"Goode frende for friendships sake forbeare
To utter what is gossipt here
In social chat lest unawares
Thy tonge offend thy fellow Plaiers"
— Anonymous parody of Shakespeare's epitaph
It was in the Great Hall in front of the enormous stone mantelpiece (the brick rear wall of which displays the quote above) that Edwin Booth deeded 16 Gramercy Park to The Players. Above the mantel is a portrait of Booth's father Junius Brutus, the patriarch of the Booth theatrical dynasty, one of two paintings of the elder Booth that hang in the Great Hall. In fact, the room is more of a central gathering place for Players and their guests at the top of the staircase than a "great hall" (being neither particularly great in size nor box-shaped like a hall). During special events, or sometimes of an evening, the grand piano is heard, Players raise their voices in song, and the spirit of conviviality that is the essence of The Players, is most palpable here. Lining the cream-colored damask covered walls are portraits of Edwin Booth and other past Presidents of The Players: Walter Hampden, Robert Lansing, Dennis King, José Ferrer in his famous portrayal of Cyrano de Bergerac, Alfred Drake as Haj from the musical Kismet, and at the entrance to the Dining Room, Joseph Jefferson as Bob Acres from Sheridan's The Rivals. This full-length portrait hangs opposite a full length painting of Edwin Booth as Richelieu. Paintings by noted portraitist Thomas Sully and his son, Thomas Sully, Jr. also hang near the entry to the Dining Room. On the opposite end of the Great Hall hangs a small canvas depicting Robert Palmer, purportedly the work of the great English 18th century portrait painter Thomas Gainsborough.
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