Best know for his portrayal of Asa Trenchard in Our American Cousin and Rip Van Winkle in Rip Van Winkle, Joseph Jefferson was one of the most popular comedians of his tim
27 Memorial Drive West, Bethlehem, PA 18015
Dodo begins by describing the play he intends to have produced as soon as he can find a "weak minded manager" to do so. His proposed play would defy the current theatrical conventions. This discussion becomes a segue into Dodo's review of Laura Keene's company's production of Tom Taylor's Our American Cousin, a play that conforms to the conventions Dodo criticizes and whose only saving grace appears to be Jefferson's performance. After giving an in-depth review of the play, Dodo briefly discusses the current performances at Wallack's and other dramatic news.
Dodo writes in his review of Jefferson's performance in Our American Cousin that the "highest praise" is "to say that he made so utterly worthless and conventional a piece pleasing to the audience" (2).
Dodo mentions that Laura Keene recently produced a Tom Taylor's Our American Cousin, a three-act comedy. Keene's performance in the play is described as "vapid" (2).
Of his performance in Our American Cousin Dodo writes that Sothern's performance as Lord Dundreary "was, perhaps, all that the author intended" (2).
An electronic version of this text was previously available in CONTENTdm and has been migrated to Lehigh University's Digital Collections. Reconstruction of direct links to individual articles is in progress. In the meantime, browse issues of the Saturday Press in the Vault at Pfaff's Digital Collection. Page images of The New York Saturday Press were scanned from microfilm owned by Emory University, which was made from original copies held by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Best know for his portrayal of Asa Trenchard in Our American Cousin and Rip Van Winkle in Rip Van Winkle, Joseph Jefferson was one of the most popular comedians of his tim
27 Memorial Drive West, Bethlehem, PA 18015