In part due to its proximity to the West End theatres, exclusivity and late closing time (it is still open until close to midnight), the restaurant quickly became a theatrical institution, with Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh, Marlene Dietrich, John Gielgud, Lilian Braithwaite, Terence Rattigan, Binkie Beaumont and Noël Coward being habitués, having their regular 2-seater tables along the walls. According to the actor Donald Sinden in his Sky Arts television documentary series "Great West End Theatres", The Ivy became so famous as a theatrical-celebrities haunt that in the 1943 revue "Sweet and Low" which ran for almost six years at the neighbouring Ambassadors Theatre, there was a satirical sketch included, updated regularly, entitled "Poison Ivy", where the show's star Hermione Gingold "would exchange wicked and salacious celebrity gossip".