Touring Eugene O'Neill's New London

The Crocker House was a favorite location for social events and political meetings. Charles Dickens, actors Joseph Jefferson and George M. Cohan, prizefighter John L. Sullivan, and Australian prima donna Nellie Melba (inspiration for Melba toast and peach Melba) were among the hotel’s most celebrated guests. The bar at the Crocker House was James O’Neill’s favorite drinking establishment, a place to enjoy the companionship of his admirers and Irish compatriots. Along with the Irish taverns run by the McGarrys and the Neagles, the Crocker House bar was also frequented by Jamie and Eugene O’Neill and their friends.

The Crocker House Hotel, c. 1906

Jim Lewis, headwaiter at the Crocker House, was a leader in New London’s African-American community. His rival for influence was Adam Scott, an imposing and distinguished looking man. He was an Elder of the Shiloh Baptist Church and a bartender at Holt’s grocery store on Main Street. When one of O’Neill’s friends asked Scott how he reconciled religion and bartending, the Elder replied, "I’m a very religious man, but after Sunday, I lay my Jesus on the shelf." Scott was fond of O’Neill and his group of friends saying, "I gotta look after you boys. I gotta see nothing happens to you boys" (Gelbs, LWMC, 349). According to two of O’Neill’s New London friends, Adam Scott served as inspiration for Brutus Jones in The Emperor Jones.

James O’Neill acquired approximately 25 pieces of property in the New London area and many of the sales were brokered by Tom Dorsey, a realtor of dubious reputation. Dorsey and his famous client often transacted (or celebrated) their land deals in the Crocker House bar. In Long Day’s Journey into Night, Edmund attacks his father saying: "And then you went to the Club to meet McGuire and let him stick you with another bum piece of property! (As Tyrone starts to deny.) Don’t lie about it! We met McGuire in the hotel bar after he left you. Jamie kidded him about hooking you, and winked and laughed" (Collected Plays, 1175).