The Hotel Knickerbocker's residents included Metropolitan Opera singer Enrico Caruso, who took up a suite on half a story because of the hotel's proximity to the Metropolitan Opera House. When the end of World War I was falsely announced on November 8, 1918, Caruso led the crowd outside his suite in singing "The Star-Spangled Banner"; he repeated the performance on Armistice Day three days later, when the war actually ended. The actor and composer George M. Cohan also lived there. Other guests and residents included opera singer Geraldine Farrar, baritone Antonio Scotti, film director and producer D. W. Griffith, novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald, as well as numerous politicians and diplomats. The Tammany Hall political organization often held its meetings at the Hotel Knickerbocker, and media magnate William Randolph Hearst launched his failed campaign for the 1909 New York City mayoral election at the Knickerbocker.