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Theatre Journal 55.2 (2003) 368-369



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Joseph Jefferson: Dean of the American Theatre. By Arthur Bloom. Savannah: Frederic C. Beil, 2000; pp. 507. $35.00 cloth.

In his 1889 Autobiography, Joseph Jefferson III, the acknowledged master of the American comic stage and then an international star in the eponymous lead role in Dion Boucicault's Rip Van Winkle, asserts, "We [actors] learn our profession by the mortifications we are compelled to go through in order to get a living" (449). This maxim provides the keynote for Arthur Bloom's impressive biography of Jefferson, which renders a faithful, unvarnished picture of the poverty and dogged toil which characterized the actor's existence for two decades and eventually set him on the path of greatness.

Whereas Jefferson's book is, as Bloom notes, "a collection of amusing personal and theatrical anecdotes brimming over with nostalgia" (xvii), this recent biography is a thorough, factual, evenhanded examination of all aspects of Jefferson's life and career. It includes events that bathe its subject in glory and others that reveal him in a less than flattering light, such as his initial reluctance to play the part of Rip and his unwillingness to seek newer dramatic material as Rip became stale.

Joseph Jefferson is a clear, definitive work of prodigious research that provides critical as well as laudatory assessments of each of Jefferson's roles as they evolved. For instance, struggling to find the proper interpretation of Bob Acres in The Rivals, Jefferson employed and discarded various mannerisms, then cut scenes and roles to make the part "play," eventually discovering that the key to the role's success lay in the correct conveyance of cowardice in the duel scene (213-215). For Rip he tinkered for decades with minute aspects of facial expression, stance, the handling of props, and the proper inflection of certain telling phrases, thereby making points with the keenest impact. Evaluations of Jefferson's performances in various roles, among them Asa Trenchard in Tom Taylor's Our American Cousin and Caleb Plummer in Boucicault's Dot, utilize contemporary reviews as well as firsthand accounts by other performers to provide an understanding of both Jefferson's technique and his powerful bond with his audiences.

Bloom does not stint on crediting Jefferson with astute financial management and anticipating directorial imperatives of rehearsal methods and production verisimilitude that emerged by the century's end. While Jefferson himself sets forth his thoughts on these matters (Autobiography, 434-5), Bloom documents the salutary effects of their implementation (177-87). He also provides documentation of company members, touring itineraries, and repertoire, making the work a valuable aid to the theatre historian. Observing, for instance, that "Between 1879 and 1904 Jefferson employed at least two hundred different actors as company members . . . [some of whom] were leading figures of the nineteenth-century American theatre" (179), the author proceeds to chronicle the roles, the relationships, and the future successes or failures of many. An eighty-four page appendix sets forth in painstaking detail "The Tours of Joseph Jefferson, Fall 1866-Spring 1904" and the primary sources that document them.

Particularly helpful is Bloom's treatment of the theatrical figures who influenced Jefferson, such as his grandfather and father (of identical name and [End Page 368] profession), John E. Owens, Noah Ludlow and Sol Smith, and Laura Keene. From each, Jefferson took some measure of inspiration, self-discipline, or professional education, yet he resolutely carved out his own path to international fame. Jefferson's humility and self-discipline are evident throughout his apprenticeship, and Bloom uses this period in the first three chapters to lay the groundwork for understanding the work ethic and perfectionism that brought the comedian such esteem and adulation as his star ascended.

New material is offered about the comedian's first wife, Margaret Clements Lockyear Jefferson, and his response to her death, which receives scant reference in Autobiography. There is also material about Jefferson's reaction to the outbreak of war in 1861. His close relationships with half-brother Charles Burke and tragedian Edwin Booth are treated with sensitivity...

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