More so than in any other room at The Players, visitors can gaze down at Gramercy Park and step back in time in the Booth Room, especially on a snowy winter's eve or when one can almost hear the clip-clop of carriage horses passing on the street below.
The musty odor seems somehow appropriate when you enter Edwin Booth's bedroom on the third floor. The hardwood floor is partially covered by a well-worn Persian carpet; personal effects seem almost as though they were just used by their owner, who died in his bed shortly after 1:00 a.m. on June 7, 1893.
with the obvious exception of the memorial wreath that now hangs on the wall behind Edwina's chaise. Against the northeast corner of the room is a huge two-handed broadsword with a 4' blade. Doeskin tobacco pouches hang on the wall. Opposite is the only portrait of John Wilkes Booth that can be found in The Players, hanging just above a picture of the other bane of Booth's existence, his second wife, Mary McVicker. A small side table displays writing apparatus and gentleman's grooming tools. High on the west wall of the bedroom, partially obscured by damask curtains, is the Booth coat of arms, bearing the motto Quod ero, Spero (I look forward to what I shall become), which Booth bequeathed to The Players for use as the club's motto. The escutcheon was designed for the Right Honorable Nathaniel Booth, the 4th Baron Delamere, also a Baronet, who died without issue in 1770 but who may have been Booth's ancestor.
Throughout his life, Booth collected a significant amount of Shakespeare memorabilia, including a rare edition of the Second Folio. In the northeast corner of the living area is a large curio cabinet containing several artifacts from Stratford-upon-Avon.
There is also a collection of smoking pipes, among other mementos. Atop this mahogany cabinet is an enormous pipe resembling an Indian peace pipe and a "black ball box." Traditionally, black ball boxes were a way for members of a club to retain their anonymity when it came to whether or not they would welcome a new member, a white ball signifying a positive response. When the box was opened, if there were any black balls present, the candidate was effectively "blackballed," thus denied membership. Over Booth's rolltop desk sits a bust of Shakespeare and a rubbing taken from the Bard's gravestone: "Good friend for Jesus' sake forbeare to digg the dust encloased heare. Blese be he that spares thes[e] stones, and curst be he that moves my bones."
In the living area, a painting of Booth's great love (his first wife and sometime co-star Mary Devlin) who died far too young, hangs above the bookcase. On the table near the center of the room, among other artifacts, are a very contemporary looking watch cap Booth wore in Hamlet, a book of poetry opened to the poem Booth was allegedly reading in his waning moments, and a touching bronze casting of baby Edwina's hand resting in Edwin's.
Edwina's role in her father's life was a significant one and her presence in the Booth Room is nearly as palpable as Edwin's. Taken from Richard Lockridge's book Darling of Misfortune is the following passage relating to Booth's death: "Outside a magnificent thunderstorm raged through the city, lighting the room fitfully. Then, after one prodigious crash, the lights went out. 'Don't let father die in the dark!' Edwina screamed hysterically. Lightening played in the room. Then the storm died away. Booth died with it, breathing his last at seventeen minutes after one o'clock in the morning of June 7th, 1893. He died peacefully. It was like the passing of a shadow."
Over the black marble mantelpiece that dominates the west wall of the room is inscribed a now-fading paraphrase taken from an anonymous work of 17th century verse called "Pipe and Can" which reads "And when the smoke ascends on high, Her[e] thou beholdst the vanity of worldly stuff, gone with a puff: thus think and smoke tobacco."
The room is divided into two areas: the bedroom on the east side of the room, which takes up a little less than half the space, and a living area. The quote from Cervantes' Don Quixote recited above is painted above the portal to the sleeping area. Booth's small, canopied single bed, covered by a handmade patchwork coverlet embroidered with the initials "EB," dominates the sleeping area. Adjacent to Booth's bed is the chaise where Booth's daughter Edwina often used to stay, keeping her father company during his last days.
Nearly everything in the Booth Room is as it was in the actor's lifetime,