The gypsy woman told my momma
Before I was born:
"You got a boy child's comin'"
"He's gonna be a bad one, that one"
"He gonna make all the ladies"
"Jump and shout"
"The whole wide world gonna wonder"
"What this all about?"
Posted on 04/15/2015 11:05:21 AM PDT by nickcarraway
What is “hmmmm”? It’s true.
I wonder if this author has ever heard of the New York Draft riots in 1863, where immigrant mobs attacked transplanted blacks because they feared their jobs were in jeopardy.
Interesting. He had to be referring to the confederacy.
Next we’ll hear he kissed babies and helped old women cross streets. He was a murdering coward.
In those days acting wasn’t looked on as a very reputable profession. Oddly enough neither was politics. Stranger still is that in many ways the two are a lot alike.
Yes, actors were looked down upon and the women treated like prostitutes. Of course, there were admired actors and actresses like Edwin Booth and Laura Keene. Edwin Booth founded The Players (a club) in order to improve their lives and their reputation. 125 years and it’s still going strong.
Honestly miss marmelstein, there are very few actors I ever thought were good actors and decent people. Truth is, the ones I truly admire are long gone. My favorite was Claude Rains. The epitome of the polished urban sophisticate.
Oh, jma! There’s a well-known story that he once knocked down a homeless baby while running on the way to post a telegram. He picked the baby up, kissed it, wiped away his tears and crammed his hands with money. Booth could be amazingly kind and good natured. He certainly turned to the dark side at the end of his life - he was mad and a very heavy drinker and obsessed with the Confederate cause.
The story I told you is relayed in Clara Morris’s memoir. She worked with him in The Marble Heart.
I’ve studied the Booth family for 30 years.
Booth was well-known at Fords Theater. But you’re right: the guard was not there.
The latter part of Booth you describe was the the real one, the angry drinker, trust me I know all about that dark heart of the human condition . Everything else in the light of day in ones heart, as it were , is just the ‘’down time’’ in between drinking bouts.
He’s a hero to some FReepers; we know that much.
Who?
The Lincoln-hating neo-Confederates.
What, you haven't noticed them???
He was also named for the British radical John Wilkes, who supported American independence and for whom Wilkes Barre Pa. was named. He also was the first one quoted in the following exchange,””Sir, I do not know whether you will die on the gallows or of the pox,” Wilkes is reported to have replied, “That depends, my lord, on whether I embrace your lordship’s principles or your mistress.”
These guys were an odd mix back then.
As I said, I’ve been studying the Booth family for 30 years. I hope this link works but if it doesn’t, just google Clara Morris. I’m not excusing his crime - it exploded in the south’s face. I am just telling you there was another side of his personality. This is why no one at first believed he could have done it.
http://www.authorama.com/19th-century-actor-autobiographies-5.html
Here's one - Patriot08
Booth saw himself as a patriot to the Confederate Cause—Remember—the war was still very much on. Jefferson Davis was still the president of the CSA with his new capital at Danville. Johnston was still in the field along with many other rebel leaders. Only Lee had surrended just days before the assassination. Confederate ships were still waging war at sea. These were confusing time and its hard for us to know what it was really like.
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