Lamb's Club

The Lambs, Inc. (also known as The Lambs Club) is a New York City social club that nurtures those active in the arts, as well as those who are supporters of the arts, by providing activities and a clubhouse for its members. It is America's oldest professional theatrical organization. "The Lambs" is a registered trademark of The Lambs, Inc.; and the club has been commonly referred to as The Lambs Club since 1874.

The club's name honors the essayist Charles Lamb and his sister Mary, who during the early 19th century played host to actors and literati at their famed salon in London.

History

In 1874 New York theatrical life was centered around Union Square, Manhattan. Wallack's Theatre was on Broadway and 13th Street. During the Yuletide season George H. McLean invited actors of J. Lester Wallack's company to dinner at Delmonico's: Edward Arnott, Harry Beckett, Henry James Montague, and Arthur Wallack, the son of Mr. Wallack. They were joined by grocer John E. I. Grainger. In Delmonico's Blue Room it was suggested the men form a supper club. Many names were mentioned. Montague said that he was a member of The Lambs in London that had been established in 1869 by John Hare. The name was unanimously adopted; it came from Charles and Mary Lamb, the English brother and sister who were friendly towards actors in Georgian England.

In 1875 dinners were held in Union Square hotel restaurants; the original six invited their friends. By autumn 1875 the Lambs were meeting in the Union Square Hotel. The Members chose to increase by "sevens." There were so many applications the Club expanded. On May 10, 1877, the Club incorporated under the laws of the State of New York. There were 60 members.

On August 11, 1878, the Club suffered its first great loss, the death of Shepherd Henry J. Montague in San Francisco. Broadway impresario J. Lester Wallack–who would go on to serve seven terms as Shepherd–gave Montague a space in his family plot in Green-Wood Cemetery; the two rest next to each other today.

In April 1880 The Lambs moved to 34 West 26th Street, the first time under "a roof controlled by the Club." It would be the Clubhouse for 12 years. It was a period of "prosperity, joy, sorrow and calamity." In this era The Lambs entertained Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, newspaper editor Charles A. Dana, and English actor Sir Henry Irving.

The Actors' Fund of America (today the Entertainment Community Fund) was formed by Lambs in 1882 at Wallack's Theatre and J. Lester Wallack was the first president. In 1887 it was Lambs with the Actors Fund who established the first Actors' Burial Ground in the Cemetery of the Evergreens in Brooklyn. Playwright Clay M. Greene suggested the Club put on its own shows, thus launching decades of Lambs' Gambols. Notable members of this era were Maurice Barrymore, Nikola Tesla, and Stanford White. In 1895 there were 272 members.

In 1905, as the theater industry moved uptown to Times Square, The Lambs moved to a larger facility at 128 West 44th Street. The building was expanded in 1915, to include a 300-seat theater and 66 modest sleeping quarters. It was used as the clubhouse until January 1975.

The Lambs thrived into the Jazz Age, ultimately reaching more than 1,700 members before the Wall Street crash of 1929. The club would move twelve times during its 150 years. In 1974 it ended gender discrimination and admitted women as full members; the first was Cornelia Otis Skinner, daughter of Lamb Otis Skinner.

The Lambs, Friars, and Players often are confused. In 1964, long-time syndicated columnist Earl Wilson put it this way: "Long ago a New Yorker asked the difference between the Lambs, Friars, and Players, since the membership was, at the time, predominantly from Broadway." It was left to "a wit believed to have been George S. Kaufman" to draw the distinction: "The Players are gentlemen trying to be actors, the Lambs are actors trying to be gentlemen, and the Friars are neither trying to be both."

Milestones

The Actors' strike of 1919 was settled in The Lambs, which was referred to as "Local One." In 1924, it celebrated its 50-year anniversary at the Earl Carroll Theatre.

Historically, The Lambs has been the spawning ground of plays, friendships and partnerships. '' Mark Twain Tonight'' (with Hal Holbrook) and ''Stalag 17'' were first performed at The Lambs before their national successes.

Alan J. Lerner and Frederick Loewe first met at The Lambs, often trying works-in-progress on their fellow Lambs. Loewe left a percentage of his share of ''Brigadoon'' royalties to The Lambs' Foundation.

Its members have been instrumental in the formation of ASCAP, Actors' Equity and The Actors' Fund of America, Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and in the merger that created SAG-AFTRA. Of the first 21 council members of Actors' Equity, 20 were members of The Lambs. The meetings to form Actors' Equity were held at The Players, a club similar to The Lambs, because there were too many producer members of The Lambs.

Notable Lambs

Since its founding, there have been more than 6,700 Lambs, including:
Fred Astaire,
Irving Berlin,
Henry Blossom,
Sid Caesar,
James Cagney,
Eddie Cantor,
George M. Cohan,
Cecil B. DeMille,
W.C. Fields,
Albert Hague,
Mark Hart,
Silvio Hein,
Ken Howard,
Al Jolson,
John F. Madden,
Conrad Nagel,
Eugene O'Neill,
Donald Pippin,
Joyce Randolph,
Cliff Robertson,
Edward G. Robinson,
Will Rogers,
John Philip Sousa,
Spencer Tracy,
Abe Vigoda,
Fred Waring, and
Jack Whiting.

Current honorary members include Matthew Broderick and Jim Dale. The Lambs' website contains a listing of its past and current members.

Shepherd

The president of The Lambs is called "The Shepherd". Originally, the term was one year, later extended to two years. Today the term is three years. The Club owns portraits and busts of every shepherd, painted by artists such as Howard Chandler Christy, James Montgomery Flagg, Everett Raymond Kinstler, and Michael Shane Neal.

Clubhouses

The Lambs has had many Manhattan homes since 1874, beginning with Delmonico's Restaurant in Union Square. The members met at various hotels and restaurants until it was established enough to buy property in 1879. The Lambs then either owned or leased space until 1976, when it relocated to 3 West 51st Street, where it remains today.

128–130 West 44th Street

In 1905, the club moved to 128–130 West 44th Street, designed by Lamb Stanford White and doubled in size in 1915. The club remained at 44th Street until 1975, when it lost the building to foreclosure. It was purchased from a bank by the Church of the Nazarene, which leased part of the building for what would become the Off Broadway Lamb's Theatre. The building was designated a New York City Landmark in September 1974 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 3, 1982. The church sold the building in 2006 to Hampshire Hotels, which renovated the building into the Chatwal New York hotel. The Chatwal Hotel contains the Lambs Club restaurant although there is no relation between the hotel and The Lambs.

Current activity

Since 1976, The Lambs' Clubhouse has been leased space at 3 West 51st St., adjacent to Rockefeller Center.

The Lambs has elected more than 6,700 members over the decades, counting actors and theater owners, playwrights and painters, singers and sculptors, and today's podcasters and comedy writers. Over the decades it was at The Lambs that hit shows and songs were launched, partnerships and friendships formed, and bonds of fellowship made.

The Lambs is also a historical society, preserving and promoting entertainment history stretching back to the 19th century. The club's art collection of oil paintings, theatrical memorabilia, and playbills, together with a private research library, is a museum of American entertainment history. The Lambs are currently digitizing its collection to make it available to the public. Starting in 1974, the Lambs has donated thousands of important historic documents to the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

As the club prepared to celebrate its sesquicentennial in 2024, it undertook a program to grow its membership. In 2023 author Kevin C. Fitzpatrick was elected the 36th Shepherd of The Lambs, and producer Don M. Spiro elected The Boy (vice president). The Lambs celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2024 by reaching 250 members, the most since the 1960s.

Gallery

File:Some cartoonists of the Lambs. T. E. Powers, R. L. Goldberg, Hy. Mayer, Richard Outcault, C.A. Briggs, George McManus.jpg, Cartoonist members of The Lambs in 1915. From left: Thomas E. Powers, Rube Goldberg, Henry Mayer, Richard Outcault, Clare Briggs, George McManus.
File:Frank Case - DeWolf Hopper - Geo. Mooser - John Golden LCCN2014699342.jpg, Lambs members in 1910. From left: Comedian DeWolf Hopper, producer and theatrical director George Mooser, producer John Golden, and Frank Case, manager of the Algonquin Hotel.
File:Lamb's Club, 4-10-23 LOC npcc.08201.jpg, Lambs members in 1923.
File:Portrait of H. J. Montague, by Sarony.jpg, Henry James Montague, Shepherd of The Lambs, 1874-1878.
File:Digby-Bell-DeWolf-Hopper.jpg, Digby Bell and DeWolf Hopper, leaders of The Lambs.
File:Thomas Meighan - Mar 1922 Photoplay.jpg, Thomas Meighan (1922), first movie star Lambs' shepherd.
File:Tom dillon.jpg, Tom Dillon, Shepherd of The Lambs, 1969-1986.

References

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External links

The Lambs website


– the NYC Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.

Lambs Club records, 1880–1973
held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

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1874 establishments in New York (state)
1874 establishments in New York City
Arts organizations established in 1874
Clubs and societies in New York City
Culture of New York City
Gentlemen's clubs in New York City
Theatrical organizations in the United States
American artist groups and collectives