By Mitchell Owens | October 2007
Few decorators have been as Runyonesque as James Mont (1904-1978), who carried a revolver, hung out with hoodlums and spent five years in Sing Sing for assault. When he wasn’t adding to his rap sheet, the Istanbul-born New Yorker was furnishing homes in a high-glitz nightclub-style chic that appealed to Mafia figures like Joe Adonis. Starting today, Todd Merrill, an antiques dealer in SoHo, will exhibit the spectacular Greco-Asian furnishings of the Miami Beach penthouse of a construction-materials magnate, Ellis K. Orlowitz, which Mont designed in 1963. Prices range from $5,000 for a small lamp to $70,000 for a dining table and chairs. The 10-foot silver-leaf sofa, above, is $40,000. Through mid-December at Todd Merrill Antiques, 65 Bleecker Street (Crosby Street), (212) 673-0531 or merrillantiques.com.
