Sacramento daily record-union., 1881-06-20
THE YOUNGER AND THE ELDER BOOTH

From an early age Edwin Booth was as
sociated with his father In all the wander
ings and strange and often sad adventures
of that wayward man of genius, and no
doubt the many sorrowful experiences Of
his youth deepened the gloom of his inner
itsd temperament. Those who knew him
well are aware that he has great tender
ness of heart, and abundant playful humor
that his mind is one of extraordinary live
illness, and that he sympathizes keenly and
cordially with the joys and sorrows OF
others; vet that the whole man seems
saturated with sadness, isolated from com.
panionship, lonely and alone. 1t is this
temperament, combined with somber and
melancholy aspect of countenanee, that
has helped to make him so admirable in
the character of Hamlet. OF his fitness
for that part his father was the first to
speak, when on a night many years ago, in
Sacramento, they had dressed for st.
Pierre and Jaffier, in "Venice Preserved.
Edwin, as Jatfier, had put on close-itting
robe of black velvet. 'sYou look like
Hamlet" the father said "why don't
you play it," The time was destined to
come when Edwin Booth would be &C.
cepted all over America as the greatest
Hamlet of the century. In the season of
| 1864 -65, at the Winter Garden Theater,
New York, he acted that part for hun
| dred nights in succession, accomplishing
thus a feat unprecedented in theatrical
annals. Since that time Henry Irving, in
London, has acted Hamlet two hundred
consecutive times in one season but this
latter achievement, in the present day and
in the capital city of the world. seems less
remarkable than Edwin Booths exploit
was, performed in turbulent New York in
the closing months of our terrible civil war.
The elder Booth was short, spare,
muscular man, with a splendid chest, a
symmetrical Greek head, pale counte
nance, voice of wonderful compass and
thrilling power, dark hair and blue eyes.
Edwin's resemblance to him is chiefly OBJ
vious in the shape of the head and face,
the arch and twist of the heavy eyebrows,
the radiant and constantly shifting light
of expression which anima.es the counte-
nance, the natural grace of carriage, and
the celerity OF movement. Edwin's eyes
are dark brown, and seem to turn black
in moments of excitement, and they are
capable of conveying, with electrical ef-
| feet, the most diverse meanings-the
solemnity of lofty thought, the tender
ness of affection, the piteousness of for
lorn sorrow, the awful sense of spiritual
surroundings, the woful WEAKNESS of de.
spair, the mocking glee of wicked sarcasm,
the vindictive menace of sinister purpose,
and the lightning glare of baleful wrath.
IN range of facial expressiveness his coun-
tenance is thus fully equal to what his
| fathers was, and to all that tradition tells
us of the countenance of Garrick. The
present writer saw the elder Booth but
once, and that in comparatively inferior
part-Pescara, in Shells ferocious tragedy
of "The Apostate" He was terrible
presence. He was the incarnation of
smooth, specious, malignant, hellish rapac.
ity. His exultant malice seemed to buoy
him above the ground. He foated rather
than walked. His glance was deadly.
His clear, high, cutting, measured tone
was the exasperating note of hideous cru
city. He was acting the fend then, and
making the monster not only possible, but
actual. He certainly gave greater i'm
preston of overwhelming power than is
given by Edwin Booth, and seemed a more
formidable and tremendous man. But his
face was not more brilliant than that of his
renowned son and in fact it was, if any
thing, somewhat less splendid in power Of
the eye. There is useful book about
him, called "The Tragedian, written by
Thomas r. Gould, who also made a noble
bust of him in marble, and those who
never saw him can obtain very good idea
of what sort of an actor he was by reading
that book. 1t conveys the image of a
greater actor, but not more brilliant one,
than Edwin Booth. Only one man of our
time has equalled Edwin Booth in this
singular splendor of countenance. That
man was the great New England orator
Rufus Choate. Had Choate been an actor
upon the stage-as he was before jury
with those terrible eyes of his, and that
passionate Arab face, he must have lowered
fully to the height of the tradition OF
George Frederick Cooke.-[William Win.
ter, In Harper's.