In Excess : Meister of Ceremonies

It’s 10 in the morning, but Sidney Frnak had already been up for five hours despite a hard night of dancing. He was out until 2 a.m. with his squadron of femme fatale sales reps, working the crowd at a popular San Diego bar, treating patrons to Jagermeister tattoos, noisemakers, kazoos, dog tags, flyswatters-even an inflatable shark. Not to mention Jager shooters charged to his Gold Card.

Frank is recuperating today at his home in Rancho Santo Fe, on hand are his personal trainer, chef, gold coach, housekeeper, estate manager and Marian, his wife. And Kimberly, Linda, Lisa, Heather and Michelle, part of the contingent of 945 Jagerettes and 100 Jagerdudes (who work gay clubs) that form a formidable bar-to bar sales force.

He on top of the world, and why, and not? He’s only 75 and the money is rolling in. Pouring in, actually: Frank is the exclusive importer of Jagermeister, the shot of choice for the 20-to-40 crowd. Despite its undeniable similarity to cough syrup, the German drink is, with Kahlua and Bailey’s Irish Cream, one of the nation’s three most popular imported liqueurs, and nowhere is it more popular than in Southern California.

Why the heat over something that tastes like medicine? Part of it is rumors about its ingredients. “I hear one of the 56 herbs and spices in Jager is opium or Valium,” says one bar patron. “It’s an aphrodisiac,” says another.

Then, too, there’s Franks nonstop bar-bash across America. “We throw a thousand parties a month,” he confides between bites from a strawberry forked his way by Michelle.

If this sounds like all play and no work, well, you’re not far wrong. “I sleep three hours a night, get up early and read two roll of faxes from my New Rochelle headquarters, work out, golf, eat sushi and uni, and when I feel like it, I call the Jagerettes and we go dancing,” Frank says.

Enough small talk. Frank’s got an urge to do some Jagershots from a Jagerett’s Jagernavel. Life can sure be a party when you make $500,000 a month.