*JOSEPH JEFFERSON AGNES BOOTH RARE 1872 RIP VAN WINKLE THEATRE PROGRAM*

Description

A rare large original May 1872 Boston Theatre program for the great Joseph Jefferson and Agnes Booth in Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle. produced by Junius Brutus Booth Jr. Four pages. Dimensions ten and a half by eight inches. Light wear and staples at left margin otherwise good. See Joseph Jefferson, the Booth family, and Agnes Booth's extraordinary biographies below.
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From Wikipedia:
Agnes Booth
(
October 4, 1843 – January 2, 1910), born
Marian Agnes Land Rookes
, was an
Australian
-born
American
actress and in-law of
Junius Brutus Booth
,
John Wilkes Booth
, and
Edwin Booth
.
Although there are no records of Agnes Booth's birth or her family's residence in Australia,
[2]
by her own account she was born in
Sydney
,
New South Wales
. She migrated to
California
with her family in 1858, at the age of about 14.
She made her US debut in early 1858 as Agnes Land, performing with her sister Belle at Maguire's Opera House, San Francisco, attracting attention and gaining recognition and managing a season of the Metropolitan theatre in Detroit. In 1861 she married actor Harry A. Perry in San Francisco, but was widowed in 1862.
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
In 1865 she moved to
New York
where she appeared at the
Winter Garden Theatre
.
[6]
As Agnes Perry, in 1866 she joined the
Boston Theatre Company
, of which she was a member for several years. In 1867, she was married to
Junius Brutus Booth, Jr.
and she performed as Agnes Booth thereafter.
At the height of her popularity reviews of her performances were effusive. In 1874, the
News
described her as "the most finished and effective emotional actress at present on the metropolitan stage."
[1]
In 1889,
Belford's Magazine
wrote of another "great triumph" by Agnes Booth in
Captain Swift
. "For painstaking attention to detail, nicety of intonation, and powerful expression, Agnes Booth is in the front rank of leading ladies. We have seen her in many society dramas, and in each she has shown a charming appreciation of all the requirements... The mingled expression of shame, suffering and maternal love in Agnes Booth's face during [one] scene is one not soon to be forgotten.
[7]
In 1878 she played Madeleine Renaud in the
Union Square Theatre
's production of "A Celebrated Case," the program noting that she had "kindly undertaken this part in order to strengthen the cast." From 1881 to 1891, she was with the
Madison Square
Company. After 1891, she went to
Europe
, then returned to the
United States
where she resided in the artist community of
New Rochelle, New York
and resumed her work on
Broadway
in nearby
New York City
. Booth gained fame for her role in the melodrama
The Sporting Duchess
(
The Derby Winner
by
Cecil Raleigh
) along with fellow actress and New Rochelle neighbor
Cora Tanner
.
[8]
Junius Booth died in 1883, and in 1885 she married John B. Schoeffel, manager of Boston's Tremont theatre. Her last major performance was in
L'Arlesienne
in 1897.
[
The
Booth family
was an American theatrical family of the 19th century. Its most famous and well known members were
Edwin Booth
, one of the leading actors of his day, and
John Wilkes Booth
, who assassinated
Abraham Lincoln
.
The patriarch was
Junius Brutus Booth
, a
London
-born lawyer's son who eventually became an actor after he attended a production of
Othello
at the Covent Garden theatre. The prospects of fame, fortune, and freedom were very appealing to young Booth, and he displayed remarkable talent from an early age, deciding on a career in the theatre by the age of 17. He performed roles in several small theaters throughout England, and joined a tour of the Low Countries in 1814, returning the following year to make his London debut.
Booth abandoned his wife and their young son in 1821 and ran off to the United States with Mary Ann Holmes, a London flower girl. They settled on some 150 acres in Harford County near Baltimore and started a family; they had 10 children, six of whom survived to adulthood.
[1]
[2]
Junius Sr. and Edwin toured in California during the
Gold Rush
. Edwin bought an interest in the
Winter Garden Theatre
at 667 Broadway in
New York City
together with his brother-in-law
John Sleeper Clarke
. The brothers John Wilkes, Edwin, and Junius Brutus, Jr. performed there in the play
Julius Caesar
at a benefit in 1864, the only time they were seen together on a stage, playing Mark Antony, Brutus, and Cassius, respectively.
Members
The Booth Family gravesite,
Green Mount Cemetery
Junius Brutus Booth
(1796–1852) brought his
mistress
Mary Ann Holmes, who bore him 10 children, to the United States.
He also wrote many letters in fits of drunken anger and madness to President Andrew Jackson threatening assassination. He requested that two prisoners who had been sentenced to death for piracy, named De Ruiz and De Soto, be pardoned, else: "I will cut your throat whilst you are sleeping." This letter would later be recanted by Junius, stating, "May god preserve General Jackson and this happy republic."
[4]
Junius Brutus Booth Jr.
(1821–1883) was married to
Agnes Booth
. Junius Jr. never achieved the same fame as his brothers, but his third wife Agnes was popular.
Their son Sydney Barton Booth (1877–1937) was an actor well into the era of modern film
[5]
Edwin Thomas Booth
(1833–1893) came to be the foremost American Shakespearean actor of his day. He founded
The Players
, a
New York City
actors' club which continues to the present day.
Edwin's grandson Edwin Booth Grossman was a painter of some note.
Asia Frigga Booth
(1835–1888) married John Sleeper Clarke, an actor/comedian who was briefly imprisoned in the aftermath of the assassination. They then emigrated to Britain, where he became a successful theatre manager.
Creston Clarke
[6]
and Wilfred Clarke,
[7]
sons of John and Asia, were noted actors in their day.
John Wilkes Booth
(1838–1865) was a popular young star in less serious fare than his brothers.
A
Confederate
sympathizer during the
American Civil War
, during a play attended by
Abraham Lincoln
, Booth took advantage of his access to the theatre to invade the President's box and
assassinate
the President. He was killed 12 days later by
Union
soldier
Boston
Corbett.
Joseph Jefferson III
, commonly known as
Joe Jefferson
(February 20, 1829 – April 23, 1905), was an American actor. He was the third
actor
of this name in a family of actors and managers, and one of the most famous of all 19th century
American
comedians. Beginning as a young child, he continued as a performer for most of his 76 years. Jefferson was particularly well known for his adaptation and portrayal of
Rip Van Winkle
on the stage, reprising the role in silent films.
After 1865, he created no other major role and toured with this play for decades.
Jefferson was born in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
.
[1]
His father, Joseph Jefferson, Jr., was a
scenic designer
and actor and his mother an actress. He appeared onstage early in life, often being used when a play called for "a babe in arms". His first recorded appearance was at the Washington Theatre in
Washington, D.C.
where he appeared in a benefit performance for the
minstrel
Thomas D. Rice
.
[2]
Jefferson was twice married: at the age of 21 in 1850, to actress Margaret Clements Lockyer (1832–1861), who died young after bearing their four children. After Jefferson returned to the United States after the end of the Civil War, he married again in 1867 to Sarah Warren. She was the niece of British-American actor
William Warren
.
Early career
[
edit
]
Jefferson as the young
Rip Van Winkle
In 1833 at the age of four years, Jefferson was carried on stage at the Washington theatre in a bag by an actor named Thomas D. Rice. He put Jefferson alongside him in black face and dress with Rice performing his well-known character "Jim Crow" and little Joseph as Little Joe.
[3]
In 1837 now age eight, Joseph performed at the Franklin theatre in New York City with his parents as a pirate. After the end of the 1837-1838 season, his parents moved with Joseph, his brother Charles Burke, and his sister Cornelia to Chicago.
[4]
There they performed in the young city's first resident company, the Chicago Theater, at the rough-hewn
Sauganash Hotel
. Joseph sang comic songs, played bit parts, and performed the role of the Duke of York.
[5]
His father died when he was 13, and young Jefferson continued acting and helping to support the family. Both Jefferson and Burke performed continuously, and the entire family toured in what was then considered the American West and South. Traveling theatre to theatre, Jefferson performed and worked everywhere in between Boston to Charleston as far as Chicago. The family led the lives of "Strolling Players", essentially itinerant actors.
[6]
At one point they followed the American army from 1846-1848 during the
Mexican–American War
.
[2]
Jefferson learned to perform in a variety of space, for instance in the dining rooms of country hotels, without any stage or scenery. He put together makeshift footlights by mounting tallow candles on a strip board nailed to the floor.
[7]
It was not until after he returned to New York in 1849 that Jefferson began to earn some critical success and more financial rewards.
[8]
After this experience, partly as actor, partly as manager, he won his first pronounced success in 1858 as Asa Trenchard in
Tom Taylor
's
Our American Cousin
at
Laura Keene's Theatre
in New York. This play was the turning-point of his career, as it would be for the actor
E. A. Sothern
. Jefferson revealed a new spirit in
comedy
, at a time when actors were long used to a more artificial convention. He also portrayed
pathos
in the part.
Other early parts included Newman Noggs in
Nicholas Nickleby
, Caleb Plummer in
Dot
(an adaption of
The Cricket on the Hearth
), Dr. Pangloss in
George Colman the Younger
's
The Heir at Law
, Salem Scudder in
The Octoroon
, and
Bob Acres
in
The Rivals
. The actors created this part beyond what Sheridan appears to sketch.
Jefferson as the old Rip Van Winkle, 1896
In 1859, Jefferson made a dramatic adaptation of
Washington Irving
's story of "
Rip Van Winkle
", drawing from older plays. He acted it with success in
Washington, D.C.
, with
Sophie Gimber Kuhn
playing the role of Lowenna.
[9]
Moves to Australia and London
[
edit
]
In 1861 due to his failing health and the death of his wife, he moved to San Francisco and then sailed to Australia.
[10]
[11]
He arrived at
Sydney
in the beginning of November 1861, and played a successful season. He performed in and produced
Rip Van Winkle
,
Our American Cousin
,
The Octoroon
, and other plays. He opened in Melbourne on March 31, 1862, and had a most successful season extending over about six months. He continued to act there and in
Tasmania
.
After spending four years in Australia, Jefferson sailed to London. There he met
Dion Boucicault
, who revised
Rip Van Winkle,
turning it into "a pronounced success and [it] ran for one hundred and seventy nights."
[12]
With opening night on September 5, 1865 at the
Adelphi Theatre
in London, Jefferson portrayed what would become one of the most celebrated characters of the 19th-century stage.
[13]
Later years
[
edit
]
Jefferson returned to America in August 1866. He continued acting in
Rip Van Winkle
for 40 years, creating no new character except for minor ones. He was known for this single character, and admired for his success in London and Australia.
[14]
As John Maguire wrote in 1909, "It was then that America greeted the return of the wanderer, proud of the victory of an American actor in an American play in foreign lands. This fame added to the glory of his country, both at home and abroad…"
[15]
Returning to America, Jefferson made it his stock play, making annual tours of the states with it, and occasionally reviving
The Heir at Law
in which he played Dr. Pangloss,
The Cricket on the Hearth
(Caleb Plummer), and
The Rivals
(Bob Acres). He was one of the first to establish the traveling troupes who superseded the old system of local stock companies.
Jefferson also starred in a number of films as the Van Winkle character, starting in the 1896
Awakening of Rip
. This is held in the U.S.
National Film Registry
. Jefferson's son Thomas followed in his father's footsteps and played the character in a number of early 20th-century silent films. Joseph Jefferson made several recordings, all of material from
Rip Van Winkle
.
Jefferson essentially created no new character after 1865, except for minor parts. He was known as a one-part actor. The public never wearied of his one masterpiece. Francis Wilson wrote in 1906, "He was Rip and Rip was he."
[16]
Jefferson was rewarded by the theater community with being elected lifetime president of
The Players Club
.
[17]
In 1869 Jefferson bought a place called Orange Island in
New Iberia, Louisiana
. There he built a large home.
[18]
The site is on a peninsula on
Lake Peigneur
; the peninsula became known as Jefferson Island in his honor.
[19]
Jefferson died from
pneumonia
on April 23, 1905 at his home in
Palm Beach, Florida
.
[20]
Legacy
[
edit
]
Joseph Jefferson as Dr. Peter Pangloss by
John Singer Sargent
Jefferson's name continues to live on through the
Joseph Jefferson Awards
Committee in Chicago which offers awards in recognition of excellence of Chicago's Equity and non-Equity theaters and their productions. Jefferson Island in
Mashpee, Massachusetts
, which was once known as Stayonit Island, is named for him.
[21]
The Joe Jefferson Players, a theatre playhouse founded in Mobile, Alabama in 1947, took their name from Jefferson.
[22]
His former home on Jefferson Island, the
Victorian
-era
Joseph Jefferson Mansion
(built 1870) is now listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is operated via private ownership but is open to the public. Surrounding the home is the
Rip van Winkle Gardens,
20 acres of gardens which was rebuilt in the 1950s through the 1980s and contains a 550 year old oak tree that
Grover Cleveland
once slept under.
[18]
[23]
[24]
Jefferson's son
Thomas L. Jefferson
(1856-1932) was a noted actor. He occasionally played the Rip Van Wrinkle character, including in some silent feature films.
The writer
Joseph Jefferson Farjeon
, son of his daughter Margaret Jefferson (1853–1935), was named after him.
He is also referenced in the musical and film
Shinbone Alley
. The character Tyrone T. Tattersall claims to have played Joeseph Jefferson's beard when his prop beard fell off during a performance of Rip Van Winkle.