Lincoln at Ford's Theatre

[loetar44]

(08-26-2014 05:25 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Angela, I second Kees! Wonderful work! Also, I checked Lincoln Day By Day for the two dates you cited Lincoln attended the theater but did not know which one. Well, Lincoln Day By Day says the same as what you found - he attended a theater on those dates, but which one is not mentioned. Perhaps the answer is lost to history.

From the List of Productions at Ford's Theatre (Aug 1863 to April 1865):

Saturday January 2, 1864 --- "Heir at Law" and "John Dobbs"--- leading actor: John E. Owens.
Friday December 9, 1864 --- "Fanchon the Cricket" --- leading actress Maggie Mitchell

This were the productions in Ford's. Maybe this will help, if we know which play Lincoln attended.

---

Wow! Big kudos to Eva, for her great listing! I'm deeply impressed. Thanks Eva.

[Angela]

Thank you all for the great input - I'll compile all the info into one list and clean it up.

[Dave Taylor]

I've been doing some research on Alice Gray, one of John Wilkes Booth's actress friends. She is one of the five ladies that Booth had photographs of when he was shot and killed. In researching her life I've found that she had a long time connection with John T Ford with Ford hiring her as his leading stock actress over multiple seasons. In writing my piece about Gray it is necessary to get into some of Ford's history as well. When working on the part about Ford's Atheneum (the precursor to Ford's Theatre) I, too, came across the reference to Lincoln attending Ford's Atheneum on May 28, 1862. However, in trying to track it down, I've become rather suspicious about it. At first all I was looking for was some newspaper reference about Lincoln going to Ford's that I could include in my post. However, try as I might I couldn't find one. What's more, when I track down the source of this information I am led to an article published by David Rankin Barbee in the Abraham Lincoln Quarterly. Here is the page from the article that mentions Lincoln attending Ford's Atheneum:

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/alajournals/...view=image

Barbee references the National Intelligencer for May 28th and 30th as his source, so I went and checked those newspapers. While those newspapers do mention the singer Clara Kellogg and the performance the Lincolns are supposed to have seen, the newspapers make no reference to Lincoln attending. Kellogg only appeared in Washington for three nights. On May 28th and 29th she performed at Ford's Atheneum, and on May 30th she played at Grover's National Theatre. I can find no newspaper references of Lincoln (or Mrs. Lincoln) having attended either Ford's or Grover's.

Does anyone know of any other references, other than Barbee, that cite Lincoln as having attended Ford's Atheneum on May 28, 1862? Without period evidence, I'm starting to seriously doubt this one.

[L Verge]

(01-31-2016 06:52 PM)Dave Taylor Wrote:  I've been doing some research on Alice Gray, one of John Wilkes Booth's actress friends. She is one of the five ladies that Booth had photographs of when he was shot and killed. In researching her life I've found that she had a long time connection with John T Ford with Ford hiring her as his leading stock actress over multiple seasons. In writing my piece about Gray it is necessary to get into some of Ford's history as well. When working on the part about Ford's Atheneum (the precursor to Ford's Theatre) I, too, came across the reference to Lincoln attending Ford's Atheneum on May 28, 1862. However, in trying to track it down, I've become rather suspicious about it. At first all I was looking for was some newspaper reference about Lincoln going to Ford's that I could include in my post. However, try as I might I couldn't find one. What's more, when I track down the source of this information I am led to an article published by David Rankin Barbee in the Abraham Lincoln Quarterly. Here is the page from the article that mentions Lincoln attending Ford's Atheneum:

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/alajournals/...view=image

Barbee references the National Intelligencer for May 28th and 30th as his source, so I went and checked those newspapers. While those newspapers do mention the singer Clara Kellogg and the performance the Lincolns are supposed to have seen, the newspapers make no reference to Lincoln attending. Kellogg only appeared in Washington for three nights. On May 28th and 29th she performed at Ford's Atheneum, and on May 30th she played at Grover's National Theatre. I can find no newspaper references of Lincoln (or Mrs. Lincoln) having attended either Ford's or Grover's.

Does anyone know of any other references, other than Barbee, that cite Lincoln as having attended Ford's Atheneum on May 28, 1862? Without period evidence, I'm starting to seriously doubt this one.

Any mention in Tom Bogar's first book on American Presidents and the Theatre?

[Eva Elisabeth]

What about the Washington Star of May 28, 1862?

My understanding was also that only Mary and "party", not he, attended the performance, and he just briefly stopped by for whatever reason.

[RJNorton]

Dave, I had this in my files for May 28, 1862. William O. Stoddard, an assistant secretary to President Lincoln, wrote:

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

There is to be a concert of music to-night, instead of a theatrical performance, at Ford’s. A prima donna will sing there, with much help. She is one of the long procession of queens of song who are great for a season and then cease to be immortal, but she is advertised as the equal of any queen who has preceded her. Mrs. Lincoln has been urged to go, and to take the President with her, and she has succeeded in obtaining his assent. Down in the Red Room, just now, she was relating to two or three of us what a task it was, in spite of the fact that he is fond of music. He is also strongly averse to a swallowtailed coat and kids, and the battle was nearly lost over the latter. She has invited quite a party to fill the President’s box, and we are not wanted there. In fact, we have so much work on hand that we shall get in a little late, at the best.

So, in the result, does the President’s entire party, for he was detained by national business, and hardly was able to keep his promise to Mrs. Lincoln. He put one of his gloves on after he left the White House, but the other will never all go on, for there is a Manassas Gap created between its thumb and forefinger, which tells of weak leather and a strong right hand.

What a dense pack there is in the theatre, and how many volunteers must recently have been paid off!

There is an immense amount of loyalty, no doubt, in this assembly, for it rises as the President enters, and gives him a round of cheers, after vigorously stamping at the first indication of his presence. He has but just seated himself when a harsh, croaking voice in the middle aisle, loud enough to be heard all over the house, exclaims:

“He hasn’t any business here! That’s all he cares for his poor soldiers!”

There was a second of angry silence. “Put him out! Put him out!” But even louder than that is the indignant declaration uttered in a wrathful accent, telling of the Rhine, as well as of common sense:

“De President has a right to hees music! He ees goot to come! He shall haf hees music! Dot ees vot I shay! He shall haf hees music!”

The somebody in the middle aisle is discovered not to be a soldier, but the discovery is made by soldiers, and they are not making any noise over it whatever. They do not hurt him. They only hoist him up bodily and carry him to the door, and, as John Bunyan says, “I saw him no more.”

The President has seemingly paid no attention to the unpleasant little incident. The orchestra took a hint from somebody and struck up a storm of patriotic music, and now, as that dies away, out walks the prima donna, and Mr. Lincoln and all the volunteers present will have their music. Whether or not he will listen to it successfully is quite another matter.

[Dave Taylor]

(01-31-2016 07:20 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  What about the Washington Star of May 28, 1862?

I could use a second pair of eyes, but I didn't find any reference to Lincoln attending Ford's in the Star: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/s...5-28/ed-1/

[RJNorton]

Stoddard's account is cited in the middle of the web page at

http://abrahamlincolnsclassroom.org/abra...and-music/

[Dave Taylor]

(01-31-2016 07:27 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Dave, I had this in my files for May 28, 1862. William O. Stoddard, an assistant secretary to President Lincoln, wrote:

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

There is to be a concert of music to-night, instead of a theatrical performance, at Ford’s. A prima donna will sing there, with much help. She is one of the long procession of queens of song who are great for a season and then cease to be immortal, but she is advertised as the equal of any queen who has preceded her. Mrs. Lincoln has been urged to go, and to take the President with her, and she has succeeded in obtaining his assent. Down in the Red Room, just now, she was relating to two or three of us what a task it was, in spite of the fact that he is fond of music. He is also strongly averse to a swallowtailed coat and kids, and the battle was nearly lost over the latter. She has invited quite a party to fill the President’s box, and we are not wanted there. In fact, we have so much work on hand that we shall get in a little late, at the best.

So, in the result, does the President’s entire party, for he was detained by national business, and hardly was able to keep his promise to Mrs. Lincoln. He put one of his gloves on after he left the White House, but the other will never all go on, for there is a Manassas Gap created between its thumb and forefinger, which tells of weak leather and a strong right hand.

What a dense pack there is in the theatre, and how many volunteers must recently have been paid off!

There is an immense amount of loyalty, no doubt, in this assembly, for it rises as the President enters, and gives him a round of cheers, after vigorously stamping at the first indication of his presence. He has but just seated himself when a harsh, croaking voice in the middle aisle, loud enough to be heard all over the house, exclaims:

“He hasn’t any business here! That’s all he cares for his poor soldiers!”

There was a second of angry silence. “Put him out! Put him out!” But even louder than that is the indignant declaration uttered in a wrathful accent, telling of the Rhine, as well as of common sense:

“De President has a right to hees music! He ees goot to come! He shall haf hees music! Dot ees vot I shay! He shall haf hees music!”

The somebody in the middle aisle is discovered not to be a soldier, but the discovery is made by soldiers, and they are not making any noise over it whatever. They do not hurt him. They only hoist him up bodily and carry him to the door, and, as John Bunyan says, “I saw him no more.”

The President has seemingly paid no attention to the unpleasant little incident. The orchestra took a hint from somebody and struck up a storm of patriotic music, and now, as that dies away, out walks the prima donna, and Mr. Lincoln and all the volunteers present will have their music. Whether or not he will listen to it successfully is quite another matter.

Thank you, Roger, for the period evidence I was looking for. I still find it strange that Ford didn't try to capitalize on the President's attendance in the papers but perhaps since Kellogg's engagement was so brief, he didn't have the chance too.

I also find it funny how Stoddard's account differs from Barbee's article, in that Stoddard mentions how Mrs. Lincoln had to practically drag Lincoln to the theater that night.

[Eva Elisabeth]

...and that she herself had been urged to do so (drag him there). She did have quite some sense of duty, and I think she is often unfairly judged in her First Ladyship, especially in such difficult times. She certainly did make mistakes, but her efforts are often overlooked.

---

(01-31-2016 07:30 PM)Dave Taylor Wrote:  

(01-31-2016 07:20 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  What about the Washington Star of May 28, 1862?

I could use a second pair of eyes, but I didn't find any reference to Lincoln attending Ford's in the Star: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/s...5-28/ed-1/

You are right, Dave - this is all:
   
I'm sorry, I should check all given sources in the list on the previous page...

[RJNorton]

(01-31-2016 07:05 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Any mention in Tom Bogar's first book on American Presidents and the Theatre?

Yes. Tom writes about this here.

[STS Lincolnite]

(01-31-2016 07:36 PM)Dave Taylor Wrote:  I also find it funny how Stoddard's account differs from Barbee's article, in that Stoddard mentions how Mrs. Lincoln had to practically drag Lincoln to the theater that night.

Dave, what is your overall impression of the reliability of Barbee's work?

I did some research in those papers some years ago. I found Barbee's work to be somewhat uneven overall. In various things I read there were some errors present (of course we all make those from time to time), propagating forward incorrect information, failure to use some other available information, and among other critiques, some strange conclusions drawn from information. All that being said, I found the information housed there to be a very good starting place (not a finishing place) and got great leads that directed me towards better primary (and in some cases secondary) source material. I also concede I was looking for information in a very narrow scope and time did not allow me to scour the entire breadth of the materials in the collection.

Interested to hear your thoughts and the thoughts of others who might have used the Barbee papers.

Thanks.

[HerbS]

Going to a live theater production and or a musical can be fun!

[Eva Elisabeth]

(02-01-2016 07:06 PM)HerbS Wrote:  Going to a live theater production and or a musical can be fun!

Yes! And opera and ballet...

[Thomas Kearney]

I'm taking a music class focusing on voice which I mistook for a speech class, and second Herb and Eva!