The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1881-05-19
THE YOUNGER AND TILE ELDER
BOOTH.

From an early age Edwin Booth was
associated with his father in all the wan
derings and strange and often sad adven-
lures of that wayward man of genius,
and no doubt the many sorrowful exper-
fences of his youth deepened the gloom
of his inherited temperament. Those
who know him we'll are aware that he
has great tenderness of heart, and abun-
dant playful humor; that his mind is one
of extraordinary liveliness, and that he
sympathizes keenly and cordially with
the Joys and sorrows of others; yet that
the whole man seems saturated with sad
ness, isolated from companionship, lone
ly, and alone. It is this temperament,
combined with sombre and melancholy
aspect of countenance, that has helped
to make him 50 admirable in the charac-
ter of Hamlet. OF his fitness for that
part his father was the first to speak,
when on night many years ago, in Sac
ramento, they had dressed for st. Pierre
and Jaffier, In Venice Preserved. Ed
wiz, as Jaffier, had put on a close-fitting
robe of black velvet. s'You look like
Hamlet the father said; "why don't
you play it p The time was destined to
come when Edwin Booth would be ac-
cepted all over America as the greatest
Hamlet of the century. In the season Of
1864 65, at the Winter Garden Theatre,
New York, he acted that part for hun-
dred nights in succession, accomplishing
thus feat unprecedented in theatrical
annals. Since thGt time Henry Irving,
IN London, has acted Hamlet two hun
dred consecutive times in one season;
but this latter achievement, in the pres
ent day and in the capital city of the
world, seems less remarkable than Edwin
Booths exploit was, performed in turbu
lent New York in the closing months of
our terrible civil war.
The elder Booth was a short, spare,
muscular man, with splendid chest, a
symmetrical Greek head, pale counte-
nance, a voice of wonderful compass and
thrilling power, dark hair and blue eyes.
Edwin's resemblance to him is chiefly
obvious in the shape of the head and
face, tie arch and twist of the heavy eye
brows, the radiant and constantly shifting
light of expression which animates the
conntenaEce, the natural grace of carri-
age, and the celebrity of movement. Ed
wins eyes are dark brown, and seem to
turn black in moments of excitement, ,and
they are capable of conveying, with elec
trical effect, the most diverse meanings
the solemnity of lofty thought the ten
derness of affection, the piteousness of
foliorn sorrow, the awful sense of spirit
= SURROUNDINGS tha nvvfr1l yvaariuess Of
despair, the mocking glee of winkea ear-
casm, the vindictive menace of sinister
purpose, and the lightning glare of bale
full wrath. In range of facial expressive
ness his countenance 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 COM
paratively inferior part-Pescara, in
Shells ferocious tragedy of The Apostate.
He was terrible presence. He was the
incarnation of smooth, specious, malig-
nant, hellish rapacity. 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 exasper-
ating note of hideous cruelty. He was
acting a fiend then, and making the
monster not only possible, but actual
He certainly gave greater impression of
overwhelming power than is given by
Edwin Booth, and seemed more for
midable and tremendous man. But his
face was not more brilliant than that of
his renowned son; and in fact it was, if
anything, somewhat less splendid in
power of the eye. There is useful book
about him, called The Tragediaa, writ
ten by Thomas r. Gould, who also made
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 greater actor, but not a more
brilliant one, than Edwin Booth. Only
one man Of our time has equalled Edwin
Booth in this singular splendor of coun-
tenance. 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 Fred
erick Cooke.
A Couch, Cold or Sore Throat should
be stopped. Neglect frequently results
in an Incurable Lung Disease or Con-
GumptiOD RpoyUS'c RpOSCur.T. Tpocu.