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Our American Cousin
Our American Cousin (1858). A comedy by Englishman Tom Taylor, it originally centered on a rather bumptious Yankee, Asa Trenchard, who arrives in England, where he rescues his virtually impoverished English relatives from the treacherous financial machinations of a supposed family counselor and also marries the young girl whom he himself had inadvertently deprived of an inheritance. The play was initially offered to J. W. Wallack, who rejected it and suggested it be submitted to Laura Keene. She, too, at first was cool to the comedy. However, when she produced it at her theatre in 1858 with Joseph Jefferson as Asa and E. A. Sothern as the silly, lisping Lord Dundreary, the play became one of the biggest comedy hits of its era and helped both actors on the way to stardom. With time Sothern expanded his role until it was the most important part in the play. A comparison of an 1869 printed version and an 1870 manuscript used by Sothern shows markedly different dialogue. The play did not reach its author's native England until 1861. It held the stage in both countries for several decades and was revived with some regularity until the turn of the century. Most Americans know the play as the one being performed at the time of President Lincoln's assassination.
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Cite this article
Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Our American Cousin." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Our American Cousin." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-OurAmericanCousin.html Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Our American Cousin." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-OurAmericanCousin.html |
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Our American Cousin
Our American Cousin, comedy of Yankee life by the English dramatist Tom Taylor, first produced in 1858. It is remembered as the play that Lincoln was watching at Ford's Theatre in Washington (April 14, 1865) when he was assassinated by Booth.
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Cite this article
James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Our American Cousin." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Our American Cousin." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-OurAmericanCousin.html James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Our American Cousin." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-OurAmericanCousin.html |
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