“America” on Nineteenth-Century Stages; Or, Jonathan in England and Jonathan at Home
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by D-Scholarship@Pitt PLAYING “AMERICA” ON NINETEENTH-CENTURY STAGES; OR, JONATHAN IN ENGLAND AND JONATHAN AT HOME by Maura L. Jortner BA, Franciscan University, 1993 MA, Xavier University, 1998 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2005 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by It was defended on December 6, 2005 and approved by Heather Nathans, Ph.D., University of Maryland Kathleen George, Ph.D., Theatre Arts Attilio Favorini, Ph.D., Theatre Arts Dissertation Advisor: Bruce McConachie, Ph.D., Theatre Arts ii Copyright © by Maura L. Jortner 2005 iii PLAYING “AMERICA” ON NINETEENTH-CENTURY STAGES; OR, JONATHAN IN ENGLAND AND JONATHAN AT HOME Maura L. Jortner, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2005 This dissertation, prepared towards the completion of a Ph.D. in Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Pittsburgh, examines “Yankee Theatre” in America and London through a post-colonial lens from 1787 to 1855. Actors under consideration include: Charles Mathews, James Hackett, George Hill, Danforth Marble and Joshua Silsbee. These actors were selected due to their status as iconic performers in “Yankee Theatre.” The Post-Revolutionary period in America was filled with questions of national identity. Much of American culture came directly from England. American citizens read English books, studied English texts in school, and watched English theatre. They were inundated with English culture and unsure of what their own civilization might look like. A post-colonial crisis, in other words, gripped the new nation. This dissertation attempts to explain “Yankee Theatre,” a performance tradition popular from the mid-1820s to the mid-1850s, within this complex, transatlantic sociopolitical situation. It begins with a discussion of early Yankee plays and explains how they were written against the “empire,” distinguishing the new citizen from the English subject. But “Yankee Theatre” was not only popular in America. Several actors traveled across the Atlantic to perform on London stages. Thus, this dissertation also explains the pressures they faced in fighting for international success. It encompasses how the English understood the Yankee and how an imperial standard was established overseas. It offers an account of why English audiences were unhappy with the iv first American Yankee actors they witnessed, and outlines how future Yankee actors were caught in this web of criterion and taste for years to come. “Playing America” asserts that “Yankee Theatre” addressed specific problems, issues, and questions arising from America’s post-colonial status. When the post-colonial crisis passed, Yankee Theatre also ended. By the mid-to late-1850s, the minstrel replaced the Yankee as the symbol of the nation. An examination of “Yankee Theatre” allows for a greater understanding of circum- Atlantic performance as well as issues of nationalism and national identity in the theatre. Research methodologies include historical and textual analysis as well as post-colonial, literary, and dramatic theory. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................ x 1.0 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 “YANKEE THEATRE:” A DEFINITION ....................................................... 1 1.2 OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE....................................................................... 4 1.3 A NEW APPROACH .......................................................................................... 7 1.4 TOOLS OF THE TRADE: ANALYZING POST-COLONIAL LITERATURE.................................................................................................................... 13 1.5 A SHORT HISTORY OF YANKEE THEATRE AND CHAPTER OUTLINE............................................................................................................................ 20 2.0 CHAPTER ONE ........................................................................................................ 27 2.1 JONATHAN BEGINS HIS AMERICAN STAGE CAREER: IN THEORY AND PRACTICE (1787 – 1815)........................................................................................ 27 2.2 THE POST-COLONIAL SITUATION IN THE UNITED STATES ........... 29 2.3 THE CONTRAST.............................................................................................. 32 2.4 TEARS AND SMILES ...................................................................................... 42 2.5 THE BUCKTAILS; OR AMERICANS IN ENGLAND................................ 52 2.6 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................. 59 3.0 CHAPTER TWO ....................................................................................................... 62 3.1 ENGLISH IMPERIAL SNOBBERY DRESSED UP LIKE A YANKEE: CHARLES MATHEWS AND THE LONDON STAGE (1824-1834) ........................... 62 3.2 CHARLES MATHEWS: THE BEGINNING................................................. 65 3.3 CHARLES MATHEWS AT HOME ............................................................... 68 3.4 TRAVEL LITERATURE ................................................................................. 71 3.5 TRAVEL NARRATIVES THROUGH A POST-COLONIAL LENS ......... 73 vi 3.6 MATHEWS’S WORK THROUGH A POST-COLONIAL LENS .............. 76 3.7 THE AMERICAN THROUGH THE EYES OF A TOURIST, A GENTLEMAN, AND A POTENTIAL YELLOW FEVER VICTIM........................... 79 3.8 A TRIP TO AMERICA..................................................................................... 85 3.9 JONATHAN IN ENGLAND; OR JONATHAN DOUBIKINS..................... 97 3.10 MATHEWS’S LEGACY ................................................................................ 111 4.0 CHAPTER THREE ................................................................................................. 113 4.1 FISHING TOO NEAR A BRITISH NAVAL VESSEL IS BOUND TO MAKE FOR ONE UNHAPPY YANKEE: JAMES HACKETT AND THE FIRST PROFESSIONAL AMERICAN YANKEE (1827- 1834) ............................................. 113 4.2 THE YANKEE’S DEVELOPMENT IN AMERICAN CULTURE ........... 117 4.3 A POST-COLONIAL DILEMMA................................................................. 123 4.4 JAMES HACKETT: THE FIRST AMERICAN STAR YANKEE............ 127 4.5 SYLVESTER DAGGERWOOD: AN AMERICAN YANKEE TAKES CENTER STAGE............................................................................................................. 130 4.6 THE UNCLE BEN STORY............................................................................ 134 4.7 HACKETT’S FIRST LONDON TOUR: 1827.............................................. 138 4.8 HACKETT IN AMERICA: 1827-1832.......................................................... 150 4.9 JOHN BULL AT HOME; OR JONATHAN IN ENGLAND...................... 151 4.10 EXPERIMENTING WITH THE YANKEE................................................. 157 4.11 HACKETT’S SECOND LONDON TOUR: 1832......................................... 167 5.0 CHAPTER FOUR.................................................................................................... 182 5.1 GEORGE H. HILL AND THE TWO VERY DIFFERENT STAGE YANKEES (1831-1839).................................................................................................... 182 5.2 TWO WORRYING TRAVELOGUES WITHIN THREE YEARS ........... 185 5.3 GEORGE HILL: AMERICANS FIND A NEW FAVORITE YANKEE .. 191 5.4 TRIP TO NIAGARA OR TRAVELLERS IN AMERICA.......................... 192 5.5 THE FOREST ROSE...................................................................................... 201 5.6 THE GREEN MOUNTAIN BOY .................................................................. 209 5.7 HILL’S FIRST TRIP TO LONDON ............................................................. 217 5.8 THE YANKEE PEDLAR ............................................................................... 218 vii 5.9 HILL RETURNS HOME: 1837 ..................................................................... 224 5.10 HILL’S SECOND TRIP TO ENGLAND...................................................... 230 5.11 WIFE FOR A DAY.......................................................................................... 236 5.12 HILL RETURNS HOME FOR THE FINAL TIME.................................... 241 5.13 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................ 243 6.0 CHAPTER FIVE...................................................................................................... 246 6.1 DANFORTH MARBLE AND THE “LOSER” YANKEE (1836 – 1845) .. 246 6.2 DANFORTH MARBLE: THE BEGINNINGS OF A LOW COMIC ........ 248 6.3 SAM PATCH, THE YANKEE JUMPER ..................................................... 249 6.4 THE VERMONT WOOL DEALER ............................................................. 256 6.5 YANKEE LAND.............................................................................................. 261 6.6 POSSIBLE EXPLANATIONS FOR AN UN-AMERICAN YANKEE ...... 265 6.7 MARBLE GOES TO LONDON .................................................................... 271 6.8 SAM PATCH, THE JUMPER ....................................................................... 274