Lust for Fame: The Stage Career of John Wilkes Booth

Gordon Samples

McFarland, Jan 1, 1998 - Biography & Autobiography - 238 pages

The first book on Booth's ten tumultuous years on the stage, with a wealth of rare period illustrations reproduced with special techniques yielding results of better quality than the originals.
The book evaluates his performances through newspaper reviews and the recorded opinions of his contemporaries; it also separates Booth the actor from Booth the assassin. Previously unpublished letters are included, some in facsimile.
John Wilkes' famous brother Edwin was not necessarily the leading actor of his era: this book indicates why John Wilkes Booth might claim that distinction.
One of the appendices is an exhaustive chronology of all his performances, and all fellow cast members.

Contents

• Retrospection: 1
• Juvenile Theater: 12
• First Professional Appearance: 16
• First Stock Engagement: 19
• The First Season: 25
• The Second Season: 35
• A Rising Star: 46
• An Actor at MidCentury: 52
• Yankee Territory: 57
• To Compel an Audience: 63
• A Native Son Is Welcomed: 71
• The Broadway Engagement: 76
• I Am Myself Alone: 86
• Youngest Star in the World: 92
• Booth vs Forrest: 98
• Star of the First Magnitude: 105
• TourHopping at a Frantic Pace and an Unheralded Trip to Paris: 116
• Theater Enthusiast: 123
• John Wilkes and the Ladies: 131
• The Third Identifying Scar: 132
• St LouisLouisvilleNashvilleCincinnati: 134
• Crescent City Under the Yankee Yoke: 142
• The Favorite City Montreal Pleasure vs Business: 149
• Parlor Performances Among the Oil Fields of Pennsylvania: 155
• Rationales: 162
• The Final Stage Is Set: 171
• Chapter Notes: 181
• Bibliography: 191
• Representative Casts: 225
• Index: 235

Bibliographic information

• Title: Lust for Fame: The Stage Career of John Wilkes Booth
• Author: Gordon Samples
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: McFarland, 1998
• ISBN: 0786405864, 9780786405862
• Length: 238 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Entertainment & Performing Arts; Biography & Autobiography / Historical