Edwin Booth's 179th Birthday Celebration at The Players

It was a beautiful, crisp, clear night this past November 13th in New York City. A perfect night to celebrate Edwin Booth’s 179th birthday at the private club Edwin founded on the last night of 1888─The Players. The Players was his longtime dream; it was a first-class sanctuary where actors and eminent men in other professions in business and the arts could informally meet and rub shoulders, and still is today. For many it was and is a home away from home. It was also the last place Edwin chose to make his home.

The Players continues to honor Edwin’s life and the ground breaking theatrical contributions he made to the American theatre alive today. The birthday celebration they held in his honor that night achieved just that. It commenced with carefully selected readings by Players members, moderated by the Master of Ceremonies David Staller: Edwin Booth’s Youth by his sister Asia Booth Clarke and William Winter. Read by Nichole Donje / A Booth Saves a Lincoln by Adam Badeau. Read by Tom Vinciguerra / Edwin Booth’s Letter to the people of the United States read by John Martello / The Curse of Rome by Laurence Hutton. Read by Jim Brochu / An excerpt from Joseph Jefferson’s inaugural speech as second president of The Players. Read by David Staller. Then they presented a touching, beautiful slideshow of Edwin through his life produced by Elizabeth Jackson.

Cathy Rowan, a Junius B. Booth member who resides in The Bronx, and I, the President of the JBBS and a volunteer At the Historical Society of Harford County were honored to be invited to the celebration and were warmly introduced to the members in attendance. We all made a candlelight excursion across the street into Gramercy Park and a laurel wreath was placed on Edwin Booth’s statue. There David Copeland read On Edwin Booth’s 104th Birthday-November 13, 1937, written by Player Edgar Lee Masters. An impromptu rendition of Happy Birthday to Edwin was sung by all. We then made our way back to The Players for champagne and hors d’oeuvres in The Grill Room.

Elizabeth Jackson, who produced the celebration invited Cathy and I to join her and her guests at her table. We had a great time getting to know each other and talking about Edwin and his legacy. I met many wonderful Players members and answered a lot of questions about The Junius B. Booth Society. It really was a wonderful, unique experience─made even more special in Edwin’s beloved The Players.

Later Cathy and I were delighted to tour the club and visit Edwin’s bedroom, preserved just as it was when he died in 1893. I would like to thank Elizabeth Jackson and John Martello, Director of The Players, for their hospitality and making us feel at home. It was a night to remember. Well done The Players!

Spirits of Tudor Hall Invites You to Join Us in the Adventure and Romance at Tudor Hall

Ever since we first organized in 2008, Spirits of Tudor Hall has been in the business of taking something old (Tudor Hall) and creating something new (our tours and our growing sense of team spirit). Not only do we work hard but we have fun as we work together to explore and share the history of Tudor Hall and the Booth family.If you enjoy “pitching in” and using your skills and knowledge to make things happen, Tudor Hall just might be the place for you. A few of the “jobs” currently available are described below. Take a look at the list. If you don't find anything that fits your skills and interests, feel free to write and contact us with your own job description.

If you wish to volunteer, please contact us with information about your skills, experience, and qualifications and explain how you can put them to work on behalf of Tudor Hall.

Storytellers
We invite anyone with a talent for storytelling to audition to bring to life the story of Tudor Hall and those who have lived there while guiding visitors through the house.

Oral Historians
There are many people in the community who have been associated with Tudor Hall over the years. It is important to collect and record the memories of these individuals. If you enjoy interviewing and photographing people and/or if you are skilled with a tape recorder or video camera and would like to help capture the oral history of Tudor Hall, please let us know.

Tudor Hall Speakers Bureau
To meet requests from community organizations and schools, Spirits of Tudor Hall needs people with a talent for public speaking to tell the story of Tudor Hall at local meetings and events and in local classrooms. Actors, re-enactors, and storytellers with experience at Tudor Hall may be interested in participating in community outreach of this kind.

There are no membership requirements or dues at the current time beyond participating in whatever way suits you best. However, we are proud to introduce the organizations that support Spirits of Tudor Hall. Memberships are available at: The Center for the Arts, The Historical Society of Harford County, and The Junius B. Booth Society. For more information about becoming a volunteer or member of any of these organizations, please call us at 443-619-0008 or spiritsoftudorhall@gmail.com.

The Gift of the Skull

Junius Brutus Booth was known for his acts of kindness. In "Booth Memorials. Passages, Incidents, and Anecdotes in the life of Junius Brutus Booth (the elder)" by Asia Booth Clarke, are a few examples:

Junius Sr. indulged his philanthropic desire unrestrainedly, and the particulars of some charitable visit or donation would frequently be disclosed to the family by the recipient.
My earliest recollection of my father is seeing him upon his knees, before a rough sailor, who had asked alms at the door. The poor fellow had a bad wound on his leg, which was suffering neglect, and my father brought him into the house and washed and bandaged the wound for him with the tenderest care.

These little deeds of kindness were almost daily occurrences. He thus sought to impress upon our minds these lessons of humanity to man and beast, more by his own acts than by precept. He delighted to seek out the destitute and unfortunate, and aid by his sympathy as well as his bounty.

It was on one of these errands of mercy that the horse thief, Fontainne, alias Lovett, was pointed out to him. Lovett was then confined in the Louisville jail, and it was remarked that he had no means of obtaining counsel, and my father, although being assured that his case was hopeless, sent him a lawyer and defrayed the expenses; for which kindness, when Lovett heard of it, he bequeathed him his head, desiring "that it should be given, after his execution, to the actor Booth, with the request that he would use it on the stage in Hamlet, and think when he held it in his hands of the gratitude his kindness had awakened."
The skull was accordingly sent to my father’s residence while he was absent from the city; and my mother, finding what a horrible thing had been left in her house, immediately returned it to the doctor to whom it had been entrusted for preparation and delivery. In 1857, the doctor, who had retained the skull, sent it to Edwin Booth, who used it in the grave-yard scene in "Hamlet" on several occasions, and afterward had it buried.

An Awkward Moment

As a boy, Edwin accompanied his father, Junius Brutus Booth, on his grueling acting tours in order to help his father make it onto stage when the curtain opened, and keep him from strong drink after the curtain fell for the night. Some of the situations Junius subjected his young son to at this time were comical.

In The Prince of Players—Edwin Booth by Eleanor Ruggles, is one such situation:

Edwin protected his father from intrusions. In Boston at the Albion, a dingy public house over an apothecary’s on the north corner of Beacon and Tremont streets, he was resting in their room when his father dashed in, whispered hoarsely, “Gould! Coming up! Say I’m out!” and dived under the bed.

Thomas Gould was a Boston sculptor. He worshiped Booth, of whom he had done a fine bust, but Booth thought him tiresome. Now Gould seemed astonished not to find his idol, whom he had seen sprinting upstairs. He and Edwin talked lamely until there fell a pause, which Booth misinterpreted.

“Is that damned bore gone yet?” he sang out from under the bed.

Happy Birthday to Junius Brutus Booth Jr.!

Happy Birthday to Junius Brutus Booth, Jr., born today in 1821 (December 22, 1821 – September 16, 1883.

As a member of the illustrious Booth family of actors, Junius Brutus Booth, Jr. was overshadowed not only by his father Junius, Sr. and brothers Edwin and John Wilkes, but by his wife Agnes, who was a successful actress in her own right.

Booth managed the Boston Theatre, Walnut Street Theatre, Winter Garden Theatre, and Booth's Theatre where his brother Edwin was the star attraction. Though a relatively undistinguished actor, Junius, Jr. was highly regarded for his performances as King John and Cassius in Julius Caesar, which he performed with Edwin as Brutus and John Wilkes as Mark Antony in 1864.[1]

Junius Brutus Booth, Jr., himself was briefly imprisoned in Washington, DC, after his brother assassinated Abraham Lincoln. At the time of the assassination, he was fulfilling an acting engagement in Cincinnati, Ohio. Even so, he was arrested and hurried by train to the Old Capitol Prison.

The Question of Edwin Booth's Birthday

Edwin Booth wasn’t sure of the exact date of his birth at the property of Tudor Hall. His mother and older brother Junius, Jr. disagree on the day he was born. In a letter to his daughter, Edwina, dated November 14, 1869 describes his dilemma:

My Own Daughter,
Your dear letter with the pretty book-mark (“I love you”) came safely last night, just in time. It seems there is some doubt as to the exact date of my arrival here. Grandma says I was born on the night of the great “star shower” in 1883, and insists that it was November 15; but Uncle June says he remembers well—both my birth and the “Star Shower” occurred on November 13, 1833. So you see, I do not know which is the day—for, although I was there, I was too young to pay attention to such weighty matters, and can’t remember much about it. However, your little present, which I shall always cherish, my darling, came in good season for either day…

Here’s what history says about the shower: The night of November 12-13, 1833, not only marks the discovery of the Leonid meteor shower, but it marks the actual birth of meteor astronomy. During the hours following sunset on November 12, some astronomers noted an unusual number of meteors in the sky, but it was the early morning hours of the 13th that left the greatest impression on the people of eastern North America. During the 4 hours which preceded dawn, the skies were lit up by meteors.

Edwin was also born with a caul (a membrane covering the head at birth). In the servants quarters, the wise old African Americans cackled delightedly. Consulting the lore of their African ancestors, they peered into the child’s future and predicted that because of his caul he would be lucky and “gifted to see sperrits.” It appears his brother Junius was right about the date.

The Edwin Booth Company Presents…

The world premiere of “The Edwin Booth Company Presents…” will take place at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater’s Greenhill Center of the Arts on Nov. 29.

Junior Jacob Lesh will play the lead.

“It is so exciting to originate a character,” Lesh said. “Not a lot of actors our age have that privilege. Even a lot of professional actors go their whole life without ever originating a character. The script is getting a lot of national attention, and we haven’t even performed it yet. It’s beyond words to say how incredible this whole experience is.”

Lesh stars as Edwin Booth, the lesser-known brother of the infamous John Wilkes Booth.

“Edwin Booth was known for being a fantastic actor,” Lesh said. “He’s credited as being the first actor to really bring forth naturalism onto the stage. He comes from this time period where there’s all this presentational acting, and he just kind of said, ‘Let’s throw that out the window and let’s do this natural form of acting instead.’”

Lesh did comprehensive research with the writer and director of the play, Whitewater Lecturer Angela Iannone, to try and better understand Booth.

“He really has a lot of credit to his name, but himself as a person, he’s a little more meek and shy,” Lesh said. “He really can’t express himself without use of the plays he’s in because he doesn’t know how to talk. Angela and I did extensive research and this is literally the guy who’s at the cast parties sitting in the corner all by himself because he can’t talk to other people. He’s just that nervous in social interactions.”

When asked to describe the play, Lesh had trouble summing it up in just a few words.

“Basically it’s about a man who is trying to fight to win the love of his life back while also dealing with his own self inflictions,” Lesh said. “He’s haunted by the memory of his lost father and is stressed over trying to make money for his company.”

The show may focus on Booth, but, as the title implies, his acting company plays a major role as well.

“It’s about his company members trying to put on this play and trying to be successful,” Lesh said. “When the leading lady falls ill, the only person who can take her place is Edwin Booth’s past love, Mary Devlin.”

Junior Ally Ruge plays Devlin, the strong willed female lead, opposite Booth.

Devlin is about 17 when this play takes place and she’s a love struck teenage.

“She’s very passionate in her views and wants to remain an actress, but Edwin wants her to give up that life because he doesn’t want to have to compete with her when they’re married,” Ruge said. “She’s very headstrong about her beliefs and part of the play is dealing with those issues between her and Edwin.”

Both Ruge and Lesh, along with the rest of the cast, have been rehearsing six days a week for the last month to ensure the play is tuned to perfection.

“I have a really good feeling that all of this hard work is going to pay off,” Lesh said. “I really think people are going to have a new perspective on the name of Booth.”

It hasn’t been all smooth sailing, but Lesh and company are giving it their all.

“It is a little bit difficult because we have a director who is also a professional actress,” Lesh said. “Angela is really good at what she does and she’s been working on this play for about three and a half years now. We don’t get her every day because she has to work from Wednesday to Friday. When she’s there on Monday and Tuesday, it’s extensive. We’ll be running things over and over again. There’s a lot of beautiful language in this play and it’s really important that we get every single word correct.”

The “Edwin Booth Company Presents…” opens at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 29 and runs until Dec. 3 at the Barnett Theatre in the Center of the Arts.

Additional information can be found on the Department’s website at http://www.uww.edu/cac/theatre/.

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