Bryan Batt: Animal Magnetism

The Actor-Designer-Author and Native Son of New Orleans Dazzles on Stage and Screen, Gets Merry for His Boutique Hazelnut’s 19th Christmas and Mardi Gras Seasons and Lives the Good Life with Husband Tom and Pups Pip and Daisy

Charismatic and handsome, clever and gregarious, New Orleans’ own Bryan Batt is a show biz ace and stands out as the quintessential ambassador for his hometown. The superlative actor’s resume in theatre, film and television includes roles in Academy Award-winning film 12 Years a Slave, both the stage and silver screen versions of Jeffrey and as closeted advertising executive Salvatore Romano on Mad Men (AMC’s Emmy, Golden Globe and Peabody Award-winning dramatic series), which earned Batt two Screen Actors Guild Awards. He’s authored books including She Ain’t Heavy, She’s My Mother, a moving, hilarious salute to his elegant mother Gayle, and feast-for-the-eyes design book, Big, Easy Style: Creating Rooms You Love to Live In. Batt co-owns Hazelnut, the stylish home décor boutique on the world-famous Magazine Street, with husband Tom Cianfichi and good friend Katy Danos. Hazelnut holds a treasure trove of thoughtful, tasteful, whimsical gifts, including items fashioned from their signature New Orleans Toile and a colorful Pontchartrain Beach pattern, a nod to the amusement park owned by Batt’s family that was universally beloved by New Orleanians. The theater and Broadway veteran is fresh off the run of his critically acclaimed one-man play, Dear Mr. Williams, which opened the 105th season of Le Petit Theatre, and recently finished shooting the independent film Pinball. Batt is gearing up to welcome customers to Hazelnut for the holidays, and enjoying life with Cianfichi and their adorable pups, Pip and Daisy.

“We never had pets growing up; my brother was allergic,” says Batt. “Right after college, I moved to New York; soon after, Tom and I got together and we’ve been together for 32 years. Tom grew up with dogs and always wanted a dog but it wasn’t fair to have one in our small place. I’d make fun of all my friends in New York with dogs because they’d talk to them in that baby talk and I thought, ‘You people are crazy—that’s a dog! And you are following a dog, picking up their poop … what has your life come to!’ Well, fast forward!”

Batt and Cianfichi came down from New York to open up Hazelnut in New Orleans in 2003 and moved to a carriage house with a yard. “It was time to get a dog,” says Batt. “I was asked to do La Cage Aux Folles on Broadway and Tom said you must do this; I had just turned down standing by for Hugh Jackman in The Boy from Oz because my mother would’ve asked for her money back if she went to see Hugh Jackman and I went onstage! So we got a Boston Terrier and named her Peggy; this is before Mad Men! We got her from a breeder in Slidell at, like, a trailer. The décor included … a tractor tire! Tom played with the litter and the runt came running over and I said, ‘I wanted a girl but this little boy seems to like me,’ and the lady says, ‘You gotta have a biology lesson because that is a girl!’”

Peggy brought unbridled joy to Batt’s life. “She was the sweetest thing,” says Batt. “When my mother was dying, Peggy would come up and hug me with her paws on each side; she intuitively knew. She melted my heart! Dogs are great therapy for older people and Alzheimer’s patients. When my mom had chemo, Dr. Jayne Gurtler had all her dogs in the room with her patients; these gorgeous chocolate labs were roaming around and it was just this calming, loving space.”

As Peggy got older, the couple wanted a younger dog “to give her a little joie de vivre,” says Batt. “We call our dear friend Lawrence Gobble ‘Dr. Doolittle’—he has tortoises, all sorts of dogs, exotic birds, he even had a turkey. This guy in the French Quarter wanted $400 for this little shaking ball of matted fur, and Dr. Doolittle said, ‘I only have $40,’ and the guy says, ‘OK.’ We tried to find the owner, but couldn’t, so we had him fixed up and he turned out to be a full-bred Yorkie! His name is Pip and, boy, is he a pip! He’s hysterical and wonderful. Then Peggy passed away; it’s traumatic when dogs go. Now Pip’s getting up there, so during the pandemic we went to Zeus’ Rescues and got Daisy, a Dachshund-Rat Terrier mix, and Tom believes that Daisy is really Dachshund-Rat Terror-ist because she is just, I mean, I don’t know what! She won’t leave poor Pip alone. She’s still 100% puppy and wants to play 24/7; it’s the cutest thing. Peggy was a treat dog, Pip is ‘Rub my belly’—he rolls over and that’s it—and Daisy wants everything. Let me tell you, this one is a pistol! She’s work. But it’s worth it.”

Cianfichi is the dog whisperer, according to Batt. “We’d walk around New York and all the dogs would come to Tom. He has this natural thing, this gentleness; I should call him Saint Francis! We’d have seven dogs if he had his way. And dogs are a chick magnet or a boy magnet, whatever your persuasion is; they’re conversation starters, that’s how we mainly got to know our neighbors. Tom’s the caregiver and feeds and walks them; I do occasionally, so I’m tolerated. For years, Tom would get in bed and be on the computer or reading and Pip was settled in; I’d go just to touch the sheet and I’d hear GRRRRRRR … he’d start to let me have it! The day before Hurricane Ida we evacuated to L.A.; I stayed there to rehearse my play and Tom flew back; you could only take one animal, so Pip stayed with me. I was his caregiver; I walked and fed him; he’d snuggle with me. I thought, ‘Oh, we’re bonding.’ We get back home, Tom’s in bed with the computer, I go to touch the sheet—GRRRRRRR!”

Although he wasn’t raised with pets, an animal connection lurked inside Batt. “In 3rd grade at Newman, my teachers noticed I was quite theatrical, so they added a number for me, ‘Rudolf,’ to the Night Before Christmas play even though Rudolf’s not in the poem!” says Batt. “I tap danced with my light-up nose and was doing a handstand when the clapping started and thought, ‘This is fun!’” (Later Batt received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Isidore Newman School; other recipients include media guru Walter Isaacson and bestselling author Michael Lewis). In high school on a trip to New York, Batt saw Gilda Radner Live from New York, heard her uproarious four-letter-word ditty “Let’s Talk Dirty to the Animals” and was smitten, and relieved that his mom and grandmother sitting next to him were too. “I used that song in my cabaret act!” And Batt did both the Cats tour and Cats on Broadway. “And in Jeffrey I played Darius, who’s in the cast of Cats. It’s kind of crazy! With Cats, we loved seeing animals take on human characteristics and seeing ourselves in animals. I did Cats at the Saenger Theatre in ’91 before the renovations, and it needed it! I was convinced I saw mice. Here I’m the cat and I’m scared of the rats!”

Batt and Cianfichi’s West Indies-style cottage is lovely—it was featured in the Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans’ Virtual Holiday Home Tour last year—and the couple melds their passion for haute décor with their dog owner status with harmonious results. “We have baby gates, ha ha!” says Batt. “Right before the Preservation Center came over to film, Daisy peed on a new rug then chewed it. They’ve torn up bedding and stuff as they do but I wouldn’t trade them for the world. It makes life complete to have a little furry life in your life. They’re not children but they’re close, and the best thing is you don’t have to pay for college!” There’s animal pieces peppered throughout their home, including an antique barking dog toy on a leash and a custom portrait of Peggy. “When we first got Pip I’m like, we’re not really the Yorkie type. Peggy was small, Bostons are a chunk—but this is a little powder puff. And we don’t put bows in the hair, none of that. But one time I was coming down our spiral staircase with Pip under one arm and we were about to paint or something and I started pointing and saying, ‘Tom, I think this would look great over there,’ and he said, ‘You are one caftan short of the gayest looking thing I have ever seen!’”

Pip and Daisy are regular shop dogs at Hazelnut. “They’re both really good, but Pip can’t stand anybody with a hat or a uniform, so the UPS man and the mail people have to beware, but all he does is bark,” says Batt. “And Daisy is finally getting over her aversion to men.” Hazelnut is heading into its 19th Christmas, and Batt is excited to ring in the holidays. “I love when people come back to see the place for Christmas. We have dog and cat ornaments and little treats for pets because they need something for Christmas too! It’s surprising how many things at Hazelnut are animal-inspired. This art line with wonderful, fun, colorful pictures of animals—lions, dogs, octopi—have taken off. And there’s this mirror with all these gold butterflies. We incorporate animals in our décor and fashion, not fur but animal prints—not that I’ll be wearing a big cat sweater at Christmas!”

For Mardi Gras, Hazelnut offers pretty plates with art based on antique Carnival costumes and a line of fabulous items that feature a fanciful linear parade, including floats and flambeaux, designed by Batt. Batt and Cianfichi participated in 2021’s Krewe of House Floats, a resourceful movement to decorate homes in spectacular float fashion that came to fruition after Covid-19 restrictions cancelled Mardi Gras. “OK, no other city decorates like we do!” says Batt. “It was a big treat growing up to put on your footie pajamas and drive all around the city at night to look at the lights, then end up at Café Du Monde. There’s something magical about New Orleans. Last year was Daisy’s first Mardi Gras and we all dressed up, including the dogs, and people would pass by to see our house float and we threw beads and they really got into that.”

A king of benevolence, Batt generously donates his services to a plethora of charitable organizations. “Whoever needs me calls and I show up,” says Batt, who has supported Louisiana SPCA events. “Abused and traumatized animals out on the streets need us. We’ll only rescue from now on; I firmly believe in that. My niece Bailey and I’d go to the Louisiana SPCA and just look at dogs; she wanted to take everyone home and I did too. It pains me to see that. We have to be careful with these dogs and support spay and neuter programs because they don’t know any better; we human beings do, or we should! The LASPCA and Zeus’ Rescues and all these wonderful groups have angels doing great work. And let me tell you: No human being is going to be as happy as a dog is to see you when you get home. None! They give unconditional love and adulation and it’s just exuberant. You leave for ten minutes? They jump for joy that you returned. After a hard day you come home and they’re there? There’s nothing better. Dogs make life fuller. When they want to snuggle and curl up right by you and snore, it’s better than Ambien!”

For more information please see hazelnutneworleans.com, louisianaspca.org and zeusplace.com