THEATRE HISTORY BUFFS! Part 2 of 2 on American theatre before the Civil War, with the usual teaser and the link - cheers all! One of the most interesting of the touring stars was Junius Brutus Booth, who had a decent career in theatrical centers as well as on tours that took him as far as gold-rush California. Booth was the first major star to play San Francisco. Like Booth and Cooke he was also big drinker, and subject to fits of madness as well, often on stage! One of the many stories of about the unreliable actor concerns his performances of Richard III, who of course must die in battle so that the play can come to a close. Booth was at times known to go more than a wee bit crazy during the fight with Richmond and battled the unsuspecting other actor right off the stage into the wings, sometimes out into the street, before company members stopped him and reminded him that he must allow himself to be vanquished by Richmond. He would then say something like “Right you are!” And the fight would head back to the stage where he would finally meet his end. JB Booth was more famous for his sons. Edwin, who often traveled with his father and whose increasingly difficult job it was to keep his father under control, became the greatest American actor after the Civil War. Broadway’s Booth theatre is named for him. And Edwin’s brother John Wilkes, also an actor, is of course infamously known as the assassin of Abraham Lincoln. heironimohrkach.blogspot
Posted on: Wed, 20 Nov 2013 12:49:45 +0000
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