Once Upon A Friday....

[doug65oh]

Washington… April 14 - President Lincoln and wife, with other friends, this evening visited Ford's Theatre for the purpose of witnessing the performance of the "American Cousin." (The Times got it wrong by the way, the title was actually "Our American Cousin," penned at mid-century by one Tom Taylor.)

http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general ... /0414.html
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext02/ouamc11.txt

Odd thing about that play, it's supposed to be "A Drama in 3 Acts." If that be so, it ranks as one of the silliest dramas you'd ever want to read, for my money seriously. The humor is at times a bit stale, but still works even today.

Here's a sample or two:

Florence: He writes from Brattleboro' Vt. "Quite well, just come in from a shooting excursion, with a party of Crows, splendid fellows, six feet high.''

Dundreary: Birds six feet high, what tremendous animals they must be.

Florence: Oh, I see what my brother means; a tribe of Indians called Crows, not birds.

Dundreary: Oh, I thought you meant those creatures with wigs on them.

Florence: Wigs!

Dundreary: I mean those things that move, breathe and walk, they look like animals with those things. [Moving his arms like wings.]

Florence: Wings.

Dundreary: Birds with wings, that's the idea.

(As you may have guessed by this time, Dundreary was...well, a little light in the bellfrey would be fair - nutty as Aunt Fanny's fruitcake, but harmless.)
..........
Mr. Lincoln did not see that scene, as his party had not yet arrived.
........

Mrs. Mountchessington: Mr. Trenchard, you will please recollect you are addressing my daughter, and in my presence.

Asa: Yes, I'm offering her my heart and hand just as she wants them with nothing in 'em.

Mrs. Mountchessington: August, dear, to you room.

Augusta: Yes, ma, the nasty beast. [Exit R.]

Mrs. Mountchessington: I am aware, Mr. Trenchard, you are not used to the manners of good society, and that, alone, will excuse the impertinence of which you have been guilty.

Asa: Don't know the manners of good society, eh? Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal– you sockdologizing old man-trap. (Ibid.)

-
At this point, history tells us that a great gust of laughter engulfed the more than one thousand theatre patrons, strong enough by some accounts to muffle the sharp crack of a pistol; others say that those who did hear it took no real notice, merely thinking it part of the stage action.

One man knew better, the actor Harry Hawk – he who had just uttered what may have been the last words Abraham Lincoln ever heard on this earth…once upon a Friday, the 14th of April 1865.

It's ancient history now of course (more than 51,000 days elapsed) and yet...was it really that long?

Florence: And I am sure you will not regret your kindness shown to Our American Cousin. But don't go yet, pray—for Lord Dundreary has a word to say.

Dundreary [Sneezes.] That's the idea.

(In addition to being certifiable, Dundreary also had a thing for sneezing!)

Okay now to bed... Point?? well, no...not really, not this time anyway.

[Haulover]

i can appreciate this. i did not know any of the dialog.

Also, i thought "our american cousin" was defined and advertised as a comedy or a "farce".............are you saying we understand that NOW but at the time the play was described as a drama, or at least by some source?

[Harry]

The advertisement for the play billed it as "Tom Taylor's Celebrated Eccentric Comedy".

[Harry]

Somehow the previous post got duplicated. Lizzie's ghost perhaps.

[doug65oh]

The play is described as "A Drama in 3 Acts" there at the Project Gutenberg link - in the transcription, that is to say:

Our American Cousin
A Drama, in 3 Acts.
By Tom Taylor

When I tripped over it several weeks back I thought "Drama? I could swear it's always described as a comedy!"

As I say, if indeed it is a - oh hey...wait a minute - Webster's defines a drama thus: as a "composition in verse or prose intended to portray life or character or to tell a story usually involving conflicts and emotions through action and dialogue and typically designed for theatrical performance."

They give "play" as a synonym.

Myself I would call it a comedy certainly. The only thing I can make out is that they were using "drama" in its most ancient sense.

[FairhavenGuy]

Laura Keene and J. Wilkes Booth appeared in Our American Cousin at Liberty Hall in New Bedford on March 9 and 10, 1865.

After suffering a breakdown following Lincoln's assassination, Laura Keene bought the former Breed farm in Acushnet, MA, the town next to Fairhaven. She renamed it Riverside Lawn and spent five summers there. The road leading into the property is still named Laura Keene Avenue today.

It's less than a quarter of a mile up Main Street from where I'm sitting at the moment.

[doug65oh]

Booth appeared in Our American Cousin???!! Good God... I'd never heard that before - only that he was familiar with it. That would certainly explain a few things though, such as the timing and so forth. That's just...eerie.

Odd, I was just sitting here reading thru the thing again. Apparently the play was quite popular, for as many as fifty years beyond 1865, with E. H. Sothern (whose father had starred as Lord Dundreary in the Keene Company's 1858 premiere of the play) taking up the Dundreary role.

Laura Keene Avenue, huh?? Neat!

[FairhavenGuy]

Booth appeared in Our American Cousin???!! Good God... I'd never heard that before

Okay, hold the presses. I'm checking into this further. I may be conflating a number of different facts.

First, without a doubt, Laura Keene was in the production of Our American Cousin at Liberty Hall in New Bedford on March 9 & 10, 1865. (Laura Keene was, in fact, the producer of this show as well as the star.) A piece of a poster from this particular performance is reproduced in A Picture History of Fairhaven, Spinner Publications, New Bedford, MA, 1985

Laura Keene and Edwin Booth had performed together in theater companies.

The Booths, both Edwin and John, were known around here from their local theatrical appearances at Liberty Hall.

There is a legend (or possibly a fictional account) of John Wilkes Booth being overheard discussing a plan to kill the president late one night while at Fort Phoenix in Fairhaven after a New Bedford performance of an unspecified play.

I thought I have seen another poster or program that listed Booth as a member of the company that performed Our American Cousin. This is the piece of the puzzle that I may, in fact, simply be imagining.

The Laura Keene property in Acushnet is very well documented locally, and Laura Keene Avenue is certainly there.

I'm trying to track down more documentation. Until I do, please forget for now that I said John actually appeared in OAC.

[doug65oh]

Chris... History is full of legends like that; it's part of the fun.

We shall see.