Ira Aldridge: The African Roscius (Rochester Studies in African History and the Diaspora)

306 Pages·2007·3.31 MB·English

by  Bernth Lindfors

Bernth Lindfors, professor emeritus Ira Aldridge—a black New Yorker—
was one of nineteenth-century Europe’s
of English and African literatures at
greatest actors. He performed abroad for
the University of Texas at Austin,
forty-two years, winning more awards,
is the author of several books on “Simply remarkable. An extraordinary conjunction of honors, and official decorations than
African literatures and the editor contemporary accounts and recent reflections that brings any of his professional peers. Billed as
of Africans on Stage: Studies in Aldridge alive for his time and ours.” the “African Roscius,” Aldridge
developed a repertoire initially consisting
Ethnological Show Business (1999).
—James Gibbs, University of the of Shakespeare’s Othello, melodramas about
West of England, Bristol slavery, and farces that drew on his ability
Contributors: Cyril Bruyn to sing and dance. In mid-career
Andrews, Nikola Batuši, Philip he began experimenting with a variety of
“This is a truly comprehensive coverage of the life and
A. Bell, Keith Byerman, Ruth white roles. By the time he began touring in
career of Ira Aldridge, a true pioneer who blazed a trail Europe he was principally a Shakespearean
M. Cowhig, Nicholas M. Evans,
for African American artists to seek in Europe the fame actor, playing such classic characters as
Joost Groeneboer, Ann Marie
and acceptance that eluded them in their own country. It Shylock, Macbeth, Richard III, and King
Koller, Joyce Green MacDonald, Lear, as well as Othello and Aaron the
deserves to be widely read, especially by anyone interested
Herbert Marshall, James J. Napier, Moor (in Titus Andronicus). He traveled
in African American transatlantic migrations and the
Krzysztof Sawala, Gunner Sjögren, widely, performing in more than two dozen
history of race relations in Europe.” countries, many of them in Eastern Europe,
James McCune Smith, Hazel
and his frequent public appearances made
Waters, Stanley B. Winters —Oyekan Owomoyela, Ryan Professor of African
him the most visible black man in the
Literature, University of Nebraska
world by mid-nineteenth century.
“I will value this book most for its inclusion of three very Today Aldridge tends to be a forgotten
figure, seldom mentioned in histories of
scarce nineteenth-century memoirs of Aldridge, and for
British and European theater. Because his
its newly translated versions of twentieth century critical
career demanded constant touring, he never
articles. Scholars of mid-nineteenth-century British and
remained in one major city long enough to
European social history will also value this collection, for establish a lasting reputation. More a comet
the story of Aldridge’s acceptance—and the limitations than a fixed star, he therefore shines less
brightly now in theater history, lost amidst
on that acceptance—in England and Europe, is very
more familiar exemplars of
revealing.”
theatrical brilliance.
—George A. Thompson, author of A Documentary
This collection restores the luster to
History of The African Theatre (Northwestern University
Aldridge’s reputation by examining his
Press, 1998)
extraordinary achievements against all
odds. The early essays offer biographical
information, while later essays examine his
critical and popular reception throughout
the world. Here, too, are analyses of
Aldridge’s performances in some of his
most famous roles, as well as surprising
new information about his private life.
Othello, the Moor of Venice, Taken together, these diverse approaches to
by James Northcote, 1826. Aldridge offer a fuller understanding and
Image © Manchester Art Gallery, heightened appreciation of a remarkable
man who had an exceptionally interesting
Manchester England
life and a spectacular career.
00a_FMatter_i-xii_12 5/10/07 5:12 PM Page i
Ira Aldridge
00a_FMatter_i-xii_12 5/10/07 5:12 PM Page ii
Rochester Studies in
African History and the Diaspora
Toyin Falola, Senior Editor
The Frances Higginbotham Nalle Centennial Professor in History
University of Texas at Austin
(ISSN: 1092–5228)
A complete list of titles in the
Rochester Studies in African History and the Diaspora,
in order of publication, may be found at the end of this book.
00a_FMatter_i-xii_12 5/10/07 5:12 PM Page iii
Ira Aldridge
The African Roscius
EDITED BY BERNTH LINDFORS
UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER PRESS
00a_FMatter_i-xii_12 5/10/07 5:12 PM Page iv
Copyright © 2007by the Editor and Contributors
All rights reserved.Except as permitted under current legislation, no
part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system,
published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted,
recorded, or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission of the copyright owner.
First published 2007
University of Rochester Press
668Mt. Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620, USA
www.urpress.com
and Boydell & Brewer Limited
PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP123DF, UK
www.boydellandbrewer.com
ISBN-13: 978–1–58046–258–7
ISBN-10: 1–58046–258–8
ISSN: 1092–5228
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ira Aldridge, the African Roscius / edited by Bernth Lindfors.
p. cm. — (Rochester studies in African history and the
diaspora, ISSN 1092-5228 ; v.28)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-58046-258-7 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 1-58046-258-8
1. Aldridge, Ira Frederick, d. 1867. I. Lindfors, Bernth.
PN2287.A457I73 2007
792.02'8092--dc22
[B]
2007015443
A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library
This publication is printed on acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America.
00a_FMatter_i-xii_12 5/10/07 5:12 PM Page v
00a_FMatter_i-xii_12 5/10/07 5:12 PM Page vi
Lithograph of Ira Aldridge by Nicholas Barabás, 1853 (by permission of the
Austrian Theater Museum, Vienna)
00a_FMatter_i-xii_12 5/10/07 5:12 PM Page vii
Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
Part One: The Life
1 Memoir and Theatrical Career of Ira Aldridge, the African Roscius 7
London: Onwhyn (n.d., but ca. 1848)
2 Ira Aldridge (1860) 39
James McCune Smith
3 Men We Have Known: Ira Aldridge (1867) 48
Philip A. Bell
4 “Nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice”: 50
New Biographical Information on Ira Aldridge
Bernth Lindfors
5 Ira Aldridge’s Swedish Wife 68
Gunner Sjögren
6 “African Tragedian” in Golden Prague: Some Unpublished 73
Correspondence
James J. Napier and Stanley B. Winters
7 A Garland of Love Letters 79
Cyril Bruyn Andrews
00a_FMatter_i-xii_12 5/10/07 5:12 PM Page viii
viii ❧ contents
Part Two: The Career
8 Ira Aldridge’s Fight for Equality 97
Hazel Waters
9 Ira Aldridge in Manchester 126
Ruth M. Cowhig
10 Acting Black: Othello, OthelloBurlesques, and the Performance 135
of Blackness
Joyce Green MacDonald
11 Ira Aldridge: Shakespeare and Minstrelsy 157
Nicholas M. Evans
12 “Mislike me not for my complexion ...”: Ira Aldridge in Whiteface 180
Bernth Lindfors
13 Ira Aldridge as Macbeth and King Lear 191
Herbert Marshall
14 Creating the Black Hero: Ira Aldridge’s The Black Doctor 204
Keith Byerman
15 The First American on the Zagreb Stage 216
Nikola Batuši´c
16 A Heartwarming, Radiant Othello in the Netherlands, 1855 222
Joost Groeneboer
17 Ira Aldridge’s Performances in Meiningen 234
Ann Marie Koller
18 “Othello’s Occupation’s Gone!” 243
The African Roscius in Poland, 1853–67
Krzysztof Sawala
Notes on Contributors 267
Index 271
00a_FMatter_i-xii_12 5/10/07 5:12 PM Page ix
Illustrations
Frontispiece Lithograph of Ira Aldridge by Nicholas Barabás, 1853
(by permission of the Austrian Theater Museum, Vienna)
Figures
1.1 Ira Aldridge of the Theatre Royal Covent Garden [commonly 22
known as the African Roscius,] in the character of Othello,
artist unknown (by permission of the British Library)
2.1 Ira Aldridge as Othello, lithograph by Ferdinand Zelinka, a 44
reverse image of which appeared in Anglo-African Magazine
2, no. 1(January 1860) (editor’s collection of black theatrical
ephemera)
4.1 Marriage certificate of Ira Aldridge and Margaret Gill (by 54
permission of the City of London, London Metropolitan
Archives, and Reverend Dr. Perry Butler, Rector of the
Parish Church of St. George, Bloomsbury)
8.1 Ira Aldridge as Zanga in The Revenge(by permission of the 102
Illustrated London NewsPicture Library)
8.2 Ira Aldridge as Aaron in Titus Andronicus (published in 116
Tallis’s Drawing Room Book of Theatrical Portraits, Memoirs and
Anecdotes. London and New York: John Tallis & Co., 1851)
9.1 James Northcote’s portrait, Head of a Negro in the Character of 131
Othello(by permission of the Manchester Art Gallery, UK)
10.1 Unsigned letter to Miss Munro, No. 9Vine Street, West- 141
minster, written on the back of a playbill advertising Ira
Aldridge’s performances at Caledonian Hall, Dingwall,
Scotland, on May 1, 1840(by permission of the Folger
Shakespeare Library)