After almost 7 years at her post, Matilda the cat will be stepping down as the Algonquin's supervisor, a position almost as legendary as the hotel itself. Prancing into her place will be Hamlet, the hotel's new cat-in-chief.
While it was believed this adorable tradition began in the 1930s, it was more recently discovered that it started in the 1920s. The hotel acquired an out-of-print book written by the hotel’s first general manager, Frank Case—"the consummate host most famous for first welcoming Dorothy Parker and her friends to start the legendary Algonquin Round Table in the hotel’s bar"—which included a chapter about how Case welcomed in a cat named Billy.
Two days after Billy passed, a stray cat wandered into the hotel and The Algonquin welcomed Rusty. The famous classical actor, John Barrymore, was a resident at the time in the early 1930s, and Rusty was renamed Hamlet in his honor. Hamlet is said to have been Barrymore's greatest stage role. The hotel has had a total of 11 cats, including Billy.
Of those cats, seven have been named Hamlet, including the latest. They have all been rescues, and have gained fans from all over, receiving fan mail and gifts "constantly," we're told.
The new Hamlet doesn't have an official start date yet, hotel reps told Gothamist, "but he will likely assume his role by the end of the month." His official photo shoot is happening this week, but for now we were provided these candid photos from inside the executive offices, where he's learning the ropes. Here's a little background that was provided to us by his new humans:
Hamlet was found by rescuers in Hempstead, Long Island, living outdoors. He was brought to Bideawee where a Vet Tech cleared him as healthy and he later made his way to Manhattan. We knew that we wanted to retire the current Matilda and started reaching out to our friends at shelters to find a cat to adopt that had a similar look to the original Hamlet. Bidawee Vice President, Jennifer Goodwin, sent us an email and photo of the cat from Hempstead, which was originally dubbed “Chill” due to his relaxed nature.
I went down immediately to the shelter and phoned up Alice, Chief Cat Officer, and told her that he was the one. We made a second visit and he jumped into Alice’s lap and started purring. He had no issues interacting with humans and was sweet and playful with everyone.
If you run into Hamlet when he's on the job in the lobby, we're told he especially enjoys belly rubs.
Meanwhile, his first introduction to the public will be at this week's annual Cat Fashion Show, taking place on Thursday August 3rd at the hotel. You can find more details here.
