BOOTH, l-:i)\V!N THOMAS. 



97 



Mass., after a brief illness, and this blow caused 



Mr. I'm.. Hi'* tvtiivniriit fnuii (ho stage until 

 tin- autumn. Hi- returned to the Winter Gar- 

 den Theater, of which ho hud become part, own- 

 er, in " Hamlet," Sept. 21, 18M. During this 



11 lie played Berluccio in "The Fool'.s lu- 

 ihe first time in New York. A nota- 



. .-lit of the following year was the pro- 

 duction of "Julius Cicsar, Nov. 25, 1864, with 

 Kdwin Booth as Brutus, and his brothers as 

 Ca-Miis and Marc Antony. The fact that the 

 aged mother of the three brothers was present 

 added a tender interest to the enthusiasm with 

 which the performance was greeted. Edwin 

 Booth next accomplished the memorable hun- 

 dred nights' run of "Hamlet" at the Winter 

 Garden Theater, Nov. 26, 1864, to March 22, 

 1865, after which he took the same play to the 



u Theater, where he was playing when the 

 awful news of April 14 closed his public career 

 at once and prostrated him with grief and shame. 

 He left Boston, April 15, and for nearly a year 

 lived in absolute seclusion at his home in New 

 York city. Finally, however, he yielded to the 

 persuasion of his friends that the American peo- 

 ple wished him to resume his pre-eminent posi- 

 tion upon the stage, and on Jan. 3, 1866, he 

 came before them once more at the Winter Gar- 

 den in " Hamlet." He was greeted with the 

 warmest demonstrations of affection by a large 

 and distinguished audience. On Feb. 1, 1866, a 

 magnificent revival of " Richelieu " was inaugu- 

 rated, and this was followed early in 1867 by a 

 similarly wonderful production of " The Mer- 

 chant of Venice." On Jan. 22, 1867, a gold 

 medal, struck in commemoration of the great 

 production of " Hamlet " in 1864, was presented 

 to Mr. Booth on the stage of his theater, by a 

 committee of distinguished, citizens of New 

 York. During the last week of this season, on 

 the morning of March 23, the Winter Garden 

 Theater with all its contents was destroyed by 

 fire. There was no insurance, and Mr. Booth 

 lost all his valuable wardrobe except one shoe, 

 which happened to have been taken away to be 

 mended. After the fire the blackened remains 

 of a shoe buckle and the star of the order of 

 the Klephant and Castle, which had been worn 

 by John Philip Kemble in " Hamlet," were all 

 that he recovered of a number of greatly prized 

 mementoes of his father and of the older actors. 

 This loss fell entirely upon Mr. Booth, as just be- 

 fore the fire he had bought the share of his part- 

 ner, J. S. Clarke. But with undaunted energy 

 he began immediately to effect arrangements for 

 the building of a new and more perfect theater. 

 The result was the structure known as Booth's 

 Theater, at the corner of Twenty-third Street 

 and Sixth Avenue, New York, the corner stone 

 of which was laid April 8, 1868. After the de- 

 struction of his former theater the actor worked 

 with the utmost vigor, playing his repertory in 

 all the principal cities of the Union, and devot- 

 ing his great earnings to the accomplishment of 

 his intention to make the new theater a com- 

 plete and permanent institution for the lasting 

 glory of the American stage. During this peri- 

 od of hard work, in Chicago, in the autumn of 

 1867, Mr. Booth became engaged to Miss Mary 

 Kunnion, a stepdaughter of the well-known act- 

 or and manager. .1. 11. MeVicker, known upon 

 VOL. xxxiu. 7 A 



the stage by the hitler's name. They wen- mar- 

 ried June ?, iNti!), at Long Branch. Mrs. Booth 

 had permanently retired from the stage before 

 their marriage. 



The new theater was opened with great public 

 enthusiasm Feb. 3, 1869, iiresenting a grand 

 production of " Romeo and Juliet," Edwin Booth 

 playing Romeo, Kdwin Adams Mercutio, and 

 Miss MeVicker Juliet. The stock company 

 engaged by Mr. Booth for his theater comprised 

 the ablest actors and actresses of their time. 

 "Othello" was the next great production, April 

 12 to May 29, when Mr. Booth ceased to play, 

 and the company continued with Edwin Adams 

 at its head until July 31. Joseph Jefferson 

 played " Rip Van Winkle" from Sept. 2 to Sept. 

 18, and other stars followed, supported by the 

 stock company until Mr. Booths return. On 

 Jan. 5, 1870. he began his second and most mag- 

 nificent revival of " Hamlet," which continued 

 until March 19. A grand revival of " Riche- 

 lieu " was given on Jan. 9, 1871, followed by 

 "Much Ado about Nothing," in which Mr. 

 Booth played Benedick for the first time in 

 New York, March 6; "Othello" on the 20th of 

 the same month, and "The Fool's Revenge" 

 from April 3 to April 24, when Mr. Booth ceased 

 playing, but directed the sumptuous production 

 of " A Winter's Tale " by the company. The 

 season closed July 4, and opened again Aug. 14, 

 the company supporting a succession of the 

 most famous stars, until Mr. Booth's reappear- 

 ance in a revival of " Julius Caesar," Dec. 25, 

 1871, which held the stage until March 16, 1872. 

 During these productions Mr. Booth gave his 

 personal attention to every detail of both artistic 

 and mechanical work. He became sole owner 

 of the theater in 1871, but the panic of 1873-'74 

 swept him into bankruptcy. He retired from 

 management in June, 1873, and made an assign- 

 ment in November following. Booth's Theater 

 passed from his control, and after various 

 changes of management it was closed, April 30, 

 1883, with a performance by Madame Modjeska 

 of the same plav with which it had been opened, 

 " Romeo and Juliet." Soon afterward it was 

 torn down, and a large business building was 

 erected in its stead. 



Mr. Booth at once set out to free himself from 

 his embarrassments, and entered upon a series of 

 engagements throughout the country, beginning 

 at the Fifth Avenue Theater, New York, Oct. 

 25, 1875. During the early months of 1876 he 

 made a tour of the Southern States and was 

 greeted everywhere by crowds of delighted peo- 

 ple. He went to California in August, 1876, 

 arriving in San Francisco Sept. 5. exactly- twenty 

 years since he had left that city. There he 

 played for eight weeks, during which the re- 

 ceipts amounted to $96,000; and from Nov. 20, 

 1876, to Jan. 26, 1877, he played at the Lyceum 

 (now the Fourteenth Street Theater) in New 

 York. The profits of the work done by him 

 from October, 1875, to May, 1877, enabled him 

 to pay off all obligations entailed by the failure 

 of Booth's Theater. The season of 1877-'78 saw 

 him again at work as a strolling player. In 

 January. 1878, he rented Booth's Theater and 

 played there again, under his own management. 

 In Chicago, where he began an engagement on 

 April 14, 1879, he was shot at three times, while 



