Assassination Trivia

[J. Beckert]

If Ford's had an actual street number, wouldn't it be on the playbills? I think all they say is "10th. St. Above E". If it was assigned a number, I wonder when.

Booth also wrote a letter to a friend, telling him he would get any mail addressed to him at Ford's Theater. No number was mentioned.

[RJNorton]

The original rocker that President Lincoln was sitting in at Ford's Theatre resides in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.

What is the name of the company that made the reproduction rocker on display at Ford's Theatre?

[BettyO]

Victorian Classics

[RJNorton]

Excellent guess, Betty, but it was not that company.

[Laurie Verge]

I can't remember the name of the company, but it was made down south; and there is a story that one of the employees left a pro-Confederate phrase under part of the uphostery. Sorry that I can't remember the whole thing.

[RJNorton]

You are on the right track. But to get the same free ticket to Fred Smith's Wisconsin Concrete Park that Joe and Gene have you have to get the actual company's name. The free ticket to Fred Smith's also includes a free ride in the Cement Mixer Tumbler that Betty said was located there.

[Laurie Verge]

If a ride on the Tumbler is part of the prize, I shall not venture into finding out the missing parts of my answer! Remind me to tell you about the time I threw up on a date while riding the Tilt-a-Twirl...

[RJNorton]

You want your knees to feel better, don't you? Recent studies show that you will leave the Cement Mixer ride with the feeling that your knees are those of a 20-year-old.

[Gene C]

Come on Laurie, it willl be fun! And as an extra bonus we'll even buy you a giant chili cheese dog before your ride. I'm sure Joe and I can scrounge up some anti nausea pills for you.

[Laurie Verge]

I'll leave the Tumber not feeling anything because I will be paralyzed! I don't even want to think about that giant chili cheese dog. It was pizza and a Coke that did me in back then.

Anyhow, if some of you keep back issues of the Surratt Courier, the story is in there somewhere. The only problem is, we didn't include it in the index; and there are 37 years of newsletters. Have fun!

[J. Beckert]

I never do this, but I googled it. The Carlton McClendon Company of Montgomery, Alabama made the reproduction. NOW SEND ME THOSE TICKETS, ROGER!!

Gene - I'll pick up Laurie after the conference and start heading north west. We'll meet you at Fred Smith's Wisconsin Concrete Park. Please bring the Moon Pies.

[RJNorton]

You win, Joe. The tickets are in the mail.

[Gene C]

Joe, your on! After the park, maybe we can all go to the cheese factory. I can almost smell it now.

[Laurie Verge]

OK, someone -- I'm going to need back-up going along with these two guys! Frankly, I think they will throw me in the Tumbler and leave to go get a beer!

I have some of Joe's wonderful Vermont cheese at home right now (only a little bit left). I'll just stay behind and munch on it. Plus, I have a dear friend from Wisconsin who always brings me a round of their cheese when he comes to the conference. Does that make me a multi-state Cheese Head???

BTW: Richard Sloan bought one of the Carlton McClendon chairs years ago. I had e-mailed him for the answer, and he had just sent it to me. I rushed to the forum to beat everyone to the punch and lost. DRAT! Some day, I'll remember what the unreconstructed Confederate wrote on the chair's frame before it was upholstered.

---

BTW: The reproduction rocker was manufactured in Atlanta, Georgia. Obviously the U.S. government of the 1960s appreciated Southern craftsmanship more than they did in the 1860s. Just saying...

[Jim Page]

. . . there is a story that one of the employees left a pro-Confederate phrase under part of the uphostery.

Laurie, that reminds me of what happened to Joan Baez' 1920s 0-45 Martin guitar. She had it repaired somewhere and years later, when it was being worked on at the CF Martin factory, they discovered that someone had written on the inside of the guitar's top-- visible only with a inspection mirror-- "Too bad you're a Communist!"

When Martin made a Joan Baez signature model of her instrument, they included a paper label of that statement on the inside top of the guitars.

--Jim