New York Friars' Club
The Monastery
|
|
 |
|
| Motto | Prae Omnia Fraternitas ("Before all, brotherhood") |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1904 |
| Headquarters | 57 East 55th Street |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | 40°45′39″N 73°58′21″W / 40.760886°N 73.972551°WCoordinates: 40°45′39″N 73°58′21″W / 40.760886°N 73.972551°W |
| Website | www |
The Friars Club is a private club in New York City, founded in 1904 that hosts risqué celebrity roasts. The club's membership is composed mostly of comedians and other celebrities. It is located at 57 East 55th Street, between Park Avenue and Madison Avenue, in a building known as the Monastery.
The organization traces its roots to 1904, when representatives of the Broadway theatres working with New York publicists organized the Press Agents' Association to exchange lists of people who were fraudulently receiving complimentary passes to shows. The group regularly met at Browne's Chop House. Shortly thereafter it began its tribute dinners to theatrical celebrities, the first being Clyde Fitch. The impresario Oscar Hammerstein was toasted in 1908, the year in which the Friars moved into a clubhouse at 107 West 47th Street.
The first Friars Frolics were held in 1911, with Abbott George M. Cohan working with Will Rogers, Irving Berlin (who wrote "Alexander's Ragtime Band" for the event), and Victor Herbert; the money generated by the Frolics enabled them to purchase 106-108-110 West 48th Street. Under Abbott Cohan it laid a cornerstone on the building in 1915. In 1924 Walter Donaldson wrote the music for "My Blue Heaven" one afternoon while waiting in the club for his turn at the billiard table. In 1950 Sam Levenson and fellow comedian Joe E. Lewis were the first members of the New York Friars Club to be roasted. The club has roasted a member every year since the inaugural roasting.
...
Wikipedia