Now, I’m not typical, in that I’m pretty much familiar (unhealthily so) with such ancient theatrical stars as Rosina Vokes, Maurice Barrymore and the great Julian Eltinge. I was wondering, though, what 19th-century stage stars’ names are still familiar to the Average Gazookis on the Street? John Wilkes Booth, sure, but not for his acting. Sarah Bernhardt and Lillian Russell . . . Is that pretty much it?
Has anyone today–short of other stage historians–heard of people once classed as Superstars? Famous worldwide? People who inspired riots and suicides and cigars bands? The biggest of the big: Adah Isaacs Mencken? Charlotte Cushman? Edwin Forrest? Joseph Jefferson? Helena Modjeska? Richard Mansfield? Maude Adams?
On the one hand, I’ve heard of (from your list in the second paragraph) Cushman, Forrest, Jefferson (even own the footage of him as Rip van Winkle), Mansfield, and Adams.
Of the ones mentioned in your post, I’m only familiar with the three you mention in the title. Of those three, the only one I kinda know anything about is Sarah Bernhardt (though I know of E. Booth and M. Barrymore through family connections).
I’m familiar with Adah Isaacs Mencken, but primarily for her infamous and highly lucrative carnal adventures. The Divine Sarah was the subject of a borderline obsession with me for years- I wanted to make a musical of her life when I was a teenager. I’m also familiar with her circle (Pierre Bert on, Felix Sully, the bastard gigolo Lou Tellegen, etc.) and enemies (most notoriously probably Eleanore Duse). The Booths I know of course (I just finished reading Asia Booth’s memoir of her brother Wilkes and Edwin of course is the subject of at least two really good biographies).
Joseph Jefferson I know basically because Tony Randall named his son after him (along with Tomasso Salvini, who I also know solely because of this child- his sister Julia Laurette is also named after obscure actors). Russell I know mainly because of her affair with Brady and Evelyn Nesbit, the first reality star arguably, because of reading Ragtime as a kid and then following up in investigation. I had an interest for a while in an opera singer named Adelaide Kemble (don’t ask why), Lillie Langtry was an interest for a while (yes, it started with the Judge Roy Bean movie), an actress named Julia Dean (whose many smitten fans included Brigham Young, who allegedly married her in a by proxy ceremony when she died) and of course some of the ancient greats from Mnester to Theodora. As a Lincoln conspiracy buff I read a good bit about Laura Keene (who was a pretty interesting character in her own right, and damned to play that same role for the rest of her life because everybody wanted to see her that to connect to the tragedy [the actor playing Asa would pause for a short reflection at the “sockdologizing old mantrap” line- morbid] and nobody would come see her in other plays).
Generally speaking, though, it’s difficult to be that interested in an artist whose art is totally evaporated. We have some grainy flickers of Bernhardt but we can’t hear her act the part, and Keene and Dean and Langtry may as well have been fictional characters. It’s like reading about the sculptures made by Phidias, the last one destroyed in the sack of C’nople 1204= his name is synonymous with greatness but we have to take their word for it. Sad really. The original writ on water greatness.
Not only do I know Edwin Booth, my best friend is related. OK, she’s not, but she tells people she is (same last name), and when we went to NYC a few years ago we had our picture taken with the Edwin Booth statue.
Of the others on your list I’m familiar with Bernhardt, Russell, Mencken, Cushman, Modjeska and Mansfield. Maude Adams, I’ve heard the name (apart from it’s sounding like Octopussy’s Maud Adams) but other than confusing her with Maude Allen I couldn’t comment.
To the list of now-obscure former superstars I’ll add Lillie Langtry. Beloved of Edward VII and conqueror of Judge Roy Bean, one of the greatest beauties of her day.
I was going to bring up Langtry, what with MY love of obscure royalty and the connections!
Does Evelyn Nesbit count? She was a Gibson Girl and a showgirl before she married crazy ass millionaire Henry K. Thaw, who would later shoot Stanford White on her behalf. I wrote my thesis paper on the case. She’s also considered by many historians to be the first super model.
I’ve run across references to Bernhardt fairly often in my recreational reading. I’ve heard of Langtry here and there. The Barrymore name I only recogize because of his (later?) relatives (John and Ethel?).
I did not remember Edwin Booth’s name, though I did know that JW came from a theatrical family. I just recently learned that John Wilkes was named for a British publisher who persisted in putting out pro-American-Independence materials during the revolutionary war era.
P.S. As an indication of the mindshare Langtry has with me – I first saw just her last name in this thread, which provoked two simultaneous thoughts: first name Lillie, and that tent revival preacher played by Burt Lancaster. Which pretty much instantly resolved in my mind to “No, Lillie Langtry and Elmer Gantry.” But mine is often a homophonic memory.
I like Maude Adams
I like Maude Adams
I like Maude Adams
I read somewhere that trivia is catagorized as passive, active and resisitive information penetration, given the individual’s taste and socialization. For instance, a normally socialized person, whose personality was formed at a high shcool where emphasis was placed on sports, would be open to passive penetration from popular culture of sports trivia.
In costrast, warped malcontents like me resist knowing about one area of trivia and actively geek out into other areas.
Then there’s collateral trivia: last Thursday I watched more ESPN than in my entire life, becuse it had a movie about Roger Bannister, the doctor/runner who broke the four minute mile. I only watched to see if the writers would include the part where Bannister misdiagnoses Anthony Burgess with a brain tumor, and Burgess starts writing in a frenzy to provide an income for his soon-to-be widow. The average runnign enthusiast, who otherwise resistant to literary trivia, might be passively familiar with A Clockwork Orange, and would learn how it was caused to be written.
There was an interesting segment on Nesbit on a recent episode of the sometimes-slagged PBS show The History Detectives. Worth catching in repeats IMHO. There’s also a movie on the Thaw murder case, The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing, which I’ve not seen. But it stars Joan Collins, which could be a strike against it. No idea how historically accurate it is.
I don’t even know if he was a superstar when he performed. And we will never know how well he performed. But the name Richard Burbage comes to mind simply because he would play the first Hamlet, King Lear, Othello and Macbeth.
. . . where else would a randomly chosen group not only hnave heard of these people but be able to discourse on them? This all came about because last night I was reading an obit of Duse (oh, right, like you weren’t!) and it said something like, “Her name will live on for 1,000 years,” and I thought, “hmmm, it’s only about 80. Wonder if anyone remembers her?”
Oh, I thought of two others: Jenny Lind and Tom Thumb, both still generally known, thanks to the efforts of Mr. Barnum. How about the French actress Rachel–is it just me who knows the name? And in New York at least, the name of Charles Macready and Edwin Forrest live on because of the Astor Place riots they inspired in 1849.
Notes: Technically, Theda Bara was a 20th-century film star, and Evelyn Nesbit a 20th-century, ummm, cause celebre. But I of all people would be the last to fault anyone for having heard of Theda Bara, and extra points for spelling “Nesbit” correctly! Maurice Barrymore was indeed the father of Lionel, Ethel and John, and handsomer than ten John Barrymores on toast. And Maude Adams had it all over Maud Adams for looks, in my book.
