Title	[Book Plate, Charlotte Cushman, "Romeo & Juliet"]
Date	Undated
Creator	Johnson, Fry, & Co.
Production	Romeo and Juliet
Character roles	Charlotte Cushman (Romeo); Susan Cushman (Juliet)
Artistic roles	Charlotte Cushman (Actor); Susan Cushman (Actor)
Genre	Shakespeare tragedy
Theme	Shakespeare Women in 19th C. Theatre
Item description	Book Plate of Charlotte and Susan Cushman playing Romeo and Juliet. The plate was copyrighted in 1858 by Johnson, Fry, and Co. and probably published in their book, 'The Complete Works,' by William Shakespeare.
Object narrative	Charlotte Cushman (1816-1876) was the first actress of American birth who could claim legitimate fame upon the stage. Beginning her performance career with a dream of singing opera, she joined a local choir and before long a generous benefactor appeared and arranged for vocal instruction. Within a few years she was a popular opera singer (contralto) in Boston. Traveling to New Orleans to continue building her career, however, she met with harsh critics who declared that she could not sing. Her voice began to decline, and that is when someone suggested she be an actor instead, as her reviews in New Orleans had always been more praiseworthy of her acting of roles than the singing of them. Also in New Orleans was James Barton, a tragic actor who needed someone to play opposite him. He trained Charlotte, and a short time after the demise of her opera career (at twenty years of age), she opened with Barton as Lady Macbeth. The praise was immediate, Barton declaring her the greatest living actress on the stage. This praise would continue the rest of her performing days, as she built a name for herself in America for the next eight years. During this time her younger sister, Susan, had become entangled in a marriage to a much older man at the age of fourteen. When she became pregnant, her hapless husband abandoned her to her family's care. Eventually, Susan desired to contribute to the family income alongside Charlotte, and Charlotte began training her for the stage as well. Charlotte had long been known as having a masculine frame, broad manly features, and a deep, commanding voice. In the Cushman family, Susan had garnered all the beauty and femininity. Charlotte, accustomed to playing breeches roles for quite some time, groomed Susan to play Juliet to her Romeo. They achieved critical success with their pairing. Meanwhile, despite the fame and many engagements Cushman secured in America, it was impossible for her to demand a large salary without English affirmation and approval; London was still the theatre capital of the world, and America had yet to establish a real theatre of its own. In 1844, she traveled to England where she became a hot ticket within months. By mid-1845, the rest of her family had joined her, Susan preparing for her own London debut as Juliet. On December 30, 1845, London first saw the sisters perform the amorous lovers, Charlotte being given accolades for her erotic overtures to Juliet, an interpretation she was allowed as a woman, it not being thought appropriate for a man to show such lust on stage (Leach 169). Reviewers uniformly agreed that in Charlotte's Romeo, the illusion was forcible and perfect (qtd. in Mullenix 193). They called Susan's performance promising (qtd. in Leach 176). This item is a book plate of Charlotte and Susan Cushman as Romeo and Juliet possibly taken from The Complete Works by William Shakespeare published by Johnson, Fry, and Co. in 1858. The engraving pictures Charlotte and Susan from Act 3, Scene 5, when Romeo is attempting to flee through Juliet's window after their wedding night.
Type	Text
Original format	Book Plate
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	10.2.3: Photographs, Cards, Caricatures/Satire and Other Pictoral Materials -- Postcards -- Theatres
Box	92
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.B92.021
Digital publisher	The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, University Libraries, PO Box 26170, Greensboro NC 27402-6170, 336.334.5304
OCLC number	872280969

[Book Plate, Charlotte Cushman, "Romeo & Juliet"]

Page/Item Description