In Popular Culture
In the famous 1932 photograph "Lunchtime atop a Skyscraper," the neon Essex House sign can be seen in the background.
Milton Berle's mother, Sarah, died in her apartment at the Essex House on May 30, 1954. The famous Russian composer Igor Stravinsky lived there from the autumn of 1969 until his death on April 6, 1971.
On January 13, 1979, R&B singer Donny Hathaway was found dead on the sidewalk in front of the hotel, after an apparent suicide leap from the 15th floor room in which he had been living.
The Essex House is known for its relationship with the American television program Saturday Night Live. In the early years of the show, announcer Don Pardo would proclaim that "guests of Saturday Night Live stay at the Marriott's Essex House!"
The Essex House is mentioned in the 1976 movie All the President's Men (as well as the 1974 book of the same title.) Reporter Carl Bernstein (played by Dustin Hoffman) called former U.S. Attorney General John N. Mitchell (Nixon Administration) late one Saturday night at the Essex House to get a comment from Mitchell on a Watergate story appearing the next day in The Washington Post. The article stated that Mitchell was one of the men who controlled a secret cash fund from which the Watergate burglars were paid. After Bernstein read the paragraph to him, Mitchell unleashed a colorful threat regarding Post publisher Katharine Graham's anatomy. According to Bernstein, Mitchell's comment appears verbatim in the film and book as it actually happened.
In Gary Nadeau's short film Pizza Verdi (2011), the popular Essex House sign is visible in the shots over Central Park.
In the Doctor Who episode "The Angels Take Manhattan" (2012), the Essex House is prominently positioned in the background during the Central Park scenes.
Read more about this topic: Jumeirah Essex House
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