Born November 13th, 1833 in Maryland, Edwin Booth had an affinity for the acting world; he was named after the actors Edwin Forrest and Thomas Flynn, and his father, Junius, was a British actor who
27 Memorial Drive West, Bethlehem, PA 18015
"Walt Whitman's reminiscences of the Bowery Theatre demonstrate the specifically masculine, working-class appeal that Forrest and his audience confirmed for each other. 'Recalling from that period the occasion of either Forrest or Booth, any good night at the old Bowery, pack'd from ceiling to pit with its audience mainly of alert, well-dress'd, full-blooded young and middle-aged men, the best average of American-born mechanics- the emotional nature of the whole mass arous'd by the power and magnetism of as mighty mimes as ever trod to stage [...]" (21).
"Clare (born Jane McElheny) had acquired the title 'Queen of Bohemia' (noted editor and occasional escort Henry Clapp was Bohemia's acknowledged 'king') or, as mutual friend Walt Whitman dubbed her, the 'New Woman.' Clare encouraged Menken's writing and excelled at it herself. She was a popular, well-published cultural observer and journalist for The Saturday Press. Hindered by a weak voice, she was much less successful as an actress, although she persisted in periodically taking stabs at the stage. Whitman would recall Clare's 'gay, easy, sunny, free, loose but not ungood life'" (75).
"The notoriety of [Adah Menken and Ada Clare], who are usually mentioned in connection with each other, combined with Clare's scandalous lack of shame in bearing a child out of wedlock, their membership in the country's best-known literary circles, and the supposed proclivities of subcultural bohemia of the time, generated many questions about their sexual desires" (76).
"Two major American literary critics, William Dean Howells and James Gibbons Huneker, published widely read eulogies. Whether it was merely coincidental or wheter the Shuberts intentionally sought to exploit Ibsen's death, it certainly brought attention to their new star" (132).
"The notoriety of [Adah Menken and Ada Clare], who are usually mentioned in connection with each other, combined with Clare's scandalous lack of shame in bearing a child out of wedlock, their membership in the country's best-known literary circles, and the supposed proclivities of subcultural bohemia of the time, generated many questions about their sexual desires" (76).
"And, though Adah Isaacs Menken performed a repertoire very similar to Cushman's, her cultivation of a Bohemian lifestyle is far from the careful respectability with which Cushman surrounded herself. The scandals and shocking behavior that seemed to follow both Forrest and Menknen were avoided by Cushman" (45).
"The free-and-easy Adah Isaacs Menken (1835-69) was a notorious performer (and poet) best known for her seemingly 'naked' wild ride while strapped to the back of a real horse in the sensational stage play Mazeppa" (63).
"Mark Twain, however, was not as taken with Menken as other male writers were and was actually quite critical of what Thomas Schirer calls Menken's 'substitution of sexual illusion for acting ability.' Twain lambasted her unmotivated cavorting in Mazeppa, referred to her as 'that manly young female,' [...]" (73).
"Mark Twain, however, was not as taken with Menken as other male writers were and was actually quite critical of what Thomas Schirer calls Menken's 'substitution of sexual illusion for acting ability.' Twain lambasted her unmotivated cavorting in Mazeppa, and referred to her as 'that manly young female,' [...]" (73).
Born November 13th, 1833 in Maryland, Edwin Booth had an affinity for the acting world; he was named after the actors Edwin Forrest and Thomas Flynn, and his father, Junius, was a British actor who
27 Memorial Drive West, Bethlehem, PA 18015