The 55-year-old burlesque manager-producer suffered a mental collapse after attending his mother's funeral four days earlier and, devastated by depression, walked off
The Sporting Duchess, a burlesque show he was managing in Union City, New Jersey. Falke traveled to New York City and checked into a third floor room at the Forrest Hotel at 224 West Forty-ninth Street. On the afternoon of March 20, 1928, as a friend was knocking on his door to inquire about his health, the veteran burlesque manager leaped to his death. Falke barely missed actresses Miriam Hopkins and Frances Goodrich as they approached the stage door of the Ritz Theatre where they were appearing in the John McGowan comedy
Excess Baggage. The hysterical women required medical attention. Falke died later that day at Bellevue Hospital from a compound fracture of the skull and other injuries.
Unfortunately, Charles Falke is not the only person to have jumped off the top floor of the Forrest Hotel in New York City. But he won't be the last. Over the years, it seems that most people who commit suicide in New York City will do so by jumping off a building. Even that one. There's no telling how many people have actually jumped off the top floor of the Forrest Hotel but Charles Falke is definitely one of them. What the Falke is wrong with people? Don't they know they have plenty to live for? Okay, that came out wrong but still it's a tragedy nonetheless. Goodbye, Mr. Falke. And please people. Don't kill yourselves.
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