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Bohemians and Critics: American Theatre Criticism in the Nineteenth Century

Miller, Tice L. Bohemians and Critics: American Theatre Criticism in the Nineteenth Century. Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press, 1981.
Type: 
book
Genre: 
history, literary criticism, biography
Abstract: 

Miller focuses on five journalists/critics who were especially active during the 1850s and 1860s. These five critics are: Henry Clapp, Jr., Edward G. P. Wilkins, William Winter, Stephen Ryder Fiske, and Andrew C. Wheeler.

People Mentioned in this Work

Aldrich, Thomas [pages:16, 17, 25, 26, 39, 71, 73, 76, 82, 83, 128, 153]

A regular at Pfaff's (16). Aldrich wrote literary reviews for the newly founded Saturday Press (26).

After the Civil War several Pfaffians, including "William Winter and Thomas Bailey Aldrich turned their backs upon Bohemianism and embraced standards of taste we call 'The Genteel Tradition'" (17).

In 1858, Aldrich advised William Winter to "[b]e a good boy and don't get excited about the slavery question" (71). Aldrich had a long friendship with William Winter and Aldrich dedicated a poem to him in the Home Journal (73). Aldrich and Winter shared "a love of beauty and sentiment, and a strong moral bent" (73).

"Aldrich and his friends valued cultivation and refinement, which they associated with travel, good books, and an intellectual atmosphere. They attempted to hold on to a noble way of life which science and materialism were rapidly destroying" (83).

Arnold, George [pages:16, 37, 44-45, 68]

Described as "Clapp's closest friend and protege." The two men "shared a common faith in Fourierism" (37).

Arnold was known for his "McArone Papers," which "satirized the reporting of war correspondents during the Civil War" (37).

Beach, Juliette [pages:68]

Miller excerpts a few lines that Beach wrote in response to the death of Edward G. P. Wilkins.

The Bees [pages:44]

The club was founded by Ned Wilkins, Henry Clapp, Fitz-James O'Brien, Mark Smith, and John Brougham in 1856. Members were "actors, writers, and artists" who "met regularly for dinner and conversation" (44).

Bellew, Frank [pages:15, 52]

"Francis Henry Temple Bellew, an artist, painted a sign representing the Ornithorhynchus smoking a pipe while grasping a glass of beer" (15).

Bellew published a cartoon in the Picayune which depicted Edward G. P. Wilkins, John Brougham, Boucicault, Cornelius Matthew, Charles Gayler, Fitz-James O'Brien, and Benjamin A. Baker as "playwrights registering their dramatic works before the first copyright law went into effect" (52).

Booth, Edwin [pages:9, 33, 34, 43, 63-65, 76, 77, 79, 80, 91, 94-95, 99, 103, 112, 120, 140, 142-43, 152-54, 159]

Miller compares Booth's acting style to Edwin Forrest and W. C. Macready (9).

Miller includes Clapp's review of Booth's Hamlet: It lacked "flesh and blood." Clapp claims that Booth has "given us a series of hard, dry, woe-begone characters which (except in a few purely domestic scenes which he renders at times with great delicacy and sweetness), are like certain under-toned pictures of mountain scenery which represent the loneliness of the scene without giving any idea of its wildness of its beauty" (34). Booth made history by playing Hamlet for 100 performances during 1864-65 (94).

Edward G. P. Wilkins felt that Booth had "the true fire of genius which needs but time, industry, and study to place its possessor in the very rank of living tragedians" (63). Like Henry Clapp, Edward Wilkins found Booth's acting lacking in comparison to Edwin Forrest (64).

"Edwin Booth most clearly typified [William] Winter's idea of genius in acting" (94).

Booth was the "acknowledged leader of his profession during the last third of the nineteenth-century" (95). Stephen Ryder Fiske sharply criticised Booth for not doing more to elevate his profession. "[Booth] sticks to Shakespeare, not only because it is great, but because it is cheap. The Theatre, the company and the accessories are furnished for him and he never seems to care whether they are good, bad, or indifferent. He goes through his part, well or ill, according to the whim of the night or the state of his health, pockets his cheque and disappears until the stage is ready for the next performance." Andrew C. Wheeler described Booth as "the greatest artist upon the American stage" but "he limited such praise to those of the actor's roles which demanded intellectual rather than physical or emotional force. Wheeler thought that to see Edwin Booth delineate Richard III and Iago was to see the best acting of which our stage was capable" (152).

Miller also mentions Booth's performance in William H. Smith's The Drunkard, or the Fallen Saved (43).

Brisbane, Albert [pages:19, 24]

Bisbane is described as a passionate follower of French socialist Charles Fourier (19). Henry Clapp, Jr. worked as a secretary for Brisbane in 1855-56 (24).

Miller mentions some of Brisbane's publications: Association, or a Concise Exposition of the Practical Part of Fourier's Social Science, "A Treatise on the Functions of the Human Passions," and "An Outline on Fourier's System of Social Science."

Brougham, John [pages:15, 36, 44, 52, 76, 108]

"John Brougham--actor, manager, and publisher of a comic paper, The Lantern--gave a weekly dinner at Edward Windust's Restaurant (near the old Park Theatre) in 1852-1853 for the staff of his paper" (15). This get-together occurred around the same time that the Pfaffians began to congregate.

Brougham, along with Ned Wilkins, Henry Clapp, Fitz-James O'Brien, and Mark Smith, formed an artistic club called "The Bees" in 1856 (44).

Broughman was included in Frank Bellew's 1856 Picayune cartoon "depicting playwrights registering their dramatic works before the first copyright law went into effect (52).

Butler, George [pages:40]

Butler was one of several Pfaffians who organized Clapp's funeral.

Clapp, Henry [pages:1, 15, 18-42, 44, 47, 49, 51, 58, 64, 67, 69, 71, 74, 75, 77, 78, 80, 82, 101, 103, 104, 128-129, 130, 138, 165-167]

"Henry Clapp believed in cutting his victims swift and deep" (77).

William Winter told his son Jefferson that "Whenever old Clapp knew I was at work on a bit of satire he would keep vigilant guard, like a sort of grim old bird over a nestling, fending off intruders and interruptions, sucking away at an ill-smelling pipe while we were alone, and furtively and eagerly watching me out of the corner of one of his bright, glinting eyes. He was terribly embittered, and the sharper the satire the more he liked it" (77).

Clare, Ada [pages:16, 27-28, 31, 34, 38, 39, 40, 69, 70, 75, 76, 78]

One of several women who frequented Pfaff's (16).

Clare's real name was Jane McElheney (27). She was treated like the "Queen" of the bohemians (27).

Clare gave birth to a son, Aubrey, in the mid-1850s while she was unmarried. "Louis Gottschalk, the composer and pianist, was thought to be the father, although neither party would confirm or deny his parentage" (27).

She wrote a column in the Saturday Press, which "sparkled with comments on the latest play, poem, novel, or bit of gossip. She helped to create the aura of mystique around the Bohemians with statements such as: 'The Bohemian is not, like the creature of society, a victim of rules and customs; he steps over them all with an easy, graceful, joyous unconsciousness, guided by the principles of good taste and feeling'" (28).

Clare felt that the stage was a place of freedom. "Where in literature and the other arts the woman has to bow before the calm judgment, the superior education, and the strong physical health of the man, on the stage she can rely on her instinct--'the one sublime gift that nature gives us to cope with men'" (28).

She married J. F. Noyes in 1868 (40).

Clare contracted rabies from a dog bite and eventually died on March 4, 1874 (40). About Clare, Walt Whitman wrote: "Poor, poor Ada Clare--I have been inexpressibly shocked by the horrible and sudden close of her gay, easy, sunny, free, loose, but not ungood life" (40). Personne [E. G. P. Wilkins] described Clare as "the Queen" of Bohemia, "the only free community on the face of the earth" (69).

Clare negatively compared William Winter's poem, "Song of the Ruined Man," to Whitman's "Child's Reminiscence," a poem she loved (75-76). William Winter stayed with Clare in 1861 while his wife was in Toronto (78).

Congdon, Charles [pages:15, 19, 24]

Miller mentions Congdon's comparison of Pfaff's to "Auerbach's Cellar in Faust" (15).

Curtis, George [pages:48, 65, 82, 126]

Edward Wilkins' ability to combine "society gossip and theatrical chit-chat in an amusing style" was reminiscent of Curtis's contributions to Harper's (Miller 48).

In defense of Edwin Forrest's artistic abilities, Edwin G. P. Wilkins grouped together Curtis, William Stuart, Adam Badeau, and William Hurlburt as a "clique" of dramatic "'critics' who rarely have pluck enough to judge for themselves" (Miller 65).

Curtis was one of many writers who sought "refuge in the past" in order to escape the "chaos caused by the war and a rapidly changing American society" (Miller 82).

Daly, John [pages:11, 76, 79, 96-97, 103, 105, 108, 109-115, 122, 132, 143, 155, 161]

"Between the Civil War and the end of the century, Daly was responsible in part or whole for forty-four adaptations of French drama" (11).

Daly "would establish his reputation with borrowed plumes -- Leah the Forsaken, Griffith Gaunt and Under the Gaslight -- which were adapted from European dramatic source material (103).

While writing dramatic reviews for the Evening Express, Daly was called upon to review Fiske's Martin Chuzzlewit, but circumstances forced him to send his brother, Joseph, instead. In a letter to his brother, Daly "instructed Joseph to 'speak as flatteringly as you can' of Martin Chuzzlewit in order to court the favor of Fiske and his fellow Bohemians" (105). Stephen Ryder Fiske worked as an agent for Daly. "Fiske wrote to Daly describing available actors and their desired salaries; new plays and 'hot' playwrights; good buys in costumes; and general theatre gossip" (108).

Daly adapted Gustav van Moser's Ultimo, which was performed 137 times between February and June of 1875 (109).

"Poor financial conditions, excessive rent on the Fifth Avenue Theatre, and a heavy debt of $45,000 forced Daly to post closing notices" in September of 1877 (111).

Charles A. Byrne, editor of the Dramatic News accused Daly of stealing his popular play , Pique, from a woman named Miss Eleanor Kirk Ames. In response to this accusation, Daly "brought a lawsuit for $10,000 against Byrne" (132). After Byrne's chief witness, A. C. Wheeler, failed to present himself at the trial, Daly won the suit by default and Byrne was forced to pay $2,363.63 in damages (132).

After spending most of his career attacking Daly's work, A. C. Wheeler reversed his opinion about Daly. "In The Theatre of November 30, 1889, Wheeler admitted that he had misjudged the talented playwright and manager [. . .] Wheeler now admired Daly's accomplishments: building up 'character for his theatre instead of buying cheap reputation'; introducing new people--Clara Morris, Sara Jewett, Kate Claxton; and offering new ideas, new stage settings, and new costumes. Daly had built up a reliable stock company which offered continuous good work to the better class of patrons. He did not care what the mob said, Wheeler asserted, but what 'the discreet public knew'" (155).

Danforth, Jennie [pages:16]

One of several women who frequented Pfaff's.

de Walden, Thomas [pages:30]

de Walden's The Balloon Wedding is recommended by Henry Clapp as an example of necessary "low comedy."

Fiske, Stephen [pages:17, 37, 40, 46, 67, 80, 102-127, 128, 154]

Fiske became part of the Pfaff's circle just prior to the Civil War (17). He co-edited the Leader with Henry Clapp, Jr. in 1864 (37). Fiske helped organize Clapp's funeral in 1875 (40).

Fiske replaced Edward Wilkins as dramatic critic at the Herald and suggested that Wilkins reviewed productions without actually attending them (46).

Fiske moved to London after the end of the Civil War. He returned in 1874 and in 1879 he became the dramatic critic for the Spirit of the Times (128).

Fiske was married to Mary Fox Hewins, but the couple first engaged in a scandalous affair. The affair prompted Mary's husband of the time, Mr. Burnham, to attempt to shoot and stab Fiske (110).

Fox, Mary [pages:16, 110]

One of several women who frequented Pfaff's. She was a "feminist who fought actively to improve the role of women" (110).

Fox eventually married Stephen Ryder Fiske, but the couple first engaged in a scandalous affair. The affair prompted Mary's husband of the time, Mr. Burnham, to attempt to shoot and stab Fiske (110).

Gay, Getty [pages:16]

One of several women who frequented Pfaff's.

Gayler, Charles [pages:30, 52, 58]

Gayler's The Child-Stealer is recommended by Clapp as an example of necessary "low comedy" (30).

Frank Bellew published a cartoon in the Picayune which depicted Edward G. P. Wilkins, Brougham, Boucicault, Cornelius Matthew, Charles Gayler, Fitz-James O'Brien, and Benjamin A. Baker as "playwrights registering their dramatic works before the first copyright law went into effect" (52).

Edward G. P. Wilkins accused Gayler of copying his play Many a Slip Twixt the Cup and the Lip from the French drama Les Crochets du Pere Martin. Gayler claimed he had never seen the French play and that his drama was written earlier.

Greeley, Horace [pages:13, 19, 24, 30, 82, 102, 129]

Owner of the New York Tribune (24).

Stephen Ryder Fiske's grandfather, Haley Fiske, was "a close personal friend of Horace Greeley" (102).

Heron, Matilda [pages:10, 30, 35, 61-62, 73, 80, 91, 151]

Described as an "overnight success" after performing the role of Marguerite Gautier in Alexandre Dumas' La Dame aux Camelias at Wallack's Theatre on January 22, 1857 (10). Over a seven week period, she played "forty-six sold-out shows" (10). "She exhitibted a style of emotional acting which seemed real to the audiences of her day" (10).

Describes the reactions of Henry Clapp, Jr. and Edward Wilkins' responses to her performance in Camille (35, 62).

"Wilkins concluded that Heron's acting was a 'little too broadly colored to suit our individual taste,' but that she deserved to rank as a grand tragedienne. Her success is 'un fait accompli'"(62).

William Winter worked as tour manager for Heron in September/October of 1859 (73). On March 15, 1862, William Winter "joined the Pfaffians in praising Matilda Heron as the 'most charactertistic actress on the American stage,' and described her as possessing 'a peculiar genius and natural power for acting'" (80). Heron eventually fell out of favor with Winter because she "pandered to vulgar tastes" by playing characters of questionable morality (91).

Heron's emotional performance style was problematic for Andrew C. Wheeler. In a review of her career, he wrote that "She had no patience, no remorse, no wait in her. It was all impulse, mood, fever or chill. To-day she was the actress of the world, tomorrow she became the abject wreck" (151).

House, Edward [pages:16, 82, 149]

A regular at Pfaff's. House worked as the dramatic editor and critic for the New York Tribune (82).

House was present during a confrontation between Edwin Forrest and dramatic critic Andrew C. Wheeler (149).

Howells, William [pages:17, 25, 26, 27, 40, 142]

To the "prudish" Howells, the "Pfaff's crowd represented the new literary life of the city" (17). Howells was one of many young writers assisted by Henry Clapp (25).

Commenting on the Saturday Press: "'It was clever and full of wit that tries its teeth upon everything,' Howells later recalled. 'It attacked all literary shams but its own, and it made itself felt and feared'" (26).

"Howells thought it 'very nearly as well to be accepted by the Press as by the Atlantic" (26).

"William Dean Howells described the prose of the Saturday Press as 'shredded . . . into very fine paragraphs of a sentence each, or of a very few words, or even of one word'" (27).

"Writing much later about the Bohemians, William Dean Howells thought that Henry Clapp had mellowed in his last years: 'I have the feeling that he too came to own before he died that man cannot live by snapping-turtle alone'" (40).

Howland, Edward [pages:26]

Met Henry Clapp in the summer of 1858 and soon joined him in setting up the New York Saturday Press.

Jefferson, Joseph [pages:36-37, 55, 96, 99, 112, 120]

In 1857, Laura Keene starred in The Siam Light Guard as Mrs. Catchmug; Jefferson played her husband (55).

Keene, Laura [pages:30, 47, 52, 53, 55, 56, 57, 58, 61-62]

Edward G. P. Wilkins' first dramatic effort, My Wife's Mirror was performed at Laura Keene's Varieties in 1856. Keene played the part of Mrs. Racket in the production, which ran for two weeks straight (52-53). Wilkins' second work, Young New York opened in 1856 at Keene's new theater, where she once again played the female lead (53). On February 21, 1857, Keene gave a benefit for Wilkins by reprising her earlier roles in his works. She also starred in his next work, The Siam Light Guard (55).

Mentions Keenes professional relationship with Edward Wilkins, and describes why they parted ways (56-58).

Wilkins described Keene's portrayal of Camille as "a nicely built, beautifully fitted up yacht, gliding among pleasant scenes, giving you glimpses of Etruscan vales and Claude Lorraine landscapes, throwing vivid color over all around" (62).

Menken, Adah [pages:16]

One of several women who frequented Pfaff's.

Neill, Harry [pages:37, 79]

Died in November(?) 1861. Also known by the alias, Inigo (37). He was replaced at the Albion by his friend, William Winter (79).

O'Brien, Fitz-James [pages:16, 26, 37, 38, 44, 52, 73, 80]

A regular at Pfaff's (16). O'Brien was the first theater critic for the Saturday Press (26).

O'Brien, along with John Brougham, Edward G. P. Wilkins, and Mark Smith formed "The Bees" in 1856 (44). O'Brien was also a member of the Theta Delta Chi Fraternity (44).

O'Brien is included in Frank Bellew's 1856 Picayune cartoon "depicting playwrights registering their dramatic works before the first copyright law went into effect (52).

William Winter recalls O'Brien's unique effect upon people (73).

Upon meeting O'Brien, William Winter stated that "the fiery Irishman 'astonished some of the quiet literary circles of that staid and decorous region by his utter and unaffected irreverence for various camphorated figure-heads which were then an incubus upon American letters'" (qtd. in T. Miller 73).

Ottarson, Franklin [pages:36, 42, 46, 49, 65]

Referred to as Bayard (36).

Poe, Edgar [pages:6-8]

Poe lamented the lack of quality in American stage productions of the 1830s (6). Poe "wanted nature's ideal pattern--not its everyday happenings. Thus, he demanded more truthfullness to nature than the theatre offered in the 1840s--but without rejecting romanticism" (7).

Raymond, Henry [pages:129]

Miller mentions Henry J. Raymond, founder of the New York Times, but it is not clear if this is the same Raymond who was part of the Fred Gray Association.

The Saturday Press [pages:vii, 15, 16, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 38, 42, 45, 47, 49, 50, 56, 57, 60, 62, 65, 70, 71, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 83, 101]

"'It was clever and full of wit that tries its teeth upon everything,' Howells later recalled. 'It attacked all literary shams but its own, and it made itself felt and feared'" (26).

"Howells thought it 'very nearly as well to be accepted by the Press as by the Atlantic" (26).

"William Dean Howells described the prose of the Saturday Press as 'shredded . . . into very fine paragraphs of a sentence each, or of a very few words, or even of one word'" (27).

"The Saturday Press ceased to exist after its June 2, 1866 issue" (38).

Seymour, Charles [pages:16, 38, 128]

A regular at Pfaff's. Seymour edited the New York Weekly Review, where Henry Clapp worked from January to July of 1865 (38).

Shaw, Dora [pages:16]

One of several women who frequented Pfaff's.

Smith, Mark [pages:44, 108]

Along with Edward G. P. Wilkins, Fitz-James O'Brien, and John Brougham, Smith was a member "a select club for actors, writers, and artists" formed in 1856 (44). Smith was also a member of the Theta Delta Chi Fraternity (44).

Smith worked at the St. James's Theatre for Mrs. Wood (108).

Stedman, Edmund [pages:25, 26, 39-40, 79, 82, 128]

One of the founders of the Saturday Press. About the new publication, he wrote: "The paper was usually hard up, and Mr. Clapp took in several business partners, one after the other. When he got what he called 'fresh blood,' he used to divide it up among the boys" (26).

When Clapp committed himself to the New York City Asylum on Wards Island in 1874, he wrote to E. C. Clarence about his motivation, which was to "get cleansed in the body . . . and clothed in my right mind" (39).

In a letter from William Winter to Stedman, dated May 1, 1863, Winter describes his social isolation: "I am, as I ever was, something of a black sheep and none of our friends care to acknowledge me socially" (79).

Stoddard, Richard [pages:25, 82, 128]

One of many young writers assisted by Henry Clapp (25).

Stoddard was one of many writers who sought "refuge in the past" in order to escape the "chaos caused by the war and a rapidly changing American society" (82).

Strakosch, Maurice and Max (brothers) [pages:45]

Listed as Maurice Strakosch. Director of the American Company performance group.

Taylor, Bayard [pages:82, 87, 128]

Taylor was one of many writers who sought "refuge in the past" in order to escape the "chaos caused by the war and a rapidly changing American society" (82).

In a January 2, 1864 review, Winter disparaged Taylor's "new novel, Hanna Thurston, which dealt with sectarianism, temperance, anti-slavery, spiritualism, and women's rights" (87).

Theta Delta Chi [pages:44]

Miller mentions that Edward G. P. Wilkins, Fitz-James O'Brien, and Mark Smith are members of the Theta Delta Chi Fraternity.

Twain, Mark [pages:25]

As a young writer, Twain was helped by Henry Clapp, Jr.

Wallack's Lyceum [pages:11, 39, 46, 48, 56, 61, 104, 134]

Stephen R. Fiske debuted as a playwright on April 7, 1863 with the performance of My Noble Son-in-Law (104).

Wallack, John [pages:48, 57, 76, 104, 134]

Wallack acted in Stephen R. Fiske's dramatic debut: My Noble Son-in-Law (104).

Ward, Artemus [pages:16, 17, 25, 128]

Ward would drink at Pfaff's whenever he was in New York City (17). Miller includes in the description of Ward the phrase "literary life of the city" (17).

Ward was one of many young writers assisted by Henry Clapp (25). Ward died in 1866 (128).

Whitman, Walt [pages:vi, 7, 8, 16, 25, 34, 39, 40, 70, 76, 93, 132, 146, 149, 150]

While discussing the value of American theatrical drama, Whitman suggests that "anything appealing to the honest heart of the people, as to the peculiar and favored children of freedom -- as to a new race and with a character separate from the kingdoms of other countries -- would meet with a ready response, and strike at once the sympathies of all true men who love America, their native or chosen land" (vi).

Whitman worked as an editor for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle from 1846-1848, during which time he continuously called for American theaters to hire American performers rather than import actors like Charles Kean and Ellen Tree (7-8).

Whitman also calls for reforms of the theatrical reviewing process: "There is hardly anything more contemptible, and indeed unprofitable in the long run, than this same plan of some paid personage writing laudatory notices to the newpaper, to be printed as spontaneous opinions of the editors" (8).

Wilkins, Edward (Ned) [pages:1, 16, 29, 36, 37, 38, 42-69, 70, 101, 103, 104, 114, 128, 131, 138]

In 1865 George Arnold described Wilkins as follows: "His complexion was light; his eyes were intensely blue and expressive, sometimes twinkling with plenitude of merriment. His features were sharply cut, and thorough-bred in mould; his skin, clear and delicate; his hair, which he parted nearly in the middle of a high forehead, was lustrous and wavy; and his mouth was partly concealed by a well-grown and becoming mustache, golden brown in color, and remarkably fine in texture. His hands were long, thin, and delicate as a girl's. His dress was always unexceptionable no matter what the occasion or the season, though his preference was generally for loose, rough, easy styles, which became him wonderfully" (44).

Wilkins "launched a campaign to expose what he called 'fillibusters' -- plagiarized scripts which kept being passed off as originals" (57). In the February 12, 1857, edition of the Saturday Press he chastised Laura Keene for "presenting three such pieces in one month" (57). He concluded by saying: "Filibuster as much as you please, ladies and gentlemen; success is nothing but success. But full houses will not buy literary reputation for borrowed plumes" (58).

After Wilkins' death, George Arnold noted that "His position was just assured and ripening. He was just coming into a handsome income from his manifold labors . . . Everything smiled upon him, and fortune was turning her wheel in his behalf, when--poof!--the candle is out!" (68).

Willis, Nathaniel [pages:73]

Thomas Bailey Aldrich wrote for Willis's Home Journal.

Winter, William [pages:1, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 21, 23, 25, 26, 29, 32, 38, 39, 40, 42, 43, 44, 45, 49, 51-52, 57, 70-101, 105, 106, 117, 118, 119, 125, 127, 128, 132, 138]

Discusses the hardship of being a writer in the 1850s in his book, Old Friends; Being Literally Recollections of Other Days (13-14). Winter was a regular at Pfaff's (16). He hoined the Pfaffians as a twenty-three-year-old struggling poet and journalist. Winter was soon taken in by Clapp who "regarded him as a protégé" (70). By December 1859, Winter was accepted by most Pfaffians, with the notable exception of Walt Whitman who "found his friendship and talents distasteful" (70).

It is possible that Winter shared the position of dramatic critic for the Saturday Press with Clapp in 1860, after Wilkins left the newspaper (29). Winter wrote for the Saturday Press and eventually became "the most famous and influential critic of the nineteenth-century American stage" (71).

After the Civil War several Pfaffians, including "William Winter and Thomas Bailey Aldrich turned their backs upon Bohemianism and embraced standards of taste we call 'The Genteel Tradition'" (17).

Winter also helped organize the funeral of Henry Clapp, Jr. and wrote an epitaph that was never used (40).

William Winter was born on July 15, 1836, in Gloucester, Mass. He graduated from Cambridge High School at age sixteen and started law school at Harvard in 1856. He supported himself by working as a "collector for a tugboat in Boston Harbor, and from his literary efforts" (71). He graduated in 1857 and went to work for the Manson and Parker law firm, but he never tried a case (72). Winter dabbled in politics in 1856; opposed slavery but also "opposed radical behavior more and wrote with distaste about the 'effusive, hysterical novel of Uncle Tom's Cabin' which 'aroused and inflamed thousands of hearts'" (71). He disagreed with the practise of slavery, but he never supported the abolitionist movement (71).

Winter was greatly influenced by a twenty-eight year friendship with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, which began in 1854 after Winter dedicated a volume of poetry to Longfellow (72).

Winter met T. B. Aldrich in 1855 after reviewing The Bells: A Collection of Chimes (73). He met Fitz-James O'Brien in 1859 and quickly formed a friendship with him: "Winter admired his frankness; the two men because friends and remained so until O'Brien was killed fighting in the North in 1862" (73). Winter met Clapp in 1858, and officially moved from Boston to New York City in 1859 (74). "From early January to December 15, 1860, Winter worked as assistant editor and book reviewer for the Saturday Press" (75). Clapp praised Winter's poetry but others, like Ada Clare, did not always enjoy it (75).

Winter met Scottish writer Lizzie (Elizabeth) Campbell in 1859 and married her on December 8, 1860 (76). In 1861, Winter visited his pregnant wife in Toronto, while rooming with Ada Clare. Percy Winter was born on November 16, 1861 (78). The family was forced to leave Clare's home after the loss of her South Carolina property forced her to cut back on expenses (78). Winter's other children were as follows: Arthur (1872), Louis (1873), William Jefferson (1878), and Viola (1881) (79).

In a letter to Edmund Clarence Stedman, dated May 1, 1863, Winter describes his social isolation: "I am, as I ever was, something of a black sheep and none of our friends care to acknowledge me socially" (79).

During the Civil War, Winter found work with the Leader, the Petroleum Monitor, the New York Weekly Review, Round Table, Philobiblion, The Galaxy, Harper's Weekly and Spirit of the Times (79). Winter replaced Harry Neill (Inigo) at the Albion in 1861 (79). On July 13, 1865 Winter substituted for Edward H. House as a reviewer for Greeley's New York Tribune. One month later, Winter replaced House permanently (82).

Winter was known to use the pseudonym Mercutio (79). His choice of penname came from Winter's belief that "Shakespeare's Mercutio is the best type that literature affords of the brilliant men of the world [...] I fancy him, in brave attire walking about the streets of the old Italian city, or in comfortable inns, drinking wine with gay companions....He was always merry and he took the world easily, with laughter for everything. And yet there was a serious vein in his nature. He was a true friend. He was ardent, alike in his love and in his aversion. He had scholarship, at least in belles lettres; and he was, in his off-hand way, an excellent critic of manners and of character" (79-80).

Miller also includes Winter's comments on the assassination of President Lincoln (81).

Winter left behind the Bohemian ideology in favor of the "Genteel Tradition" (82).

Winter "regarded the theatre as a temple of art and not 'merely a workshop for shrewd and vulgar speculation in popular credulity'" (83). Central to Winter's criticism is the idea that "artists and writers seek excellence, not popular applause" (84). "Winter demanded that the theatre offer only an idealized view of life and shun unpleasant social and moral questions" (87).

The Plays of Henrik Ibsen "became the symbol for Winter of all that was wrong with the modern stage. He believed staunchly that 'the province of art is the ministry of beauty, and beauty, in art, is inseperable from morality'" (89).

"Winter judged harshly the personal character of Edwin Forrest in determining his worth as an actor. He thought the actor possessed great talent, manly beauty, and physical strength. He praised his hard work in the face of failure and disappointments [...] But Winter believed that weakness of character tainted his art" (92-93).
"Winter compared such acting to the poetry of Walt Whitman, where too much emphasis was placed on the flesh" (93-94). Edwin Booth was Winter's idea of a perfect performer (94).
The friendship between Augustin Daly and William Winter during the 1880s and 1890s caused people to question Winter's "critical integrity and earned him the nickname of 'Daly's house poet'" (96). William Winter was "New York's first and foremost critic"(98). His "'kindliness of nature' made it difficult for him to censure an actor or manager" (98).

Winter favored idealistic, romantic literature which put him in conflict with "the new realistic literature of the period" (85). He was accused of being a "moralist" (86). "He always denied such a charge, however, noting that modern audiences did not wish to deal with immoral questions in a truthful manner, but wanted to peer into bedrooms through the keyhole" (86).

Winter died on June 30, 1917; he was buried on Staten Island (101).

Wood, Frank [pages:16, 37?, 71?]

A regular at Pfaff's (16).