Booth's Theatre, New York, Christmas Night, 1871. Edwin Booth Lawrence Barrett F. C. Bangs • D. W. Waller John W. Norton Nelson Decker Frederick Bernard Frederick Monroe J. Rooney Augustus W. Fenno • . J. P. Deuel David C. Anderson • Henry Hogan G. H. Harris John Taylor F. Intropidi • 6 Edwin Booth's presentment of "Julius Cæsar" was one of the most impressive spectacles ever seen upon the stage. First given on Christmas night, 1871, and continued until March 16, 1872, the tragedy was kept before the New York public for twelve weeks, and it had eighty-five consecutive representations. On February 19, 1872, J. B. Booth, Edwin's elder brother, succeeded Lawrence Barrett as Cassius. On March 4 Edwin Booth assumed Cassius and William Creswick appeared as Brutus. On March 11 Creswick played Cassius, Bangs assumed Brutus, and Edwin Booth presented Antony. Thus, in the course of the run, Edwin Booth was seen in all three of the great characters of the tragedy. Booth retired from Booth's Theatre in 1873, and the theatre finally passed out of his hands in 1874. Booth's Theatre, New York, Jarrett & Palmer, Managers, December The tragedy, on this occasion, was performed until April 1, 1876, and it had one hundred and three consecutive representations. Jarrett & Palmer managed Booth's Theatre from May 1, 1874 (they did not open it till August 15), to April, 1877. Their revival of "Julius Cæsar" was made with the scenery that Booth had provided, but they added, at the end, a funeral pyre, which originally had been used to conclude their setting of "Coriolanus," at Niblo's Garden. Booth's Theatre stood on the southeast corner of Twenty-third Street and Sixth Avenue, New York. It was opened on February 3, 1869, with "Romeo and Juliet"-Edwin Booth playing Romeo, and Mary " McVicker, afterwards Mrs. E. Booth, playing Juliet-and it was finally closed, with the same play, Mme. Modjeska presenting Juliet, on April 30, 1883; and subsequently it was demolished to make way for shops. One of the most beautiful performances of Brutus ever given was that of John McCullough, which was first seen in New York, at Booth's Theatre, May 24, 1878. The present writer witnessed, recorded, and reviewed all the performances above mentioned, at Booth's Theatre, of "Julius Cæsar." His comments on the one hundredth representation of the play, with Davenport and Barrett in the cast, may appropriately be reproduced here : The acting showed no signs of indifference or decline. Mr. Barrett, Mr. Davenport, Mr. Bangs, Mr. Levick, Mr. Weaver, Miss Wells, and Miss Rand (they are all dead now, 1899, except Mr. Bangs) bore the parts with which they have become identified, and bore them ' with untired spirits and formal constancy.' There was a melancholy grace, a sad abstraction, in the mood in which Mr. Davenport interpreted Brutus, which made him very pathetic as a type of nobleness foredoomed to ruin, and it seemed that he finished every part of the embodiment with more than commonly precise tints of truth. There was a touching vein of regret in the attitude toward Cæsar, and much vigor of imagination in the awful ghost scene. Mr. Barrett more and more shows himself to be almost a spiritualized intellect. He pervaded the play like the indomitable and remorseless figure of Fate, and he presented Cassius with such subtlety of thought, such power of intellectual passion, such vigorous and sonorous eloquence, and such force of identification and spontaneity as could not and did not fail to command the warmest admiration and sympathy. Mr. Bangs also partook of the excitement of this interesting occasion, and gave Antony with vehement spirit. At the end of the ghost scene, Mr. Davenport, Mr. Barrett, Mr. Bangs, and Mr. Levick were called before the curtain, and speeches were given by each of them. Mr. Barrett spoke of the run of 'Julius Cæsar' as 'glorious to our stage, complimentary to our public, and grateful to the actors.' Mr. Davenport was facetious as well as serious. Mr. Levick modestly spoke the line from 'Hamlet,' 'I am poor even in thanks, but I thank you.' There was a loud call for Mr. J. H. Tooker (the acting manager), but he did not appear. A ship of flowers, laden with a harp, was presented to Lawrence Barrett.' Music Hall, Cincinnati, Ohio, Dramatic Festival, April 30, 1883. Louis James James E. Murdock • H. A. Langdon F. C. Mosley B. G. Rogers H. C. Barton F. Little Homer Cope M. Willett C. W. Vance Marie Wainwright Gould, in "The Tragedian," mentions a performance of Cassius, by Junius Brutus Booth, Edwin's father, given in Boston, in or about 1837, with Edwin Forrest as Antony: * * * "The noble head, the mobile features, the spare figure of Booth gave him a singular external fitness for the part. His Cassius was signalized by one action of characteristic excellence and originality. After Cæsar had been encompassed and stabbed by the conspirators, and lay extended on the floor of the senate house, Booth strode right across the dead body and out of the scene, in silent and disdainful triumph." This "business" was adopted by Edwin Booth when he played Gloster; he used to stride over the corpse of Henry VI, whom he had just killed. The reader is referred to my Life and Art of Edwin Booth, for an estimate of Booth's embodiments of Brutus, Cassius, and Antony. Edwin Booth and Lawrence Barrett formed a professional alliance in the summer of 1886, when the former actor was visiting the latter, at his sea-side home, in Cohassett, Massachusetts. The alliance was suggested by Barrett. The first Booth and Barrett season began on September 12, 1886, at Buffalo, N. Y., but Booth and Barrett did not act together, under this new compact, till the season of 1887-88. Barrett was the manager, and he traveled with a company of his own. "Julius Cæsar" was presented by Booth, at Buffalo, to begin the season. Mr. John A. Lane, Mr. Benjamin G. Rogers, Mr. Owen Fawcett, Mr. Edward J. Buckley, Mr. Hanford, Miss Minnie Gale, Miss Gertrude Kellogg, Miss Elizabeth Robins, and others were in the company. When at length the two stars joined their forces, Booth played Brutus and Barrett played Cassius, as they had done when at Booth's Theatre, in 1871-72. This alliance continued, and it was a source of much pleasure to the public, till the death of Barrett, -to the deep and lasting grief of many friends, -on March 20, 1891. Booth died, universally lamented on June 7, 1893. In the season of 1889-90 the beautiful Mme. Modjeska was associated with Booth. This is one of the casts of "Julius Cæsar" as given by Booth & Edwin Booth Lawrence Barrett John A. Lane Benjamin G. Rogers M. C. Stone Frederic Vroom Beaumont Smith W. H. DeWitt Charles Koehler Walter Thomas |