Degrees of Separation

[L Verge]

Those of you who are Surratt Society members know that the feature article in the September issue is a series of four (rather odd) articles about things pertaining to the Lincoln era history that can be tied to other aspects of American history. Well, I just learned a new one today, and it has been sitting at Surratt House for over a year.

In the summer of 2017, I received a call from a woman in Nevada who had grown up in Clinton and who had the remnants of her mother's estate that she wanted to donate to Surratt House. We could do with it whatever we wanted, but she hoped that we could profit from the things.

After considering antique dealers, auction houses, etc., we decided to hold an estate sale -- and that we did this past Labor Day weekend. Somethings are still being dickered about, but we should realize a profit of nearly $1000 -- from a variety of eclectic "junk."

Five of the items were old steamer trunks ca. 1920s. One of them was unique in that it was of vertical construction so that it could stand on end; and when open, the right-hand side had five drawers, and it became a small bureau. None of the trunks sold, but here's were the story turns into degrees of separation.

The fun part came this weekend when the Society president's brother-in-law came to look at four trunks. When the one I described was closed for travel yesterday, they noticed that there was a name on the lid -- George Beranger.

AussieMick will enjoy this. Google told them that Beranger was an Australian actor (born in 1893 in Enmore, South Wales, Australia) who migrated to Hollywood during the silent film era and became quite well-known. The tie-in to Lincoln era history is that he played Wade Cameron in D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation in 1915. Of course, nowadays, even mentioning that film can get one termed a racist...

Beranger went on to play in over 140 films as well as direct, but his career dwindled once sound films came in. He died in 1973. Lincoln said you can't escape history, but I'm beginning to think you can't escape Lincoln!

Anyone know someone who collects Birth of a Nation memorabilia? Think they might want a trunk that belonged to Beranger?