Title |
[Boston Theatre Broadside for Joseph Jefferson] |
Date |
1870-04 |
Production |
Rip Van Winkle |
Character roles |
Mr. Joseph Jefferson (Rip Van Winkle); Mr. Leslie Allen (Derrick Von Beekman); J. F. Hagan (Cockels); S. J. Willis (Nichols Vedder); Emerson (Stein); Master Johnny Browne (Little Hendrick); Jennie Rist (Little Meenie); Williams (Clausen); Mrs. J. B. Booth (Gretchen Van Winkle); Mr. Daniels (Swaggerins); Mr. Scott (Hendrick Hudson); D. J. Maguinnis (Seth); Shirley France (Hendrick Vedder); Miss Rachel Noah (Meenie Van Winkle); Mrs. J. H. Browne (Katchen) |
Artistic roles |
Junius Brutus Booth, Jr. (Manager); Joseph Jefferson (Actor); Dion Boucicault (Playwright) |
Genre |
Melodrama |
Theme |
One-Role Wonders |
Item description |
Broadside for the Boston Theatre leased by Junius Brutus Booth. Broadside advertises one week's performances for Mr. Joseph Jefferson (1829-1905) in the role of 'Rip Van Winkle.' The cast is listed on the broadside, as well as admission prices. |
Object narrative |
Joseph Jefferson (1829-1905), a beloved nineteenth century comedic actor best known for his role of Rip Van Winkle (a role he played for over forty years), was born into a theatrical family on February 20, 1829. Jefferson had a talent for performing and started his stage career early. He first encountered the role of Rip Van Winkle when his brother, Charles Burke, played it in 1850. Fifteen years later, Jefferson submitted the play to Irish playwright Dion Boucicault to adapt for him. Almost immediately, it became his starring vehicle. He became known for achieving a realistic style of acting which was rarely seen from his contemporaries. Before Stanislavski and Chekhov employed the technique in Europe, Jefferson turned his back to the audience while having a conversation with his wife and, according to critics, was able to convey to audiences what Rip was thinking purely through his movements. Another innovation in the way Jefferson performed the role of Rip was in that of the delivery of punch lines of jokes: The obvious way to play such a punch line was to look at the spectators as if letting them in on the joke, but Jefferson never played it that way. By delivering the line as an internal aside or verbalized subtext, he allowed his audience to get the joke themselves (Bloom 121). This advertisement is for the April 26, 1870 Boston performance of 'Rip Van Winkle' at the Boston Theatre, then leased and managed by Junius Brutus Booth, Jr. The role had already made Jefferson a rich man, but he was nervous about the possibility of playing only one role for the rest of his life. Nonetheless, by 1870 two-thirds of his performances were as Rip Van Winkle. The rest were a combination of seven other roles. Later that year, he would move Rip Van Winkle to Booth's Theatre in New York and perform Rip consecutively for 149 performances. Jefferson continued to grow and change the character and the production over the course of the next thirty-five years until his death. |
Type |
Text |
Original format |
Playbills/broadsides |
Original publisher |
[Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified] |
Language |
en |
Contributing institution |
Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries |
Source collection |
MSS255 Robert C. Hansen Performing Arts Collection |
Series/grouping |
9.1: Posters -- Plays/Perfomances |
Box |
Oversize |
Finding aid link |
http://library.uncg.edu/info/depts/scua/collections/manuscripts/ead/mss255.xml |
Preferred citation |
[Identification of item], Robert C. Hansen Performing Arts Collection, 1753-2006 (MSS255), Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives and Manuscripts, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, USA. |
Rights statement |
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/ |
Additional rights information |
NO COPYRIGHT - UNITED STATES. This item has been determined to be free of copyright restrictions in the United States. The user is responsible for determing actual copyright status for any reuse of the material. |
Object ID |
MSS255.O.010 |
Digital publisher |
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, University Libraries, PO Box 26170, Greensboro NC 27402-6170, 336.334.5304 |
OCLC number |
872280724 |