Trivial Trivia - taking trivia to new levels

[J. Beckert]

I'm having way too much fun with this. Sorry Gene - it's not Keene.

[Eva Elisabeth]

John Matthews?

[RJNorton]

Joseph Jefferson?

[J. Beckert]

No Eva and Roger.

Hint # 2 15/16 - This person is mentioned every day on this board. He had a brother named Edwin and a sister named Rosalie. He's more famous for his strong dislike of Lincoln than his acting.

[Linda Anderson]

John Wilkes Booth?

[Eva Elisabeth]

That's why Joe is so delighted....

[J. Beckert]

Linda got it! I realize now that Hint #1 may have been a little ambiguous. What I meant to do by mentioning the fact that Sothern looks "hauntingly like Booth", was to lead you to the answer that it was Booth.

Speaking of his fellow actors, Booth said they were "Mummers of the quality of skinned milk" and "There are not half a dozen really good players in America, and in all Europe, less than a score. Actors they call themselves, forsooth. Pouf! They know little, think less and understand next to nothing."
A rather cocky statement for an actor with only a few years traveling as a star.

[Linda Anderson]

And it only took us over 7 hours to get it right!

[Eva Elisabeth]

(11-13-2013 04:55 PM)J. Beckert Wrote:  Speaking of his fellow actors, Booth said they were "Mummers of the quality of skinned milk" and "There are not half a dozen really good players in America, and in all Europe, less than a score. Actors they call themselves, forsooth. Pouf! They know little, think less and understand next to nothing."
A rather cocky statement for an actor with only a few years traveling as a star.

Perhaps he was a bit jealous? (Or a "little diva"?)

[J. Beckert]

I think "a little diva" might not be too far off the mark, Eva. Jealous - I don't think so. He was a star and when touring as such, usually made over $1000 a week. I've always wished we had a psychologist on the board to give us a little more insight into Booth's behavior and writings.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Well, this might take trivia to the top. Who is this lady?
   

[Eva Elisabeth]

Hint#1: She was married to a colonel and cared for sick and wounded soldiers at his camp.

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Hint#2: She met A. Lincoln in 1863.

[RJNorton]

Agnes Salm-Salm.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Kudos, Roger! Your knowledge is incredible! The photo shows Princess zu Salm-Salm, born Agnes Elisabeth Winona Leclerc Joy.

An impressive woman who lived an interesting live, as I just learned. I didn't know she died in Germany (so this is another grave to visit). Before I searched for her picture, I only knew the story with General Sickles and the three kisses and I once read the story that A. L. allegedly said about her: "That which many people only use as a muscle, she uses as a heart." I don't recall where I read this before, does anyone know an original source? Somehow, although it's nice, to me it doesn't really sound like a Lincoln-quote. What is your opinion?

I re-discovered the quote here (no source), and I think the site is worth reading:
http://www.igrin.co.nz/penh/salm.html

Finally, I love this XXL-version of the three-kisses-story (also because of the "aftermath" and ending):

President Lincoln visited the Army of the Potomac on in early April, 1863. On April 7, he visited General Daniel Sickles and the Third Corps. Sickles was apparently struck by the sadness of the Chief Executive and sought a way to lift his gloom. Sickles claimed he asked some women if to "make him more cheerful" they perhaps could "form a line of ladies and each of you give him a kiss." The only woman willing to plant the first kiss was Princess Salm-Salm, who worried that she was too short to reach the President's face. According to General Sickles, "After I had formed the ladies in line, she went up to him, and sure enough he leaned down a little, and the other ladies followed her example with broad smiles and laughter. After that Lincoln was cheerful." The wife of another General said that the idea for the kiss-attack came from the women themselves: "A glance from the Princess toward the ladies following in her train was all that was necessary. They quickly surrounded Mr. Lincoln, embracing and kissing him with eagerness and fervor, although it was not easy for them to reach up."
"As soon as he could collect himself and recover from his astonishment, the President thanked the lady, but with evident discompsoure; whereupon some of the party made haste to explain that the Princess Salm-Salm had laid a wager with one of the officers that she would kiss the President," reported journalist Noah Brooks. Princess Salm-Salm had married up - having graduated from farm girl to actress to circus-rider to the wife of a European noble. She accompanied her Austrian husband, who served as a Union staff officer.

Mrs. Lincoln was not happy when she was told about the kissathon by her tattle-tale son Tad. She blamed General Sickles, and was very cold when Sickles accompanied the family on a steamer back to Washington. President Lincoln, however, broke the ice by saying he had heard that Sickles, a notorious philander and admitted murderer, was very 'pious" and "a great Psalmist. In response to Sickles' denials, President Lincoln said: "Sickles, I have not only heard while in your camp that you are a Psalmist, but I have heard from the best authority that you are a Salm-Salmist." In the amusement that followed Mrs. Lincoln forgave Sickles.

[L Verge]

Thank you for a great history lesson. I had never heard of this lady, and the link you provided is very interesting. She is the stuff that movies are made of.