Aids Office at Camp David and give it to whoever's on the AP check.
[5:02] Brennan or one of those fellows.
[5:04] Okay, very good.
[5:05] Thank you very much.
[5:06] How are you feeling?
[5:06] Oh, I'm fine.
[5:07] Just working.
[5:08] Wonderful.
[5:08] Everything going fine.
[5:09] Hope you had a good time in Florida.
[5:11] I did.
[5:11] I had a marvelous time.
[5:13] Great time.
[5:14] Swell, swell.
[5:14] All right.
[5:15] Now you take care.
[5:16] Thank you, hon.
[5:17] All right.
[5:17] Bye-bye.