Booth's Stairs - Printable Version

Booth's Stairs - Printable Version

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Booth's Stairs - RJNorton - 03-21-2017 04:21 AM

Many thanks to Bill Binzel for sending this photo which he entitled Booth's Stairs. The photo is from the set of Ragtime, which is now playing at Ford's Theatre.

RE: Booth's Stairs - Gene C - 03-21-2017 09:10 AM

Is the rocking chair Lincoln sat in, in the right spot?

RE: Booth's Stairs - L Verge - 03-21-2017 09:21 AM

(03-21-2017 09:10 AM)Gene C Wrote: Is the rocking chair Lincoln sat in, in the right spot?

Does not appear to be to me. Perhaps we have another mystery to solve? Lincoln was actually seated in Box 8, and Booth didn't even have to walk in the door to fire his close shot... That's why Rathbone didn't see Booth until the deed was done. It was Rathbone in Box 7.

RE: Booth's Stairs - Thomas Kearney - 03-21-2017 09:46 AM

That is likely where Ms. Harris sat. The angle Bill took the picture at does not show the Lincoln rocker. But you can see the original chair Mary Lincoln occupied.

RE: Booth's Stairs - Gene C - 03-21-2017 11:24 AM

Perhaps I am confusing the red chair at the left corner of the Washington portrait as the Lincoln rocker.
Thanks Thomas

RE: Booth's Stairs - L Verge - 03-21-2017 12:03 PM

(03-21-2017 09:46 AM)Thomas Kearney Wrote: That is likely where Ms. Harris sat. The angle Bill took the picture at does not show the Lincoln rocker. But you can see the original chair Mary Lincoln occupied.

I don't remember that Clara Harris sat on an upholstered chair. I believe she was on a straight-back, just like Mrs. Lincoln. Rathbone was on a settee. However, I just went here - https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p=photo+of+presidential+box+at+ford%27s+theater&fr=yfp-t&imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fngm.nationalgeographic.com%2F2015%2F04%2Flincoln-funeral-train%2Fimg%2F03-fords-theatre-presidential-box-670.jpg#id=33&iurl=http%3A%2F%2F3.bp.blogspot.com%2F-_u7QOOqYIkU%2FT3wvfVT5WMI%2FAAAAAAAABBw%2F3AGGu3Ikq64%2Fs1600%2FLincoln_box.png&action=click

It does show an upholstered chair on that side. The problem that I see is that the chair has arms. If Clara sat in such a chair, it would have been a lady's chair, meaning no arms in order to accommodate her hoop skirts. Arms on chairs make skirts fly up and give an unladylike view of one's petticoats...

RE: Booth's Stairs - Anita - 03-21-2017 12:34 PM

So was it Spangler who moved the stairs in place? That's why he couldn't hold Booth's horse.

RE: Booth's Stairs - RJNorton - 03-21-2017 01:36 PM

I am picturing the State Box with Lincoln and wife sitting in box 7, and Clara Harris and Major Rathbone sitting in box 8. Is this correct?

RE: Booth's Stairs - L Verge - 03-21-2017 01:43 PM

(03-21-2017 12:34 PM)Anita Wrote: So was it Spangler who moved the stairs in place? That's why he couldn't hold Booth's horse.

Great comment - and sense of humor.

(03-21-2017 01:36 PM)RJNorton Wrote: I am picturing the State Box with Lincoln and wife sitting in box 7, and Clara Harris and Major Rathbone sitting in box 8. Is this correct?

So far as I know, with Clara sitting on a straight-back chair just to the right of Mrs. Lincoln and the post that separated the two boxes. In some of those photos that I referred to, there even seems to be more upholstered things than just the rocker and the settee.

RE: Booth's Stairs - JMadonna - 03-21-2017 04:39 PM

(03-21-2017 09:10 AM)Gene C Wrote: Is the rocking chair Lincoln sat in, in the right spot?

I think the negative got reversed

RE: Booth's Stairs - L Verge - 03-21-2017 06:28 PM

(03-21-2017 04:39 PM)JMadonna Wrote:
(03-21-2017 09:10 AM)Gene C Wrote: Is the rocking chair Lincoln sat in, in the right spot?

I think the negative got reversed

The photo link that I posted shows modern views of the box. The ones I'm looking at have the rocker in the right location (Box 7, near the wall and the balustrade with Mary's chair to Lincoln's immediate right).

My legs have not taken me up to that level at Ford's in years, but I don't remember such an abundance of red upholstered chairs and settees in the past, and I don't think they were there in Lincoln's time. With what shows in some of these photos, Lincoln would have no place to be stretched out on the floor -- and Laura Keene's hoops would never have fit in Box 7.

RE: Booth's Stairs - Eva Elisabeth - 03-22-2017 07:30 AM

I see Booth stepping down the stairs about like this:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xlvB4xk4LNQ

RE: Booth's Stairs - RJNorton - 03-22-2017 07:37 AM

(03-22-2017 07:30 AM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote: I see Booth stepping down the stairs about like this:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xlvB4xk4LNQ

The folks who believe Booth did not break his leg at Ford's are right!

Bill's photo got me thinking about President Ford.

RE: Booth's Stairs - Dennis Urban - 03-22-2017 01:58 PM

That's it!!! Ford's stairs at Ford's Theatre. It was he and not JWB. Priceless.