Singing For His Supper Club

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Harold Farb, chairman of the board of The Farb Cos. in Houston, is no Sinatra, but he insists that "my great love is music" and he enjoys singing in the big-band mode. But why go through the hassle of auditions and agents when you can build your own $6.5-million restaurant, complete with supper club, cabaret, and house band? When visited by his showtime muse, the 60-year-old real estate developer will leave the audience to commandeer the mike and croon such standards from the 1930s and '40s as "S'Wonderful," "Embraceable You," and "Love Walked In."

"My idols were Al Jolson and Bing Crosby," says Farb. "I wanted to sing, but I knew I could never make a living at it. So I pursue it as a hobby. In my own way, I want to return people to melody and words. The beat's the thing nowadays," Farb regrets, "but there was a time when lyrics were important."

Built in a freestanding, neoclassical style, with the interior designed to look like Paris in the 1920s, his Houston restaurant, The Carlysle, was completed last January. The cabaret seats about 120. It doesn't feature acts or star entertainment, but this fall, Farb took the liberty of booking himself for 10 days. No one complained.

"Of course, you don't build an expensive restaurant just because you want to feature yourself singing," Farb accedes. "I wanted to create a serious place for this city that would stay open for a long, long time." Although he has never appeared professionally with a band or recorded with a label, every few months he tapes a few tunes at a local studio and distributes about 10,000 cassettes free to customers. Predicts Farb: "Big-band music and composers like Gershwin are making a comeback."