The Edwin Booth Statue - Gramercy Park

photo by Beyond My Ken

A year after famed Shakespearan actor Edwin Booth died, his biographer, William Winter, wrote:

Early in the morning, Friday, June 9, 1893, the Players assembled at their Club House, No. 16 Gramercy Park, New York, to attend the funeral of Edwin Booth.  The assembly was numerous.  A large company congregated in the street, and all those spectators uncovered their heads as the hearse passed.

The group had been understandably moved.  Booth had not only founded the club and was its first president, but he had presented to them the handsome house which still serves as its clubhouse today.  And it was there, in his private apartment, that he had died.

The shame that his brother, John Wilkes Booth, had brought to the family name by assassinating the President of the United States was never a stain on Edwin Booth's reputation.  He was considered the preeminent Shakespearean actor of his day and built the magnificent marble Booth's Theatre on West 23rd Street in which to stage Shakespearean plays.

Booth's Theatre, on the southeast corner of 23rd Street and Sixth Avenue, was a marvel.  from the collection of the New York Public Library

Only weeks after Booth's death a movement had started to erect a memorial.  The famous actor Joseph Jefferson said in The New York Dramatic Mirror on January 13, 1894, "The Booth statue must be the finest of all the statues in Central Park.  It must be made by an American sculptor.  I should favor a submission of competitive designs."

But Jefferson also urged patience.  The country was reeling from the Financial Panic of 1893, a devastating economic depression that brought on the collapse of railroads and banks.  The newspaper wrote "He approves thoroughly of the decision to defer this active beginning of the work of raising funds until the times improve."

The chair which Edmond T. Quinn included in his statue of Booth may well have been inspired by this cabinet card of the actor costumed for his role as Hamlet.  from the collection of the Library of Congress

More eager to collect donations was a group of unscrupulous scam artists who devised a sham "Edwin Booth Statue Fund" and began holding benefits.  On August 31, 1895 The New York Dramatic Mirror cautioned its readers not to be too quick to donate to the fund.   It called the origins of the fund "mysterious" and warned it would possibly rob the true movement of dignity and"threaten to stultify a serious future effort to erect a Booth statue under proper conditions." 

The Players were, indeed, patient.  It was not until April 17, 1906 that The New York Times announced "A movement which will doubtless assume National importance was started yesterday at a meeting of the Players' Club, at 16 Gramercy Park, for the erection of a monumental memorial to Edwin Booth."  In the 13 years since Booth's death $30,000 had been donated to the project--a tidy $865,000 in today's money with which to start.

Although plans as to the final form of the memorial were indefinite, the club had firmly decided that it should be placed in Gramercy Park "so as to face the Players' Club, of which Edwin Booth was the founder, and to look in fact upon the very windows behind which the great tragedian breathed his last."

An anonymous competition was held to decide the final design of the memorial.  The committee of judges remarked that they kept in mind "the two-fold necessity for simple dignity of treatment resulting alike from the size of Gramercy Park and the character of the man."  With that in mind, any large grouping of figures or any "elaboration of the architectural setting" were rejected.  The winning sculptor was Edmond T. Quinn, who coincidentally or not, was a Players' member.

The statue was unveiled on November 13, 1918, Booth's birthday.  Quinn had depicted the actor at the age of 35 in his role as Hamlet, just rising from a chair.  Arts & Decoration magazine pointed out that "What invests this act with extraordinary importance is this--that it is the first statue erected in this country to an Actor."  (Technically, William Shakespeare, whose statue stood in Central Park, could be defined as an actor; but the memorial remembered him as a playwright.)

The article wrote "The statue, of dull green bronze, on a dull green stone pedestal [designed by architect Edwin S. Dodge], stands in the centre of the Park, looking south--as all portrait-statues should look--in order to always have the face in the sunlight."  The writer was especially impressed with Quinn's faithful representation of Booth.  "From the primary and fundamentally necessary standpoint of truth, it is one of the best portrait statues ever erected in this country."

The unveiling was attended by luminaries in the fields of acting, architecture and literature.  from the collection of the New York Public Library

The front of the pedestal was inscribed merely:

EDWIN BOOTH

1833-1893

and the rear held the inscription:

Erected 1918

by Members of

The Players

in Loving Memory of

the Founder

of the Club

The statue was unveiled by Booth's grandson, Edwin Booth Grossman.  Booth's daughter, Edwina Booth Grossman, and his grandson were also present.  The committee responsible for the project represented some of the most recognizable names in the arts--famous actors John Drew and Otis Skinner, producer Daniel Frohman, and architects John Russell Pope and Richard Howland Hunt among them.

Booth's grandson, Edwin Booth Grossman, is second from left.  The three men on the right are actor John Drew (with the cane) sculptor Edmond T. Quinn and architect Edwin S. Dodge.  from the Twenty-Fourth Annual Report of the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society, 1919 (copyright expired)

Following the dedication Arts & Decoration commented "The next thing to do now, and soon, is to open the gates of Gramercy Park to the public on every Sunday and holiday, from 1 to 5 p.m., so that everyone can at least pass through the Park and enjoy the statue."  The writer feared that the statue should not be "hidden under a bushel" nor "screened behind a fence a hundred feet away."  The journalist would not get his wish.

from the Twenty-Fourth Annual Report of the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society, 1919 (copyright expired)

On November 13, 1933, Booth's 100th birthday, members of The Players joined members of his family in planting a sycamore sapling in the park near the statue.  The New York Times reported on November 14 "A sycamore was chosen because as a boy Edwin Booth played under a gigantic sycamore which still stands at Tudor Hall, his birthplace near Belaire, Md."

That birthday was, of course, a special one; but every year The Players paid homage to the actor at the statue, most often by laying a wreath.  Among the actors participating in a wreath laying in 1943 were Uta Hagen, Paul Robeson and Jose Ferrer.

photograph by the author

Despite one writer's protest in 1918, the gates of Gramercy Park have always been locked to anyone other than residents of the enclave.  And so the Edwin Booth statue can be seen only by peering through the sturdy iron bars, frustratingly close but unapproachable.

The Players -- No. 16 Gramercy Park

The Players in 1905

A year before the end of the Civil War, Major General Robert B. Potter stopped at his 1847 Gothic Revival brownstone residence at No. 16 Gramercy Park before heading south in command of the 2nd Division of the 9th Army Corps.

Potter was the son of the Bishop of Philadelphia, Alonzo Potter. His brother, Henry C. Potter, would become Episcopal Bishop of New York, one of the city’s most socially prominent figures of 19th Century. Theirs was a wealthy and esteemed family with a distinguished lineage and his dignified mansion on Gramercy Park reflected his social station.

On April 2 the next year, Major General Potter was shot through the body during an assault on the rebel lines at Petersburg. He was transported back to New York where he recuperated in his Gramercy Park home.  When General Potter moved to England for a period of four years in 1869, his brother, the Honorable Clarkson Nott Potter took up residence. Clarkson Potter was a lawyer, a judge, a civil engineer, US Representative from New York State from 1869 to 1875 and President of the American Bar Association from 1881 to 1882.

It was in the Gramercy Park house that Clarkson N. Potter diedcat the age of 58 on January 23, 1882.  He willed the house to his wife, Virginia Mitchell Potter, who stayed on in the house for another six years, surrounded by neighbors with respected names like Samuel Tilden and Stuyvesant Fish.

In the meantime renowned Shakespearean actor Edwin Booth was making plans. Booth, who also owned and ran the grand marble Booth’s Theatre on 23rd Street at 6th Avenue, had suffered severe dishonor and embarrassment with his brother’s assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. The actor sought an outlet by which members of the theatre and other arts could convene to discuss the art.

Those in the acting profession were offered charity and shelter when times were hard, but they were never treated as equals among the club set. Booth established The Players, bringing together actors, managers, writers and others for the first time. Now he needed a clubhouse.

He gave the task of finding the appropriate venue to the club’s secretary, William Bispham. Accordingly, Bispham chose the Potter House. Booth purchased the house from Virginia Potter for $75,000, then had Stanford White, a Players member, renovate it as a club.

photo museumplanet.com

White added a two-story loggia to the front and moved the entrance door to the street level, and to the side. Ornate, wrought iron gas lamps illuminated the entrance. Entering the large vestibule, one could descend to the lower level where a bar, billiard room and kitchens were housed. Up a short flight of steps from street level was The Great Hall with large pillars and a grand marble fireplace.

Players entrance hall 1899

Fronting the park was the parlor and to the south was the wood-paneled dining room. The second floor housed the library, filled with theatrical memorabilia donated by Booth and other members. Edwin Booth retained the third floor as his apartments. He had the fireplace from his home in Boston installed here. A single framed photograph of his brother was the one remembrance he kept of him.

The Players Library - 1899

Above, on the fourth floor, were sleeping rooms for members.

The New York Times was tepid in its assessment of White’s changes. The “curious construction of the entrance way deprives it of an imposing effect. A heavy balcony juts out on a line with the first story. The entrance is in the basement, through a door in the shadow of this balcony pierced at the extreme east end of the house.

photo museumplanet.com

“At first glance from a distance the establishment looks more like a Turkish bath than the abiding place of a club of artists,” said the newspaper

The Times then relented, considering the practical reasons for the positioning of the entrance. “But seen near at hand, the elegance and solidity of the entrance strike you, and as soon as you enter you feel inclined to accept Mr. Stanford White’s odd doorway because its utility is at once apparent.”

At the first meeting of the club in its new home on New Year’s Eve 1881, Edwin Booth explained his goals for the house. He wanted it to be one “wherein I hope that we for many years, and our legitimate successors for a thousand generations may assemble for friendly intercourse and intellectual recreation.

“Frequent intercourse with gentlemen of other arts and professions who love the stage and appreciate the value of the drama as an aid to intellectual culture must inspire the humblest player with a reverence for his vocation as one among the first of ‘fine arts,’ which too many regard as merely a means to the gratification of vanity and selfishness. Such is the object of this club.”

The Players (the group has never used the word “Club” in its name) continues as a refuge for those involved in the theatrical business. The membership reads like a history of American theatre: Mark Twain, Lionel Barrymore, Eugene O’Neill, James Cagney, Eli Wallach, Alfred Lunt and Edward Albee among the hundreds of celebrities. When the club decided to admit women, Helen Hayes was its first female member, followed by the likes of Carol Burnett, Angela Lansbury, Rue McClanahan and Judy Collins.

Outside the gas lights still burn; among the handful of surviving gas lamps in the city. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1962, the description given by The New York Times on January 1, 1882 rings true today: “The impression, indeed, that the whole house makes upon one at the first visit is one of solid comfort.”