#william edwin booth

[gacougnol]

William Edwin Booth (American, 1908 - 1995)

Morning Mist

1954

[shakespearenews]

“A letter came to me a few years ago from a long-retired actress who had, as a youngster, been taken to see Edwin Booth play King Lear. It seems that towards the end of the play, when the mad Lear was brought face to face with his daughter Cordelia, there was a sharp pause, then – for a second that couldn’t quite be caught or measured – a startled, desperate, longing flicker of near-recognition stirred somewhere behind the old man’s eyes, and then – nothing. The entire audience rose, without thinking, to its feet. It didn’t cheer. It simply stood up. It was as though a single electrical discharge had passed from one body on the stage, instantaneously, through a thousand bodies in the auditorium. Something had been plugged into a socket; two forces had met.

This meeting is what the theater is all about; it is its greatest power . . . The theater gains its natural – and unique – effect not from the mere presence of live actors, or the happy accident of an occasional lively audience, but from existence of a live relationship between these two indispensible conspirators, signaling to one another through space.”

–Walter Kerr (1913-1996) Author and Theater Critic From his book THE THEATER IN SPITE OF ITSELF

[emby-m]

Ronald of Nice & Harper’s Muse

Fourth in the “Putting Alice into Nort’s Skin Lines” project

– But what stands out to this reporter is the role of the young scriptwriter. He is a character we all know, intimately or not, and one Mister Ronald of Nice plays often. Yet, Mister Ronald seems to wear such a duplicitous mask unevenly. This is not to say his performance – a thorough cad, playing with the ingenue’s heart simply to satiate his own ego – was not well-done. Ripples of dissent and displeasure rumbled through the crowd at his actions, and a hearty cheer came at his comeuppance – the sort of reaction only a professional might elicit. But no – it is to this reporter’s eye that Mister Ronald is too honest himself, too earnest and sweet-tempered. With the fresh awkwardness of a boy in his first social season, Mister Ronald is a treat to watch off-stage as well as on. 

-Harper’s Muse

Theatrical Critic

Design and backstory under the cut:

Setting/text notes:

Surprisingly hard to find period theatrical criticism, but tried to go for a William Winter writing about Edwin Booth vibe. It’s got a particular kind of flow.

An actor has to have news published about him, right…?

Harper's Muse would come from Harper's Bazaar (the women's magazine), then this idea that Alice would become Ronald's greatest muse...

Norton’s design:

I didn't have to change much, but i narrowed the tails on the beetle-back coat because that's a look

Continues to be interesting to me that Ronald still has a scar and yet the mask covers… the unscarred portion

Have you noticed that i love Norton who very prominently has a hat but I hate drawing hats on heads? Yeah i have too dw

Alice’s design:

A pretty blouse and skirt, for the working woman at the theatre…

From Dressing for the Occasion (1900s German etiquette guide for dress): For attending the theater while sitting in the gallery - a silk blouse and fair skirt; “modern” or contemporary hairdo with ornaments; light-colored suede gloves; patent leather shoes and openwork stockings; minimal jewelry

'Plain' and yet beautiful -- all the more eye catching for an actor beloved and yet struggling...

[isaterriblebore]

Stex Appreciation Month Day 11: Rockies

Favourite Actor?

Rocky 1: Christian Hante and Lashane Williams. Rocky 2: Jay Le Marrec and Tony Cordell Rocky 3: Cassie Rogers and Ruby Hall

Favourite Song/Scenes?

Freight and of course their song!

Favourite Costumes?

I miss the old Bochum costumes but I don't hate the new Bochum costumes.

Favourite Ships/Friendships?

Ships: I don't have any major ones tbh. Friendships: The other Freight, Rusty, Greaseball, the coaches.

Headcanons?

Rocky 1: He's the oldest out of the three. He's the boldest and toughest but he's also a softie.

Rocky 2: I think he’s good friends with Flat Top! Whenever I’ve seen the show, they mess around together during the skate around after the megamix.

Rocky 3: She’s the youngest of the three but she can beat the other Rockies when it comes to wrestling. She’s also quick with her mouth and great at comebacks

Unpopular Opinion?

None <3

Photo 1: Adam Ellis as Rocky 3, Luigi Scarano as Rocky 2, Aaron Piper as Rocky 1 - Bochum 2004. Photo 2: Ronald Garza as Rocky 1, Dwight Toppin as Rocky 2, Angel Vargas as Rocky 3 - US Tour 1989. Photo 3: RT Smith as Rocky 3, Martin Boothe as Rocky 1, Devin Richards as Rocky 2 - Bochum 1992. Photo 4: Algernon Williams as Rocky 2, KFTD as Rocky 1, Rory Williams as Rocky 3 - London 1991 Photo 5: Edwin Cheng as Rocky 1, Katriona Ramsay as Rocky 3, Samuel Lawson as Rocky 2 - Bochum 2024.

[mckinleygirl98]

wait guys.... i have never given a list of my historical top few... this has changed since the last time i vaguely mentioned it

7. George III

I have always found him fascinating

I feel a bit sorry for him

nothing more to add

6. Abe Lincoln (tied w/ various others)

he's the best prez!

5. Queen Elizabeth I

the OG. My first blog name was elizabethtudorstuff. it was a tudor blog

The queen who made me fall in love with history. i still know so many Tudor facts it's insane

4. Mozart

funny composer guy

3. Boston Corbett

the man who killed the man who killed the best prez

tied with David Herold (lincoln conspirator)

2. Sir Isaac Newton

come on now, I wrote a whole comic on the guy!

1. William McKinley

❤️william mckinley ❤️

honorable mentions:

emma goldman

king richard iii

marquis de lafayette

mary surratt

edwin booth

ulysses s grant

philip ii of spain

[handeaux]

In Cincinnati, Everybody Who Was Anybody Got The Scoop At Grandpa Hawley’s

The year before he assassinated President Abraham Lincoln, the actor John Wilkes Booth was in Cincinnati, performing at Wood’s Theater in Shakespeare’s “Merchant of Venice” and “The Taming of the Shrew.” Throughout the run, Booth was a frequent visitor to Grandpa Hawley’s newsstand, just two blocks south at Vine and Fourth. Years later, Hawley told the Cincinnati Post about Booth’s visits [28 April 1903]:

“He was in my store while here and I remember a conversation with him. I do not remember what we talked about in particular, but there was nothing to indicate that he had the least thought of perpetrating the dark crime with which his name is stained.”

By coincidence, James R. “Grandpa” Hawley also had a connection to Lincoln. Hawley first opened his business on Tuesday, 12 February 1861, and watched from the shop door as President-Elect Lincoln, on his way to Washington, was paraded down Vine Street to the Burnet House. Throughout the Civil War, Grandpa Hawley was the place to go for news of the conflict. Hawley told the Times-Star [10 January 1891]:

“That was in the war time, you know, and then the illustrated periodicals monopolized the sale, for in them were pictures of the generals and battles and the printed material dealt with the doings of the army.”

In fact, Hawley’s patrons often included those very generals themselves, picking up the latest weekly to read what was being said about the war. Generals Ulysses Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman famously mapped out the strategy to ensure a Confederate defeat in Parlor A of the Burnet House and gathered a lot of their information from Grandpa Hawley’s newsstand. He told the Post:

“I do not believe I ever saw them in uniform. Grant was not very talkative, but Sherman frequently started a conversation.”

Another regular military visitor to Hawley’s was Philip Henry Sheridan, whose triumph at the Battle of Cedar Creek was memorialized in Thomas Buchanan Read’s poem, “Sheridan’s Ride.” That poem was required reading for generations of American school children and the author, a Cincinnati resident, was also a frequent customer of Grandpa Hawley’s. It is not recorded whether poet and subject ever met at the Vine Street newsstand, but they might well have.

Vice President Andrew Johnson spent so much time at Hawley’s that the news vendor took to calling him “Andy.”

In addition to generals, politicians and poets, Grandpa Hawley’s shop was also a gathering place for the actors who trod the boards at Cincinnati’s theaters throughout the Nineteenth Century. Edwin Forrest was among the first Americans to gain distinction as a Shakespearian star. He frequently performed in Cincinnati and always stopped by to see Hawley, who recalled:

“In my mind I can see him now with his tragedy stride and hear his deep rumbling voice.”

In almost every interview he gave, Hawley mentioned Adelaide Neilson, whose fame as an actress almost equaled her fame as a great beauty.

“Neilson, the actress, has been here many times, and always used to pat the little newsboys on the head and give them an encouraging word.”

Hawley himself was something of a Cincinnati celebrity, mostly because of his enormous beard, which ran from his chin almost to his belt buckle. Most of the Cincinnati papers remarked about the “biblical” dimensions of his whiskers, rivaled only by those of Vine Street saloonist Andy Gilligan.

Many folks stopped by just to chat with Hawley, who was an especially entertaining raconteur, but most came for the news. In those pre-electric days, when “the media” meant print publications, Grandpa Hawley moved a lot of paper. He told the Times-Star that New York daily newspapers sold the most in his shop, followed by dailies from Chicago, St. Louis and Louisville. Among the weeklies, Harper’s and Leslie’s ran neck-and-neck, followed by the London Illustrated News. Some readers were quite dedicated to their favorite publication:

“One lady used to walk down from Walnut Hills every week to get the New York Ledger, because it would not be delivered to her until the morning following its arrival here. One day a Walnut Hills man who was a regular customer of mine asked me if I knew why he always took two copies of the New York Ledger. I told him I supposed he got one for a neighbor, but he said it was because he had two daughters and they were always squabbling about which should read it first, until, to keep peace in the family, he decided to give both a chance.”

Those were the days when multiple magazines appealed to every specialized interest. Hawley sold dozens of sports magazines, humor magazines, fashion magazines, science magazines and literary journals of contemporary thought like Atlantic Monthly and the North American Review – both of which are still published today. He carried most of the major periodicals published in German and French.

After 40 years in business, Grandpa Hawley found himself evicted from his landmark shop to make way for the construction of the Ingalls Building, the first reinforced concrete skyscraper in the world. Railroad magnate Melville E. Ingalls spent so much effort convincing city officials to allow him to build his revolutionary building that he gave little thought to the businesses he displaced.

Grandpa Hawley ended up relocating to the nearby Emery Arcade on the other side of Vine, but years of generosity caught up with him and bankruptcy was a real possibility. According to the Post:

“Everybody’s word goes with ‘Grandpa’ Hawley and were his customers so disposed they could carry away in overcoat pockets or under their arms several times as much as they paid for.”

At this dark moment, Hawley’s theatrical friends, accumulated over the decades, sprang into action and staged a benefit extravaganza for him at the Grand Opera House on 1 May 1903, raising more than $650 and saving the old man’s finances. It was a short-lived victory. Not quite a year later, Grandpa Hawley was dead. As he was laid to rest in Covington’s Linden Grove Cemetery, the Post [20 February 1904] eulogized:

“’Grandpa’ Hawley did not have an enemy in the world. For a lifetime he jogged along in an even, quiet way. He was honest and fair. He was never too busy to clasp hands warmly and talk entertainingly. He possessed a smile that was born of the natural kindness in his soul.”

[byneddiedingo]

Leslie Howard and Norma Shearer in Romeo and Juliet (George Cukor, 1936)

Cast: Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, John Barrymore, Edna May Oliver, Basil Rathbone, C. Aubrey Smith, Andy Devine, Conway Tearle, Ralph Forbes, Henry Kolker. Screenplay: Talbot Jennings, based on a play by William Shakespeare. Cinematography: William H. Daniels. Art direction: Cedric Gibbons, Frederic Hope, Oliver Messel, Edwin B. Willis. Film editing: Margaret Booth. Music: Herbert Stothart.

If Shakespeare's Juliet could be played, as it was in its first performances, by a boy, then why shouldn't she be played by 34-year-old Norma Shearer? Truth be told, I don't find Shearer's performance that bad: She lightens her voice effectively and her girlish manner never gets too coy. It also helps that William H. Daniels photographs her through filters that soften the signs of aging: She looks maybe five years younger than her actual age, if not the 20 years younger that the play's Juliet is supposed to be. I'm more bothered by the balding 43-year-old Leslie Howard as her Romeo, though he had the theatrical training that makes the verse sound convincing in his delivery. And then there's the 54-year-old John Barrymore as Mercutio, who could be Romeo's fey uncle but not his contemporary. In fact, Barrymore's over-the-top performance almost makes this version of the play a must-see -- we miss him more than we do most Mercutios after his death. Edna May Oliver's turn as Juliet's Nurse is enjoyable, if a bit of a surprise: She usually played eccentric spinsters like Aunt Betsy Trotwood in David Copperfield (George Cukor, 1935) or sour dowagers like Lady Catherine de Bourgh in Pride and Prejudice (Robert Z. Leonard, 1940). In the play, the Nurse rarely speaks without risqué double-entendres, but most of them have been cut in Talbot Jennings's adaptation, thus avoiding the ridiculous spectacle of Shakespeare being subjected to the Production Code censors. (Somehow the studio managed to slip in Mercutio's line, "the bawdy hand of the dial is now upon the prick of noon.") Some of the other pleasures of the film are camp ones, such as Agnes deMille's choreography for the ball, along with the costume designs by Oliver Messel and Adrian, which evoke early 20th-century illustrators like Walter Crane or Maxfield Parrish. No, this Romeo and Juliet won't do, except as a representation of how Shakespeare's play was seen at a particular time and place: a Hollywood film studio in the heyday of the star system. In that respect, it's invaluable.

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"YOUTH'S LONG RECORD LED ON TO THE PEN," Toronto Star. May 17, 1918. Page 18. --- Albert Griggs, 17, Sent to Dominion Prison for Theft of Letter From Mails. --- SMALLEST PENALTY ---- Young Fellow Fined for Playing "Peeping Tom" at Beverley St. Boarding School. --- Albert Griggs only 17, yet, diminutive, undisciplined, a victim of the temptations of the streets. His offences were - and the Crown numbered them against him with almost monotonous indifference - that, in company with Harry Cresswell, he had stolen a motor car from J. Cochrane and another from W. J Robinson; that he had, singly, broken into a shop at 103 Church street, and stolen therefrom some candies, etc. and that, most serious of all, he had stolen a registered letter, the property of the Postmaster General of Canada.

"He managed to get away with $200 in a remarkably short space of time," said Crown Attorney Corley. The boy himself maintained that $20 of the money were now in the hands of the Chief of Police at Port Hope. To all the other charges he pleaded guilty, and on the motor theft he completely exonerated his companion.

Harry Cresswell was discharged. Albert Griggs, shedding ineffectual tears at the fate before him, and looking vainly to his father for help. was sentenced to three years at Kingston penitentiary, the minimum allowed by law, for theft from the Post Office: to six months on the Jail Farm for stealing the autos: and to three months at the same place for the other offence.

Lucky William. W. Treble was merely taking his liquor home - some in a bottle, some inside of him. For the latter feature of the arrangement he was assessed $10 and costs, very, very well pleased, indeed, to escape a more serious penalty.

On a charge of stealing from the Canadian Express Co., Squire Milner, oldest of the "gang" who were up yesterday for the same offence, was remanded to-day because they found only one cap in his premises.

Absentees Came Back. To see his dying mother in Kansas City, R. R. Fitzpatrick absented himself two months from the 1st Depot Battalion. Then he returned and surrendered himself. An officer from Exhibition Camp confirmed the fact of the domestic circumstances.

"If his statements are true, I don't want to commit him." sald Magistrate Kingsford. Therefore he remanded the accused to go back with the military men.

Four other absentees, Edward Leclair, Geo. Paradee, W. E. Allen and P. F. Fitzpatrick, were remanded to go with the first draft.

A Sufficient Excuse. When Charles Brohman got married, he quit work. Court was not sympathetic that after several remands, it finally withdrew the charge of having no useful employment."

Bowed to "Superior Wisdom." It wasn't much that Austin Ross asked - just a remand for his client. Wm. C. Desks, who was accused of having no useful employment.

"Mr. Kingsford wants to handle all those cases himself; he thinks they require a man of superior brain," replied Squire Ellis.

"I only want a remand until Monday," persisted Mr. Ross. "I can't touch it," replied His Worship. emphatically. "I might do something wrong."

A Guilty Young Pickwick. Mr. Pickwick in his night gown never created more commotion in a ladies boarding school, than caused by those other mysterious visitants who climbed trees and fences and peeked through windows. after dark, at the Church of land boarding house on Beverley street. At the request of the nervous In- mates. Constable Scott mounted guard last night - and caught Edwin Booth right in the act. "Disorderly conduct," the crown called it. It wasn't Edwin's first trick of the kind, but he escaped with 12 and costs and a solemn warning.

Not Emphatically Drunk. "Drunk, but not with emphasis." Thus Herbert C. McGuire described his condition Squire lent him with fraternal mildness, and did not emphasis "costs" in connection with the $10 fine.

[AL: Griggs was an automobile mechanic apprentice. He was convict #G-692 at Kingston Penitentiary, and ended up working on the warden's gardens. There he escaped in 1920 with another inmate! Treble was an ex-convict - he had done three years starting in 1914.]

[sfc-paulchambers]

On this day in 1862, #AbrahamLincoln nominates Edwin Stanton as Secretary of War. Stanton would become one of Lincoln’s closest advisors, so perhaps it is unsurprising that he rushed to Lincoln’s side when the President was shot in April 1865. One observer wrote of Stanton’s reaction: “[He had] been a man of steel throughout the night, but as I looked at his face across the corner of the bed and saw the twitching of the muscles, I knew that it was only by a powerful effort that he restrained himself.” When Lincoln passed away, Stanton spoke, although his exact words have been the subject of dispute. One witness reported the comment as: “He belongs to the ages now.” After the President passed away, Stanton’s grief was “uncontrollable,” according to one soldier. Regardless, Stanton was in charge, at least for now. He’d already been at work throughout the evening, making sure witnesses were interviewed, sending telegrams to military officers, and giving orders to police. He seemed determined to find and punish the assassin. He was also already ready to conclude that a broader conspiracy was afoot, perhaps planned with the help of Confederate officials. After all, Lincoln hadn’t been the only victim that night. Secretary of State William Seward had also been attacked with a knife. Within days, investigators were making arrests. Several accused conspirators were in custody, but the actual assassin, John Wilkes Booth, was killed during the attempt to capture him. Stanton decided to try the captured conspirators in a military setting. Much of the public was outraged. A trial by civilian authorities would have provided more protection for the rights of the accused. Ultimately, all 8 defendants were found guilty, and 4 were sentenced to death. Stanton had apparently achieved his goal. FULL STORY: TaraRoss.com #TDIH #USHistory #History #CivilWar #throwback #FactoftheDay #ShareTheHistory Posted @withregram • @taraross1787 (at Columbia, Tennessee) https://www.instagram.com/p/CnXEIRXOo_l/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[tipsywench]

Here's a modern photo and a 1900s photo of The Players Club in NYC.

Opening its doors in 1888 to an exclusive and prestigious group of theater professionals as well as “the kindred professions of literature, painting, architecture, sculpture and music, law and medicine, and the patrons of the arts,” the Players was the first “members only” club of its kind in American history.

Founded by famed tragedian Edwin Booth (brother of John Wilkes Booth) along with an elite group of original members that included Mark Twain and General William Tecumseh Sherman, the Players Club has a lengthy and impressive theatrical history and has been the respite of quite a noteworthy cast of characters over the passing decades.

(source)

[theladyactress]

Anna Cora Mowatt and E.L. Davenport – Part I

Anna Cora Mowatt and E.L. Davenport – Part I

DAVENPORT, THE ACTOR Had she not taken on Edward Loomis Davenport as an acting partner in the fall of 1846, the tale of Anna Cora Mowatt’s professional and personal life would have unfolded in an entirely different manner. He not only served as an excellent co-star, but was a loyal friend for the rest of her years. Although E.L. Davenport’s name pops up frequently in these blog entries, I have…

[deadpresidents]

“The Evil That Men Do Lives After Them”: John Wilkes Booth’s Final Performance

"There is no sure foundation set on blood, No certain life achieved by another's death" -- William Shakespeare, King John Shakespeare killed Kings and Princes and lovers and warriors with beauty and artistry. With eternally evocative words as his lethal weapon, the bard snatched literary lives out of pages and off of stages in nearly every play that he penned. Sometimes he killed out of love, sometimes he killed out of hate, sometimes he killed for power, or because of weakness, or in spite of strength. When Shakespeare killed, however, he did it with purpose and poetry. In Shakespeare's work, murder wasn't simply committed -- it was composed and performed; and, in the centuries since that work was created, it has been left up to actors to breathe life into scenes of death. A good actor can convince the audience to believe; a great actor can convince himself. Contrary to what many people believe, John Wilkes Booth was neither the most famous nor the best actor in the United States when he assassinated President Abraham Lincoln in April 1865. Booth's father, Junius Brutus Booth, was probably the greatest actor in the world when he was at his best and when he stayed sober. Of the three sons (all of illegitimate birth) who followed Booth, who died in 1852, into the theater it was his second-eldest, Edwin, who was the most amazing to watch on stage. Edwin traveled the world and not only played all of the parts made famous by his father, but arguably did it better. An Edwin Booth performance was a mesmerizing experience for a theater-goer, and it made him a very wealthy, well-connected man. The eldest son, Junius Jr., was a talented actor, but never quite had his heart completely in the theater, despite his natural abilities. The youngest of the Booth sons, John Wilkes, was determined to be as great as his father and two brothers, but he lacked the talent that seemed instinctive with his father and inherited by his older brothers. John Wilkes Booth's determination and ambition, however, drove him to do things on stage that other actors wouldn't risk. While he wasn't the most famous or most talented actor in America, John Wilkes was widely considered the most handsome, and women swooned over his appearance, buying stereograph pictures and anything that captured the young actor's brooding appearance. If John Wilkes couldn't measure up to his father or his brothers when reciting his lines, his charismatic presence and remarkable physicality captivated crowds. Uniquely athletic, Booth would take tremendous risks on stage, performing stunts that stunned audiences and helped hide any defects in his acting ability.  If John Wilkes didn't play the roles as well as Edwin did, he tackled them with unparalleled energy and was certainly one of the most well-known names in American entertainment by the 1860s. Booth played a multitude of roles, but the role that he felt suited him best -- the role that inspired him in so many ways -- was that of Brutus in Julius Caesar. Booth saw Brutus in the same light as Marc Antony did in the closing lines of Shakespeare's masterpiece -- a patriot who risked everything to bring down a tyrant, and, as Antony said, "was the noblest Roman of them all". The Booths were from Maryland originally, a border state during the Civil War, but the two most visible members of the family -- Edwin and John Wilkes -- seemed to come from different worlds. Edwin was a staunch Unionist who lived in New York and was a friend to Presidents, Northern politicians, Union soldiers, and captains of industry. John Wilkes was an avowed secessionist and Southern sympathizer. When John Brown was hanged in Virginia in 1858, Booth dressed as a member of a Richmond militia group in order to get a front row seat at the abolitionist's execution. When the war started in 1861, John Wilkes was open about his support for the states which seceded and formed the Confederate State of America, and his vociferous opinions landed him in trouble in some of the Northern cities that he performed in. The relationship between Edwin and John Wilkes was never strong, and the younger brother nursed a deep jealousy for the more acclaimed (and far more wealthy) Edwin. Their opposing beliefs about the Civil War further endangered their relationship and, at one point, Edwin kicked John Wilkes out of his home in New York when John Wilkes insulted President Lincoln and praised the Confederacy. At some point, John Wilkes went from a sympathizer to an activist. Booth smuggled medicine to the Southern states and may have been involved in deeper operations as a member of the Confederate Secret Service. Booth's fame and active career in the theater was helpful to the cause, as he was able to travel throughout the country with relative ease. One thing that was clear about John Wilkes Booth is that he absolutely hated Abraham Lincoln.  The Booths were no strangers to Lincoln. More than anything else, Lincoln loved the theater, particularly Shakespeare, which he often read out loud to guests at the White House. Lincoln had seen Edwin Booth on numerous occasions, and on November 9, 1863 -- 10 days before he traveled to Pennsylvania to deliver the Gettysburg Address -- the President watched John Wilkes Booth as Raphael in The Marble Heart at Ford's Theatre, several blocks from the White House. Lincoln was impressed by Booth's performance, but one of Lincoln's companions that night, Mary Clay, daughter of Lincoln's Minister to Russia, remembered a portentous moment. On several occasions, Booth -- playing a villain -- uttered his lines with anger while seemingly shaking his finger at President Lincoln. Mary Clay recalled saying to the President, "Mr. Lincoln, he looks as if he meant that for you." Lincoln responded, "Well, he does look pretty sharp at me, doesn't he?" Booth reportedly refused an invitation to meet the President after the performance, but after Lincoln's young son, Tad, watched in awe as Booth energetically performed in another play, the future assassin gave the President's son a rose. A performance that Lincoln certainly would have enjoyed seeing took place on November 25, 1864 at Edwin Booth's Winter Garden Theatre in New York City. In a special benefit, the three sons of Junius Brutus Booth performed together for the first and only time. Edwin, Junius Jr., and John Wilkes teamed up to perform Julius Caesar, with the goal of raising money for a statue of William Shakespeare -- a statue that can be found in Central Park today. While Edwin took the plum role of Brutus and Junius Jr. played Cassius, John Wilkes played the role that would become most unlikely in hindsight: Marc Antony. During the performance by the Booth brothers, Confederate agents set fire to buildings around New York City, including one next to Edwin's theatre. After a momentary panic in the building, the audience was calmed down and the show went on. John Wilkes Booth had few acting roles left in his career, but by this point, he had decided that his final role would be Brutus.  By the time of the Winter Garden Theatre benefit featuring the Booth brothers, John Wilkes had already been conspiring to kidnap Abraham Lincoln in order to trade the President for a significant number of Confederate soldiers being held in Union POW camps. Booth’s audacious plan to capture the President of the United States in the midst of a bloody and brutal Civil War was devised during meetings with fellow conspirators such as Lewis Powell, John Surratt, David Herold, George Azterodt, Samuel Arnold, and Michael O'Laughlen at Mary Surratt's boarding house in Washington, D.C. When Lincoln was sworn in for his second term on March 4, 1865, Booth and some of his conspirators were in the crowd and can be seen in a photo of the Inaugural stand at the Capitol as Lincoln gave his Inaugural Address. Over the next two weeks, the conspirators looked for an opportunity to kidnap the President and hopefully turn the tide for the Confederacy.

On March 17, 1865, Booth and his gang planned to launch their operation when President Lincoln traveled to the Campbell Hospital on the outskirts of the nation's capital. Unfortunately for Booth, Lincoln's plans changed and the abduction plot fell through. The next night, Booth gave his final acting performance, as Duke Pescara in The Apostate, at Ford's Theatre.

••• "I have no words; My voice is in my sword" -- William Shakespeare, Macbeth Everything changed for John Wilkes Booth on April 9, 1865, as news reached Washington that Confederate General Robert E. Lee had surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. Two nights later, Booth was in a crowd celebrating at the White House and became enraged when he heard President Lincoln suggest in an extemporaneous speech that blacks would be given the right to vote. That fury multiplied when Lincoln said, "I have always thought 'Dixie' one of the best tunes I have ever heard. Our adversaries over the way attempted to appropriate it, but I insisted yesterday that we fairly captured it...I now request the band to favor me with its performance...[for] it is good to show the rebels that with us they will be free to hear it again." Booth took Lincoln's words as an almost personal affront. The abduction plan was off the table, but Booth instantly realized that he would kill Lincoln. In his mind, he would be Brutus slaying the tyrant Caesar. We know what happened next. Shakespeare killed with beauty and poetry -- deadly, 400-year-old lines that elicit timeless emotions. There was no beauty in what happened at Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865. President Lincoln sat in his box watching Our American Cousin. Booth slipped into the theatre -- his famous and familiar face was a passport for entry. The actor crept into the room behind the President and waited for an audience reaction that would mask his movement. As soon as the crowd laughed at a line delivered on stage a single gunshot rang out. A .44 caliber lead ball slammed into the back of Lincoln's head. Skull fragments carried by the the bullet sliced through the President's brain. Lincoln slumped forward, almost certainly brain dead already. Booth brandished a dagger, slashed Lincoln's guest in the Presidential box, Major Henry Rathbone, and performed one last leap on to the stage -- one last acrobatic move to stun an audience. However, in an unusual move for Booth, he stumbled, caught a leg in the flags draped in front of Lincoln's box, and landed awkwardly. Booth's tibia cracked and he limped off the stage, dragging his broken leg behind him. With fire in his eyes, the youngest member of the Booth acting family turned to the crowd, and with one last act of stagecraft yelled "Sic Semper Tyrannis!". The line wasn't part of a play; it was Virginia's state motto and it meant "Thus Always To Tyrants". Some witnesses remember hearing Booth add, "The South is avenged!". Lincoln was carried across the street and his 6'4" frame was laid diagonally on a bed in William A. Petersen's boarding house. The powerfully-built, 56-year-old President survived longer than most humans would survive a point-blank gunshot wound to the back of the head -- even with today's medical advancements. At 7:22 AM on April 15, 1865, Lincoln stopped breathing, and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton uttered the famous words, "Now, he belongs to the ages." Over the next 10 days, John Wilkes Booth rode through the war-torn countryside of Maryland and Virginia. Shooting pain from his broken leg made every step and every breath excruciating, even after the injury was set by Dr. Samuel Mudd. With his fellow conspirator David Herold, Booth hid from the largest manhunt in American History, as bloodthirsty Union troops, many just back from the battlefields of the Civil War, chased the man who killed the President that guided them through that crisis.  For 26-year-old John Wilkes Booth, there was a deeper pain. It wasn't just the broken leg, or the hunger, or the exhaustion of evading an entire army. It wasn't the lifelong envy of his more successful older brother, or the fact that his fellow conspirators failed in their assignments as Booth accomplished his. For Booth, who idolized Brutus and saw himself as the Southern, if not American version of Caesar's assassin, the pain was due to the fact that he wasn't being celebrated for removing a "tyrant". John Wilkes Booth was used to seeing his name on posters that advertised his appearance, but now, his name was on wanted posters offering a $100,000 reward for his capture. Even the South mourned the loss of Lincoln, who looked forward to a gentle reconciliation and reconstruction with the former Confederate States. Booth's assassination of the American President wasn't seen as a heroic act against a raging tyrant. Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederate States of America that Booth so deeply supported would later say that "Next to the destruction of the Confederacy, the death of Abraham Lincoln was the darkest day the South has ever known." Instead of Brutus, Booth was seen as one of the murderers of the the Scottish king Duncan, who told Macbeth: "I am one, my liege, Whom the vile blows and buffets of the world Hath so incens'd that I am reckless what I do to spite the world"

••• "Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage" -- William Shakespeare, Macbeth In his final days, as he was being hunted down in the woods of Virginia, and before he was cornered in a burning barn and shot to death, Booth came to the bitter realization that the assassination would not lead him to the glory he had always sought. As always, though, John Wilkes Booth felt that it wasn't his fault -- that it was the world that let him down. On the run, before he was killed, Booth scrawled a few lines in a diary that was found on him when the Union troops finally caught up to him on April 26, 1865: "Until today nothing was ever thought of sacrificing to our country's wrongs.  For six months we had worked to capture, but our cause being almost lost, something decisive and great must be done. But its failure was owing to others, who did not strike for their country with a heart. I struck boldly, and not as the papers say. I walked with a firm step through a thousand of his friends, was stopped, but pushed on. A colonel was at his side. I shouted Sic semper before I fired. In jumping broke my leg. I passed all his pickets, rode sixty miles that night with the bone of my leg tearing the flesh at every jump. I can never repent it, though we hated to kill. Our country owed all her troubles to him, and God simply made me the instrument of his punishment. The country is not what it was. This forced Union is not what I have loved. I care not what becomes of me. I have no desire to outlive my country. The night before the deed I wrote a long article and left it for one of the editors of the National Intelligencer, in which I fully set forth our reasons for our proceedings... After being hunted like a dog through swamps, woods, and last night being chased by gunboats till I was forced to return wet, cold, and starving, with every man's hand against me, I am here in despair. And why? For doing what Brutus was honored for? What made [William] Tell a hero? And yet I, for striking down a greater tyrant than they ever knew, am looked upon as a common cutthroat. My action was purer than either of theirs. One hoped to be great himself. The other had not only his country's but his own, wrongs to avenge. I hoped for no gain. I knew no private wrong. I struck for my country and that alone. A country that groaned beneath this tyranny, and prayed for this end, and yet now behold the cold hands they extend to me. God cannot pardon me if I have done wrong. Yet I cannot see my wrong except in serving a degenerate people. The little, the very little, I left behind to clear my name, the Government will not allow to be printed. So ends all. For my country I have given up all that makes life sweet and holy, brought misery upon my family, and am sure there is no pardon in the Heaven for me, since man condemns me so... Tonight I will once more try the river with the intent to cross. Though I have a greater desire and almost a mind to return to Washington, and in a measure clear my name -- which I feel I can do. I do not repent the blow I struck. I may before my God, but not to man. I think I have done well. Though I am abandoned, with the curse of Cain upon me, when, if the world knew my heart, that one blow would have made me great, though I did desire no greatness. Tonight I try to escape these bloodhounds once more. Who, who can read his fate? God's will be done. I have too great a soul to die like a criminal..." ••• "O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!" -- William Shakespeare, Hamlet

Cornered in a barn on Pat Garrett's tobacco farm in Port Royal, Virginia, John Wilkes Booth refused to surrender to the Union troops who had been hunting him for twelve days, even after the soldiers set fire to the barn and Booth's co-conspirator, David Herold, gave himself up. Limping around in the burning barn, a bullet fired by a Union soldier sliced through Booth's neck, paralyzing the assassin. Soldiers dragged him from the barn, but the wound was mortal. In the moments before he died, Booth asked to see his own hands because the bullet through his spinal cord had robbed him of the ability to move on his own. When a soldier lifted Booth's hands to his face, the 26-year-old actor who killed Abraham Lincoln mumbled his final words: "Useless! Useless!"

[histriones-blog]

Engraving of Edwin Booth as Hamlet, by William Hennessy.

[whatdoesshedotothem]

Saturday 15 July 1837

8 10

12 5

very fine morning F68° and breakfast at 9 10 and sat talking to A- till 10 – rainy morning – from about 10 or soon after – made out what John Booth had to pay – sundry bills – in and out with Mr. Gray – had had T. Greenwood Northowram blacksmith for Stump X Inn, and paid him his little bill – with Mr. G- planning new front home entrance laundry court etc – Robert Mann and co. had gone away this morning at ¼ time in consequence of the rain – back this afternoon – a minute or 2 with them getting up and planting bore when Mawson came – paid him for  meer jobbing (ornament under Mr. gray and of last month and beginning of this) and for Stump X Inn carting stones etc had just settled all this at 2 20 when Booth the mason came – and gave him a check no.146 in a/c and gave orders about the work – what men to be here and at the pen-trough – and what to be gone on with immediately – consented to let him let Little marsh for fear that he and had seen to do unfairly to take the job himself after getting estimates – Parkinsons’ estimate the lowest and I would rather he had the job than any of the rest if he can do it well and in time – while the old house (at Little marsh) is taken down i.e. during next week P- might help us here – begin the top terrace walling – that is after Monday next when the great stone will be set at the pen-trough the 2 masons Robert Sharpe and Amos Ambler and Stephen Mallinson cannot do the hay-barn-roof for less than 6/6 per square = about 20 squares = £6.10.0 and the sawing = about £2

the labourer William Green and another labourer (to be hired) might be enough  Reveals of windows Edward Waddington Rigging stones Joseph booth Robert Wharton and the led Edwin Booth

Laundry James Sharpe John ditto

Booth would not like to let the finishing of the hay barn – 2 wallers and lads another week would finish it – what remains is worth 1/. per rood less than the other part – then had Stephen Schofield blacksmith and paid him 4 bills for Shibden hall and Hilltop gates etc. and the gardeners’ account and Hipperholme quarry account and a little bill 1/3 for 5 horse shoe removes – then

SH:7/ML/E/20/0093

till 4 25 wrote all but the 1st six lines of today – out – with Robert Mann + 3 (Sam, Jack, and Michael) John – and Robert’s son James gone to hear Mr. Wortley speak at the piece hall – 2 or 3 showers – took shelter and then again at the box getting up and planting till 6 or after when the men went away – then out with Mr. Gray planning about the terraces, till came in at 6 55 – dressed – ready at 7 10 – Mr. Jubb here –says Hannah may go anytime – to go therefore on Friday next – Mr. J- staid till 7 ½ at which hour dinner – A- sickish and left the table just before dessert came – I went upstairs with her for a few minutes – then down again for 10 minutes or ¼ hour – A- had Mr. Washington’s man Berry who brought her some rents and me part of my cottage rents = £11.13.0 –

John  Druniston   6.6.0

John Oates  1.17.6 not paid

James Greenwood    17

Jonathan Taylor  18.0

Thomas Longbottom  3.12.0

Staups   11.13.0

with Mr. Gray planning how to do up the red room i.e. my aunt’s room – with A- ¼ hour till 10 ½ - she had had note tonight from Mr. Adam acknowledging the receipt of the 2/6 due to the trustees of Mr. Wadsworth and saying so many voters declined giving any answer it would be impossible to know the result of the election till it was over – wrote so far of this page till 11 55 – rainy morning – showery afternoon – thunder and lightning 2 or 3 times during the day – F54° at 10 ½ pm – A- had parcel tonight from Whitley’s containing note from Miss Rawson and book for little Mary (‘Evenings at home’)