Joseph K. Emmet
date: label: Date made
content: n.d.
name: label: depicted
content: Emmet, Joseph K.
label: maker
content: Maclure & Macdonald
notes: label: Description
content: This black and white print is a half-length portrait of actor Joseph K. Emmet seated in a jacket and wide lapel frock or mourning coat, and a waistcoat with a wide collar and lapels. He is in a standing collar and a striped cravat with a cravat pin and is holding gloves. Emmet is fair skinned with curly hair and a side part. A short quote in the bottom margin reads, “One of the most original and genial actors that ever was seen. He is always elegant and graceful. There is in his performance an under-current of deep pathos. LONDON TIMES.”
label: Description
content: Joseph Klein (frequently spelled Kline) “Fritz” Emmet (1841-1891) was a singer, minstrel performer, impersonator, character actor, and comedian born in St. Louis, Missouri. He was drawn to the stage after apprenticing with a sign maker who also created sets for local playhouses. At around age seventeen he began working as a snare drummer for Joseph Escher’s orchestra. He also showed a talent for yodeling and soon got a job with a local minstrel show. Moving on to New York, he appeared with Dan Bryant’s Minstrels, a German blackface group, and then in variety shows. Over time he developed a character called "Dutch," who wore wooden shoes and a cap and sang in fractured English. In 1870, Emmet made his debut in the role that would turn him into one of the most successful performers of his time, as the lead in <i> Fritz, Our Cousin German </i>. Portraying a young man seeking his long-lost sister while finding love, with a signature song called “Emmet’s Lullaby,” he appeared as Fritz on stages throughout the United States and Europe for the rest of his life. His other roles included <i> Carl, the Fiddler </i> (1871) <i> Max, the Merry Swiss Boy </i> (1873), and <i> Fritz in Ireland </i> (1879). His appeal was enhanced by his dancing skills, his mastery of musical instruments like the guitar, violin, and harmonica, his Irish tenor voice, and his personal charm. Emmet also became celebrated for the eccentric mansion he built on fifteen acres overlooking the Hudson River near Albany, New York. "Fritz Villa," as it came to be known, featured an eclectic mix of towers, gables, stained glass windows--even a windmill--and was influenced by Emmet's exposure to various architectural styles during his travels through Europe.
label: Description
content: This print was produced by Maclure & Macdonald, a lithographic and engraving firm established by Andrew MacLure and Archibold Grey MacDonald in Glasgow, Scotland in 1835. The firm was considered to be the first in the United Kingdom to use steam power for lithographic printing. Frank MacLure, one of Andrew’s sons, became Queen Victoria’s lithographer in the 1880s. The firm remained open until 1992.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United Kingdom: England, London
topic: label: Subject
content: Communication, newspapers
label: Subject
content: Adornment
label: Subject
content: Theater
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
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content: Clothing & Accessories
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content: Advertising
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content: Art
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content: Peters Prints
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content: Domestic Furnishings
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Harry T. Peters "America on Stone" Lithography Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: DL.60.3045
label: catalog number
content: 60.3045
label: accession number
content: 228146
objectType: label: Object Name
content: lithograph
label: Object Type
content: Lithograph
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: image: 15 in x 12 1/2 in; 38.1 cm x 31.75 cm