Killing Lincoln

[Gene C]

Did President Lincoln have his coat off at the theater as shown in the photo in the US News article mentioned above?

[richard petersen]

I read a review by Cassandra Szklarski of the Canadian Press. Regarding the Seward House, "Virtually every line of dialogue is accounted for historically...an example, as the camera pans over there's a bowl of fruit and a couple of books on the trunk at the end of the bed. .. those two books are the ones historically that Seward's daughter had been reading and the bowl of fruit was delivered by Secretary Stanton"
An insignificant point, but is anybody aware of what Seward was reading? Was Stanton that concerned that he brought fruit over? This is the first I have heard on this subject.

[Linda Anderson]

According to her diary, just before Powell's attack Fanny was reading "Legends of Charlemagne" to her father. She noticed that "he seemed inclined to sleep" so she turned down the gas.

Earlier in the day, Fanny had been reading "Enoch Arden" by Tennyson to Seward. It was a popular poem that describes a man who was shipwrecked who returns to his wife only to find that she is happily remarried.

"In the 1940 screwball comedy film My Favorite Wife, the character Ellen Wagstaff Arden (Irene Dunne) is a comic inversion of Enoch Arden. She returns from the sea and boldly reclaims her husband and children. Cary Grant's character in the film is called "Nicky Arden." A remake called Something's Got to Give starring Marilyn Monroe and Dean Martin, and directed by George Cukor, was partly filmed in 1962 before being stopped due to Monroe's studio management problems and her subsequent death, but was shot and released the following year as Move Over, Darling, with Doris Day and James Garner."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enoch_Arden...ar_culture

I don't know the source for Stanton delivering the fruit. That Friday was the first day that Seward took solid foods since his carriage accident on April 5 so it seems appropriate.

[richard petersen]

According to her diary, just before Powell's attack Fanny was reading "Legends of Charlemagne" to her father. She noticed that "he seemed inclined to sleep" so she turned down the gas.

Earlier in the day, Fanny had been reading "Enoch Arden" by Tennyson to Seward. It was a popular poem that describes a man who was shipwrecked who returns to his wife only to find that she is happily remarried.

"In the 1940 screwball comedy film My Favorite Wife, the character Ellen Wagstaff Arden (Irene Dunne) is a comic inversion of Enoch Arden. She returns from the sea and boldly reclaims her husband and children. Cary Grant's character in the film is called "Nicky Arden." A remake called Something's Got to Give starring Marilyn Monroe and Dean Martin, and directed by George Cukor, was partly filmed in 1962 before being stopped due to Monroe's studio management problems and her subsequent death, but was shot and released the following year as Move Over, Darling, with Doris Day and James Garner."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enoch_Arden...ar_culture

I don't know the source for Stanton delivering the fruit. That Friday was the first day that Seward took solid foods since his carriage accident on April 5 so it seems appropriate.

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Thanks

[Gene C]

"In the 1940 screwball comedy film My Favorite Wife, the character Ellen Wagstaff Arden (Irene Dunne) is a comic inversion of Enoch Arden. She returns from the sea and boldly reclaims her husband and children. Cary Grant's character in the film is called "Nicky Arden." A remake called Something's Got to Give starring Marilyn Monroe and Dean Martin, and directed by George Cukor, was partly filmed in 1962 before being stopped due to Monroe's studio management problems and her subsequent death, but was shot and released the following year as Move Over, Darling, with Doris Day and James Garner."

I remember seeing the Doris Day & James Garner movie. Doris has been stuck on an island for 5 years with Wally Cox. James Garner thought she was dead. She gets rescued in time to interupt the honeymoon for James Garner who is marying Poly Bergen. Very funny.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057329/reviews

[BettyO]

Erik,

Will there be "deleted scenes" in the DVD version of Killing Lincoln ?

[RJNorton]

There is an article published today about Jesse Johnson here.

[Loomings]

Did President Lincoln have his coat off at the theater as shown in the photo in the US News article mentioned above?

Coat, yes. Jacket, no. That is a production still, taken during a rehearsal; it is not from the actual scene itself.

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I read a review by Cassandra Szklarski of the Canadian Press. Regarding the Seward House, "Virtually every line of dialogue is accounted for historically...an example, as the camera pans over there's a bowl of fruit and a couple of books on the trunk at the end of the bed. .. those two books are the ones historically that Seward's daughter had been reading and the bowl of fruit was delivered by Secretary Stanton"
An insignificant point, but is anybody aware of what Seward was reading? Was Stanton that concerned that he brought fruit over? This is the first I have heard on this subject.

See Fanny Seward's diary for details!

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Erik,

Will there be "deleted scenes" in the DVD version of Killing Lincoln ?

I believe so. Including more of Booth on stage and perhaps at the McHenry House in Penn. And perhaps a bit more with Asia.

[BettyO]

Great !! I'm really looking forward to that -

Fantastic, Erik - thanks ever so very, very much! When will the DVD be available?

[Dawn E Foster]

Erik,

Will there be "deleted scenes" in the DVD version of Killing Lincoln ?

I can't wait to know when a DVD will be available. I'll be watching my boys Sunday night, so I won't be able to watch the premier, but I hope National Geographic Channel will replay it lots of times!

[Laurie Verge]

I just tuned in to this thread, and I almost cried when I saw that the first critic actually "realized" what history is all about! I became even more impressed with young Jesse Johnson when I read the succinct statements he made about Booth. Now, I want to fast forward to Sunday night at 8 pm.

P.S. Who cares if Billy Campbell is too handsome to be Lincoln! It's capturing the essence of the man that counts. My staff thought Mr. Campbell did a good job.

[John E.]

Mark Halpern did an outstanding job as Atzerodt. He transformed himself in to the role with his accent and the way he sat and carried himself. It's exactly how I pictured Atzerodt to have been.

Not sure if you cast him in the role Erik, but if you did - great job again.

[Loomings]

Thanks, John. We hunted high and low for Atzerodt.

Laurie...you might really like this. Especially the last paragraph.

http://tv.nytimes.com/2013/02/16/arts/te....html?_r=0

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After all, this was the whole point:

"the difference between dry history and history lived by actual human beings"

[Jim Garrett]

Did President Lincoln have his coat off at the theater as shown in the photo in the US News article mentioned above?

AL was wearing his customer made Brooks Bros. overcoat. He hung it up before sitting down in the rocking chair. At some point, he got up and put the overcoat back on and was wearing the coat when he was shot. Today much of the left shoulder of the coat is missing, having been cut up into small swatches by either Alphonse Donn or his family for bloody relics.

Ford's was heated by seven or eight stoves throughout the building. It was not a very efficient heating system. It was a somewhat chilly evening and I'm guessing that looking at the locations of the stoves, the box may have been cold.

[LincolnMan]

Did President Lincoln have his coat off at the theater as shown in the photo in the US News article mentioned above?

AL was wearing his customer made Brooks Bros. overcoat. He hung it up before sitting down in the rocking chair. At some point, he got up and put the overcoat back on and was wearing the coat when he was shot. Today much of the left shoulder of the coat is missing, having been cut up into small swatches by either Alphonse Donn or his family for bloody relics.

Ford's was heated by seven or eight stoves throughout the building. It was not a very efficient heating system. It was a somewhat chilly evening and I'm guessing that looking at the locations of the stoves, the box may have been cold.

Where is Lincoln's shawl? Didn't he bring one to the theater also?