Tom Taylor (4) (1817–1880)

Some of us knew that when President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on the evening of April 14, 1865, at Washington, D.C. 19s Ford 19s Theater, he was in the middle of watching a play called 1COur American Cousin. 1D Until this past week, I had not read that play, and knew only a few tidbits about it. This book is divided into three parts: an introduction by Welford Dunaway Taylor that looks at the history of the play and of the day that led up to Lincoln 19s murder; the play itself, which had been written in 1851 by Englishman Tom Taylor; appendices including cast lists and a poem from a May 1865 issue of the British periodical 1CPunch 1D remembering Lincoln and explicitly regretting the merciless fun the magazine had made of Lincoln for the previous four to five years.

The publication of 19th century theater lore reminds us that much of this lore, though it was well-known at the time, is lost to us today. There are few records of the mid-19th century aside from the written ones that no one would have any reason to consult today. Even a fan of live theater can get little of what he wants out of a dry account of a stage performance that occurred a century before his own birth.

Still, it is interesting to know what the play was about, how it came to be performed the day of the assassination and what impact the play had on popular culture of its day both before and after it came to be associated with Lincoln 19s death.

The surprise history of the play is that after it was sold to a London producer in 1851, it was not performed in England before it was performed in America. The rights to the play went to an American actor named Joshua Silsbee who also never performed it. The playwright then regained control of the play but sold it to another American actor-producer named Laura Keene. Keene was not too keen on putting it on but since she had paid $1000 for it she felt she had to. It was performed in New York in 1858, actually became a hit and was performed in London for the first time in 1861. The Ford Theater production appears to have included only Keene from the original New York cast.

Welford Taylor, the editor of this edition believes that Lincoln had seen the play before. (So banish any thought that his not seeing the play to its end overshadowed the tragedy of his death.) Indeed, there is some mystery about why Lincoln went to that play. Originally, he planned to take General U.S. Grant to see 1CAladdin 1D at the Grover Theater, but on the day of the play, he decided to go the 1COur American Cousin 1D instead. Possibly he thought that Grant might enjoy that more than 1CAladdin, 1D but, if so, that consideration was rendered moot when the general informed the president that he urgently needed to be in Philadelphia and could not stay in Washington another night. There is evidence that the Lincoln 19s considered scrapping the whole idea of going to a show, but the afternoon newspapers had already published the news of the president 19s attendance at the Ford. Apparently, Lincoln did not want to disappoint the public, so he went anyway. (The Lincoln 19s son, Tad, went with his tutor to see 1CAladdin, 1D however.)

Naturally, the newspaper story also alerted actor John Wilkes Booth to the Lincoln 19s theater plans. For anyone by some chance not aware of it, Booth was the one who shot the president in the back of the head while he was watching the play. The theater was the perfect venue for this assassin. He knew the Ford very well and also knew most of the people who worked there. When he arrived at the entrance that night, a theater employee named James Buckingham tried to take his ticket. Booth had none, but he said, 1CYou don 19t need a ticket [from me], Buck 1D and was let in. (From this we can see why security measures against gate-crashers must not be taken lightly.)

The reconstruction of the play is not so straightforward as you might think. The publication of plays as their authors intended them is a modern convention. More often in the history of theater, the text of a play was kept secret for as long as possible so that only the company authorized to perform it could do so according to the authentic version. Add to that the fact that 1COur American Cousin 1D was drastically rewritten by its American production company. It was actually turned from a melodrama with comic relief into a comedy with a melodramatic plot base. The minor character Lord Dundreary was transformed into the character everyone remembered and raved about, thanks to the brilliant comic actor Edward A. Sothern who first played the role and came to own it. (He was, however, not in the play that Lincoln saw, although it is certain that E.A. Emerson played it Sothern 19s way as audiences had come to expect.)
This edition of the play also makes a point of presenting dialogue as it was ad libbed on the night of the assassination. There are two ad libs that are known to have been inserted for the president 19s benefit. These are noted in this text. The first occurred when the Lincoln 19s arrived nearly half-way through the Act 1, Scene 1. The character 19s were discussing whether or not everyone got a joke. Emerson 19s line was, 1CShe don 19t see it. 1D At which point Laura Keene said, 1CAnybody can see that, 1D and she indicated the Lincoln 19s in their box next to and just above the stage where they were being seated at that moment. A little later, in Act 2, Scene 2, the actress M. Hart said her line, 1CI am afraid of the draft here, 1D referring of course to the cold air her character supposedly experienced. Immediately, Emerson ad libbed, 1CDon 19t be alarmed; there is no more draft, 1D referring to the fact that the Civil War had just ended and there was no more military conscription.

Then it was just halfway through Act 3, Scene 2, while actor Harry Hawk was shouting after characters who had just walked offstage, when Booth fired the fatal shot. He knew the play and that, at that moment, Hawk would be the only actor on stage and that he would be shouting. After shooting the president, Booth leaped onto the stage 14which could have been easy, but he snagged one of his spurs on the bunting on the president 19s box so that he broke a leg on the stage. Booth cried out 1CSic semper tyrannus, 1D Latin for 1CThus to all tyrants. 1D Then he rushed backstage in spite of his injury, slashing the orchestra conductor with a knife on the way. He went out the back door and into the alley where he had a horse waiting for him. Booth managed to escape to Virginia, but he was hunted down and killed ten days later. Several men and women were convicted of conspiring with Booth, and they were subsequently hanged.

The text of the play raises some problems. There are many places where 1Cbusiness 1D is indicated, meaning that the actors do some nonverbal gags that we can sometimes guess but other times cannot. Also, there are a few places where stage directions are clearly wrong. A speaker might address two or more other characters separately within a single speech, but, in one instance, the character Mary, should be addressed first, but she is instead addressed second. In another instance, the stage directions are a bit confusing with Lord Dundreary sitting on Georgina 19s lap just before she is supposed to go down stage.

Finally, in my edition, there seems to be a missing illustration. 1CBritannia Sympathizes with Columbia 1D by British artist John Tenniel is mentioned on page 100 but is nowhere to be found. But much of this book is about the attitude of the British toward Americans and vice versa. That is what the play is about, and that is what Civil War brought forth as the British first sided with the Confederate States and criticized Lincoln, but finally regretted the bad relations between the United States and Great Britain. The kicker is that Tom Taylor, the author of 1COur American Cousin, 1D the play Lincoln was watching on the night of his assassination, was on the staff of 1CPunch, 1D the British magazine that had been so critical of Lincoln, and which so publicly represented the change in British sentiment when news of the assassination reached Britain. Taylor subsequently became the editor of 1CPunch. 1D It would have been even neater if the ode to Abraham Lincoln published in 1CPunch 1D and reprinted in this book had been by Taylor, too, and there have been those who suggested that this was so; however, the editor of this book quotes a reliable source as attributing the poem to Shirley Brooks, a different future editor of the magazine.… (más)

I was dreading this because most of the reviews are quite negative. But I found that, with a little imagination, it isn't all that bad. The humor is definitely of the physical sort (hence the need for an imagination) and has equal fun with the Backwoodsy American and the Posh British cousins. Not great, but not mud either. I feel a little better now knowing that the movie that pictures Lincoln laughing before he was shot might have been accurate. *

* I know. Accuracy versus my feelings. A tough battle, as it is for most people.… (más)