CARY, Claiborne – (1932-2010) Broadway performer, TV actor and cabaret singer, she and husband Chuck Northrup, a former Wall Street investment banker, bought The National Hotel in 1975. The idea was to establish a cabaret there, which would make the hotel a destination for New York City sophisticates.
“She's a warm hostess who keeps her cool at the microphone, interspersing jokes and anecdotes about the hotel between her songs,” wrote the Del Val News' Ellen Kolton-Waton.
Cary's TV credits included “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” “Young Dr. Kildare,” “That Was the Week That Was” and “Dialing for Dollars.”
Cary was the sister of actor Cloris Leachman, whose visit in February of 1977 was the lead story in the News. Also visiting Cary at The National were TV host Phil Donahue and actors Mary Tyler Moore and Valerie “Rhoda” Harper.
Northrup's lasting contribution to Frenchtown was the establishment of The Rathskeller in the hotel's basement in 1977 or '78.
But the hotel did not prosper -- even though I was pumping $6 a night into the place whenever I worked late and needed to stay over.
Cary sued the previous owners, the Tetteris and Tszntrizos families, claiming they'd used a false set of books to convince her the hotel was profitable. In 1978 the defendants became the owners again, either by repossessing it, or by buying it back to settle the suit.
From "Rick's Frenchtown Encyclopedia"