In the November 1994 print issue of the Brief Chronicles, published days after the death of the actor Robert Lansing, his fellow Player Larry Gates shared a letter Lansing had written a few months before, believing it revealed “how one member, one President, felt about our beloved club.”
Thirty years on, we share it once more.
5-9-94
My Dear Larry,
When I came here in ’49, I was a California-Indiana-New Yorker. This place and the theatre were what I wanted more than anything. And along with the personal dreams of success, there was a kind of family I visualized, that I wanted to become part of.
I had steeped myself in New Yorker magazines and “Luncheon at Sardis” and “Good Night, Sweet Prince” and right through an undistinguished youth and a less distinguished army career, I had frozen my sights on “The Theatre.”
And one day after my first trouping the summer boards, and one night stands with Stanley Wolf, and an unremarkable first wandering across the Broadway stage, some friend brought me to The Players.
I was overwhelmed. Here! Here was the place where John Barrymore had exhaled his high proof wit, Joe Jefferson, Mark Twain, the Great Booth himself, and in our day, Lord Olivier, Lord Spencer Tracy and all the bodies that were somebodys had trod these golden steps. Here was where it was. In America, the theatre resides at 16 Gramercy Park.
Here, I found the family I was looking for. To have been the tenth president of this club is easily the greatest honor I ever had in this profession.
The other part is that I love good and honest actors, and to have acted with you (even when I was a green-ear cub) was an honor. And I’m very glad you’re a friend of mine.
Always with affection,
Bob
Comments