Fuzzy Bus

One hotel in New York city has many stories. “If walls could talk”, and in this case they kind of did. The Round Table group of writers started having their daily meetings at the hotel in the summer of 1919. The famous group of writers included of Dorothy Parker, James Benchley and Alexander Woollcott to name just a few. Some of which became known as the Vicious Circle. The meetings were held in this Manhattan accommodation every day, for just close to ten years. Actors, journalists and publicists were all part of the round table meeting. This became not only a tradition for the group, but for those not invited to the table, who would sit at a table as close as they could get, just to over-hear the conversations and the banter of the witty and often sardonic comments. Hence the name of the ‘Vicious Circle’.

One other tradition of the hotel began in 1930. The owner at that time was Frank Case. One night he let in a stray cat. Apparently, on the suggestion of John Barrymore, the famous actor was staying at the hotel at the time, he named the cat Hamlet. Case decided that the hotel would from then on, have a cat living in the hotel, with the complete freedom to wander anywhere throughout. And the name stuck, for over the years although there were many different cats, the males were always named Hamlet, and the females would always be named Matilda. The current cat in residence today, is a Matilda. Matilda is often seen in the lobby of the hotel in her own private lounge chair, and she even receives emails, that are answered by the hotel manager.

Lunch for struggling writers is also a tradition started by Case, for back in the Round Table days, he would send over food to the starving artists. He would offer rooms to the writers in exchange for a signed copy of their books. No longer can one exchange a night’s stay at the hotel for their work, but the offer still stands for lunch. Although the lunches are no longer free, they are offered at discount prices to those making their way in today’s literary world of Manhattan.

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