Junius Brutus Booth: Theatrical Prometheus

365 Pages·1992·7.63 MB·English

by  Stephen M. Archer

THEATER / BIOGRAPHY A
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In this, the fi rst thoroughly researched scholarly biography of British actor
Junius Brutus Booth, Stephen M. Archer reveals Booth to have been an
artist of considerable range and a man of sensitivity and intellect. Archer
provides a clear account of Booth’s professional and personal life and places him
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in relationship to his contemporaries, particularly Edmund Kean and William
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Charles Macready. N
From 1817 to 1852 Junius Brutus Booth toured throughout North Ameri- I
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ca, enjoying a reputation as the most distinguished Shakespearean tragedian on
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the American continent. Still, he yearned for success on the British stage, a goal
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he never attained. His public image as a drunken, dangerous lunatic obscured a
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private life fi lled with the richness of a close and loyal family. U
The worldwide fame assured for the Booth family of actors by John Wilkes T
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Booth’s bone-shattering leap from the President’s box had eluded Junius Bru-
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tus Booth throughout his lifelong exile in America. But from that event until
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today, no American family of actors has stimulated such scrutiny as the Booths.
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Eight years of research, pursuing Booth from Amsterdam to San Francisco,
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has resulted in an accurate, fascinating narrative that both records and illumi-
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nates the actor’s life. H

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Stephen M. Archer is a professor of theater at the University of Missouri. He h
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is the author of numerous articles about Booth as well as How Theatre Happens a
and American Actors and Actresses: A Guide to Information Sources. tr
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SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY PRESS e
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1915 University Press Drive e
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Mail Code 6806
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Carbondale, IL 62901
www.siupress.com
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UNIUS RUTUS OOTH
Printed in the United States of America
Theatrical Prometheus
ISBN 0-8093-3000-8 Southern
ISBN 978-0-8093-3000-3 Illinois
University Stephen M. Archer
Press
Cover illustration: Robert Sully, Portrait of Junius Brutus Booth,
copyright ©1992, The Art Institute of Chicago. All rights reserved.
Archer_cvr_CDDC.indd 1 7/19/10 9:22 AM
JUNIUS BRUTUS BOOTH

JUNIUS BRUTUS BOOTH
Theatrical Prometheus
STEPHEN M. ARCHER
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY PRESS
CARBONDALE AND EDWARDSVILLE
Copyright © 1992 by Stephen M. Archer
Paperback edition copyright © 2010
by the Board of Trustees,
Southern Illinois University
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
13 12 11 10 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Archer, Stephen M.
Junius Brutus Booth : theatrical Prometheus / Stephen M. Archer.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Booth, Junius Brutus, 1796–1852. 2. Actors—United States—
Biography. I. Title.
PN2287.B6A88 1992 91-25752
792'.028'092—dc20 CIP
[B]
ISBN-13: 978-0-8093-3000-3 (pbk.)
ISBN-10: 0-8093-3000-8 (pbk.)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8093-1766-0 (cloth)
ISBN-10 0-8093-1766-4 (cloth)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8093-8592-8 (ebook)
ISBN-10: 0-8093-8592-9 (ebook)
Designed by Kyle Lake
Frontispiece: Photographic portrait of Junius Brutus Booth.
Courtesy of the Hampden-Booth Theatre Library at the Players.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
To Mary Ann Holmes-
the Soul of the Maryland Booths

Contents
Illustrations
IX
Acknowledgments Xl
Introduction X111
1 : A Gentleman of the Name of Booth 1
2 : Showdown at Old Drury 21
3 : This England 47
4 : An Object ofInterest 68
5 : The Fire Must Bum 105
6 : An Apparent Heir 144
7 : No More in This World 177
8: Coda 224
Appendix: Recorded Engagements 243
Notes 279
Works Cited 327
Index 339

Illustrations
Following page 82
Early drawing ofJtmius Brutus Booth, artist unidentified
Johannes Je1gerhuis watercolor
Edmund Kean
1817 drawing ofJunius Brutus Booth
Junius Brutus Booth as Fitzharding in The Curfew
William Charles Macready
Junius Brutus Booth as Posthumus in Cymbeline
Junius Brutus Booth as Guiscard in Adelgitha
Mary Ann Holmes Booth
Four pages from Junius Brutus Booth's account book
Junius Brutus Booth as Hamlet
Following page 198
Junius Brutus Booth's log house
Edwin Forrest
Junius Brutus Booth as Richard III
Junius Brutus Booth as Brutus
Junius Brutus Booth
Mary Ann Holmes Booth
Rosalie Ann Booth
Edwin and Junius Brutus Booth
Young Edwin Booth
John Wilkes Booth
Junius Brutus Booth as Richard III
IX