Arizona republican., 1919-04-02
THE BOOTH STATUE
 IN CRANKY PARK
lNew York Times.D


 The unveiling recently of statue of Edwin Booth in Gramercy park links the name of the eminent trage- dian tsill closer 10 the history of the old, quiet home center of New York city. The Players. on the south side of the park. for 30 years has been the most potent memorial on Manhattan island of Edwin Booths fame and his close association with the social life of the metropolis. Not only was Booth the prime organizer of the club, which he wished to found on the model of the famous Garrick club of London, but he also purchased the building and paid the expense of remodeling and re- furnishing the house attractively. The work was done by the late Stanford hite, and on New Years eve, 1SSS Ed win Booth handed over the deed of the property to the Players During his late wears the club was, in a sense, the actors hobby, and he enriched it by many paintings. engravings. and other articles of interest and value to the theater. The club was the home of Booth from the day of it's formal open ing tohis death, on June :, 1893, and his canopied bedstead and other per sonal objects are among the treasures of the club. hen the club was founded
 
 residential center and the dwellers looked with jealousy upon the en- croachment of anything which threat ened to despoil the old fashioned home atmosphere. There was some Obiec- tion to the establishment of a club home within the park area, but the high character of the club members dispelled criticism, and in a New Years letter of January l, 1889, written to his daughter. Edwina Booth Grossman. the actor says. after speaking of the celebration: All the exclusive neigh bors in this conservative quarter are l pleased instead of offended by the in- | noVation of a clubhouse in the midst of their respective mansions"
 Among those who were evidently pleased was Samuel J. THilden. who occupied the big house adjoining the Players, and which a few years ago became the home of the National Arts club. Since 1888 many radical changes have taken place in Gramercy park. Many clubs have been established there, and, although the old residential restrictions have always been upheld. there has been a broader definition of the old covenant which admits the con- struction of tall apartment houses in restricted resideltial districts The l IltN u EQWln bOOIn IS the first statue placed within the park proper. to which only the residents in the houses facing the square have ac- cess. The name Gramercy is a Dutch i contraction of an early stream that l flowed through the section. Samuel B. Ruggles laid out the park in 1S31 It was not until about 1850 that it became a fashionable center of the city, and in lSo1 the park was embellished with a large fountain at a cost of s3, 900. The new statue of Edwin Booth is the only one of an actor in any of the city parks-unless the Shakespeare statue Tn Central park is so defined It is of interest to note that Edwin Booth in 1874. with Edward A. Sothern and other actors, restored the simple tomb stone in St. Pauls churchyard to the memory of George Frederick Cooke. erected in 1921 by Edmund Keane and which was repaired by Charles Kean in lS46. Cooke was one of the most famous English actors who ever visited America. ell died in this city in 1872.