Newspaper Tidbits - Booth's Brandy, et.al.....

[RJNorton]

I went hunting for the photo and found this page.

Continuing to hunt I found this page.

My guess is that the photo I posted is incorrectly labeled. My bad.

[BettyO]

Roger -

I see that photo published all the time as "The Star Saloon" - it appears definitely to be the Absinthe House in New Orleans!

Thanks for enlightening!

[L Verge]

Well, another myth of the assassination story dispelled. Good detective work, Roger.

[Anita]

Thanks Roger and Betty. The Absinthe House House has it's own great history. "Many celebrities have been welcomed through our doors in the nearly two centuries since its opening -- including Oscar Wilde, P.T. Barnum, Mark Twain, Jenny Lind, Enrico Caruso, General Robert E Lee, Franklin Roosevelt, Liza Minelli and Frank Sinatra. Indeed, the walls throughout this incredible building are covered in the framed photographs of several of our famous patrons." I hope they have their memorabilia nailed down.

J.W. Booth performed in New Orleans so he very well may have had a drink at the "Absinthe House"!

[Jim Garrett]

In a book published about 1976 "Saloon" by Toby Thompson, it also included Bonnie & Clyde and Lee Harvey Oswald as patrons of the Absinthe House. I doubt the information about Oswald. While he spent time in New Orleans, he was not much of a drinker.

The other issue that brought doubt about the picture was the number of bottles behind the bar. I feel that most saloons in 1865 had a rather limited inventory and since the Star was closed in 1865, there wouldn't be a picture with a large and various inventory, that would be more likely later in the century.

[J. Beckert]

Was the Star seized because it was part of Ford's, Jim? It seems there was more to the building than the theater itself, with a few additions to the sides.

[Jim Garrett]

I believe it was shut down by the government and Peter Taltavul probably just decided not to re-open. Without the theater open, his business would have suffered.