Turning 100 is rare. They discuss Rich Products’ interest in developing its West Side properties; the new roles they took in the family business in the summer of 2022 (Mindy Rich became chair; Bob Rich, the company’s longtime chair, took on the role of senior chair); and their ongoing work in entertainment. Turning 100, blowing out your candles and then taking the stage at a bar is rarer.
Turning 100, being escorted to your party by the creator of one of the most famous TV sitcoms of all time, rocking out with a band and then getting a tribute from Katie Couric might be unique to Anna Sardella. She did it this week on May 20 – one century to the day after she came into the world – and here’s the real thing to know: She had very little idea that any of it was going to happen. Sardella simply showed up at the Elmwood Avenue bar Jack Rabbit in a sparkly dress, expecting some family would be greeting her, and knowing she might be asked to sing.
A couple of hours earlier, Sardella had been sitting in the living room of her Wheatfield home, chatting with her daughter, the television and film writer Diane English. “I like to sing,” Sardella said as they waited an extra few minutes for their driver, who was fighting Grand Island bridge traffic. “I miss it very much.
” Diane English hugs her mother, Anna Sardella, during Sardella’s 100th birthday party at Jack Rabbit on Monday, May 20, 2024. Sardella, who performed as Ann English, was a longtime and well-known jazz .