Presidents and First Ladies Trivia

[Eva Elisabeth]

Kudos, Anita, that is correct! (GWB was the first to come to my mind, so I was sure this question wouldn't last long - surprise, surprise!)

His like-minded colleagues were Andrew Jackson, W. H. Harrison, James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, Franklin Pierce, and - oooops, Andrew Johnson...I'm sorry I have to correct my question ex post facto - there were two of them who held office after Lincoln's presidency!

Not that I didn't know Johnson came after Lincoln, but I misread his name as "Jackson". When you see my source you will sure agree misreading was easy. I sometime ago hastily snapped this photo to word a trivia question later:
   
(...and now you can figure out yourself who, together with Abraham Lincoln, ranked top on the barometer of theater enthusiasm!)

That doesn't make my faux pas better as I should have noticed I "counted" Jackson twice...and I was even wondering why he was the only to spoil the chronological order!!!

[L Verge]

I may get this little side story a bit jumbled, but the husband of one of my staff members used to work as a stagehand at the Kennedy Center. During one of the galas, the caterer was passing around treats to the crew members backstage and happened to leave a big bowl of spiced shrimp near "Pete." He's enjoying the treat and happened to notice a man in a tuxedo walk up and help himself to shrimp and strike up a conversation with "Pete" and one or two others. This went on for about five minutes until another man walked up and said, "It's time to move on Mr. Vice President." George Herbert Walker Bush was the man who was backstage with the crew members.

[RJNorton]

Which President liked to go to the Gayety Burlesque House on the corner of 9th and F Streets? The management there constructed a special private booth so he could enjoy the entertainment without the general public knowing about this habit.

[Gene C]

Bill Clinton, after his visits to McDonalds?

[RJNorton]

Gene, I am laughing as I write this. Nope, very good guess, but it was not Clinton.

[Joe Di Cola]

Harry Truman was a frequent attendee after the theatre became the Sam S. Shubert Theater. When it was the Gayety, Justoce O.W. Holmes was a Sunday afternoon regular and could be seen reading a book while the comic acts were on. He would stop reading when the girls began to strip. He once said about this, "Thank God, I'm a man of low tastes."

I will try to attach a photo of the Gayety. If I have no luck I will ask Roger to attach it.

[RJNorton]

Great post, Joe, and thanks for posting the photo. I take your word on Truman, so you are a winner on this question.

My source, however, says the private booth was constructed for another President.

Hint #1: This President was not shy about his interests. While watching a show at the National Theatre (George M. Cohan's Mary) he called out to a friend sitting close to him and said, "Hey, John, how do you like the girls?"

[STS Lincolnite]

Great post, Joe, and thanks for posting the photo. I take your word on Truman, so you are a winner on this question.

My source, however, says the private booth was constructed for another President.

Hint #1: This President was not shy about his interests. While watching a show at the National Theatre (George M. Cohan's Mary) he called out to a friend sitting close to him and said, "Hey, John, how do you like the girls?"

Not shy...How about Teddy Roosevelt?

[RJNorton]

Scott, good try, but it's not Teddy Roosevelt.

[L Verge]

Calvin Coolidge? Or, Harding?

The Gayety and several other great old burlesque theaters were still around (but in bad shape) in the 1950s. My mother was always careful to skirt us around 9th Street when we were shopping in D.C.

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Here's a great article about the Gayety and other theaters of that ilk. The writer is John DeFerrari, who maintains a great, free website on Streets of Washington - a history of all sorts of things reminiscent of the old, more colorful days in our nation's capital. He spoke at a Surratt luncheon last fall on Mr. Lincoln's Backyard - a history of Lafayette Square.

http://www.streetsofwashington.com/2011/...eater.html

[RJNorton]

You are correct, Laurie. It was Harding. Good job!

SOURCE: Tom Bogar's excellent American Presidents Attend the Theatre.

You and Joe D. win free tickets to a show at the Canterbury Music Hall on Pennsylvania Avenue.

[Gene C]

Here is an enlargement (click on the photo) of the picture Joe posted, along with some interesting comments.

http://www.shorpy.com/node/6455

Thanks Joe, I needed an interesting diversion from working at home and shoveling snow.
Note that Elmo "Lincoln" is staring in the Adventure of Tarzan, just two doors down. Also playing is Helen Gibson in The Wolverine. (move over Hugh Jackman) What an ornate building.

[RJNorton]

I needed an interesting diversion from working at home and shoveling snow.

Gene, the weather in Kentucky is all over the national news. Good luck!

[Eva Elisabeth]

Which First Lady favored this design for the state service?
       

[RJNorton]

Edith Wilson?