Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination: The Untold Story of the Actors and Stagehands at Ford's Theatre

by Thomas A. Bogar

Overview

John Wilkes Booth is known for one thing—assassinating America's sixteenth president, Abe Lincoln. But what don't we know? Who helped him—and who tried to stop him? Thomas A. Bogar reveals a thrilling narrative behind the cast and crew of Ford's Theatre and their relations with the infamous actor in Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781621573203
Publisher:	Skyhorse Publishing
Publication date:	03/23/2015
Series:	Civil War Collection
Edition description:	First Trade Paper Edition
Pages:	377
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 4.30(d)

About the Author

Thomas A. Bogar, Ph.D., has taught theatre history, dramatic literature, and theatre production for forty years, most recently at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland. In addition to Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination, he is the author of a biography of nineteenth-century actor-manager John E. Owens (2002) and American Presidents Attend the Theatre (2006). He is the recipient of two National Endowment for the Humanities summer fellowships and served as a judge for Washington's Helen Hayes Theatre Awards. He lives in Silver Springs, Maryland.

Table of Contents

The Forty-Six Actors, Managers, and Stagehands xiii

Note about Theatrical Terms xvii

Preface xix

Chapter 1 "Is John Booth Crazy?" 1

Chapter 2 "A Hotbed of Spies and Seditious Plots" 9

Chapter 3 "It Is a Lottery, This Profession of Ours" 31

Chapter 4 "Our American Cousin" 53

Chapter 5 "The Handsomest Man in Washington!" 71

Chapter 6 "Have You Got the Key?" 87

Chapter 7 "I Guess I Know Enough to Turn You Inside Out" 103

Chapter 8 "Burn the Damned Place Dow!" 117

Chapter 9 "One of the Last Places to Which a Good Man Should Go" 135

Chapter 10 "Dreadful Uncertainty" 157

Chapter 11 "Ignorance and Innocence" 179

Chapter 12 "Good Bye. Sometimes Think of Me." 199

Chapter 13 "Actors, in Order to Live, Must Go On with Their Business" 219

Chapter 14 "To Open All My Wounds Afresh" 241

Chapter 15 "The Merest Shadows of Truth" 263

Epilogue: "Walking Shadows" 275

Acknowledgments 293

Notes 297

Bibliography 329

Index 353

Editorial Reviews

Dr. Bogar's scholarship is original and impeccable. With stunning clarity, this vivid narrative shines a light into the shadows and behind the scenes of the most resonant crime in American history. Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination is an indispensable resource for understanding the width, breadth and scope of the tragedy at Ford's Theatre.

writer/producer of Killing Lincoln and Band of Bro Erik Jendresen

"Dr. Bogar's scholarship is original and impeccable. With stunning clarity, this vivid narrative shines a light into the shadows and behind the scenes of the most resonant crime in American history. Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination is an indispensable resource for understanding the width, breadth and scope of the tragedy at Ford's Theatre." ---Erik Jendresen, writer/producer of Killing Lincoln and Band of Brothers

From the Publisher

2013-09-23
A convoluted detective story regarding the night of Abraham Lincoln's assassination. What will strike modern readers while spooling through this complex account of the details of employee whereabouts at Ford's Theatre during the hours leading up to the assassination is how shockingly little security there was and how much everybody in the company had to drink. Maryland-based theater director, teacher and author Bogar (American Presidents Attend the Theatre: The Playgoing Experiences of Each Chief Executive, 2006, etc.) displays enormous knowledge of theater craft and players' repertoire, such as that by featured actors Laura Keene and her company starring in Our American Cousin on that particular night, a corny comedy that was a great favorite of Lincoln's. John Ford, owner and manager of the theater, had several theaters in the works, in Richmond, Baltimore and Philadelphia, and was known for his antipathy to the Union as well as his showcasing of promising talent John Wilkes Booth in numerous classical roles (Booth's pro-Union brother Edwin avoided playing at Ford's). Not only was the theater suspected as a "hotbed of spies and seditious plots," but Booth was allowed free range of the place, picking up his mail, loafing about during performances and between stints at neighboring bars. On this Good Friday, the president's party was to include Mrs. Lincoln and General and Mrs. Grant (although the Grants ended up not attending), throwing the theater into a tizzy of excitement and preparation--e.g., procuring furniture for the presidential box and selecting special music. Bogar painstakingly rehearses each and every actor, manager or stagehand, many of whom knew Booth well, for a run-through of the horrendous shooting and escape and delineates how individual versions varied hugely and would determine important legal consequences in a court of law. Detail-dizzying, creaky and sometimes absorbing.

Kirkus Reviews