Abraham Lincoln was born in poverty in a log cabin in Kentucky, and self-educated. He was elected the 16th president of the United States on 6th November 1860. Lincoln is perhaps best remembered for the Gettysburg Address, arguably the best expression of American national purpose. I know that Lincoln guided America through the civil war, and that he was against slavery, although not sufficiently for some. I also know that John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln as he watched a play at the Ford Theatre in Washington. What the play was, I did not know. The play was a comedy called Our American Cousin, written by Tom Taylor, who was an English barrister, and editor of Punch, the satirical magazine.
The play concerns a redneck American who travels to England, to claim an inheritance, from his aristocratic relatives. One of the relatives, Lord Dundreary, is a great comic character, made famous by the actor Edward Askew Sothern. His ridiculous hairstyle and oversize sideburns, together with his ad-libs, stole every show. As an actor himself, John Wilkes Booth may have exploited the hysterical laughter so as to time his shot, and give himself the best chance of escape. Certainly it appeared to work. After firing the fatal shot, Booth jumped from Lincoln’s box to the stage, and escaped via the stage door. He was finally tracked down and killed twelve days later.
Edward Askew Sothern was quite a character. W.S. Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan fame, wrote three plays especially for Sothern. Sadly he died in London at the age of only 54. He was such a notorious practical joker that many of his friends missed his funeral, assuming it was one of his jokes.
Although Sothern made the role famous, I don’t think he was playing it on that tragic day, April 4th, 1865, and I can’t discover who was. Let me know if you do via my contact page.