Joseph Jefferson - Publications

Actor, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Third in a line of that name, he was part of an old theatre family. Following his debut at age three mimicking Thomas D Rice, singer of ‘Jim Crow’, he had a career that spanned 71 years. He became America's pre-eminent comedian, describing his own profile as ‘pure nutcracker type’. In 1856 he visited Europe, then returned to join Laura Keene's company where he played Dr Pangloss in The Heir-at-Law and Asa Trenchard in Our American Cousin. His greatest success was his own version of Rip Van Winkle, a role he played solely during 1865–80. In fact, there were critics who said that all of his characterizations were identical with his Rip Van Winkle. He succeeded Edwin Booth as president of the Players in 1893. His last performance was in 1904 in Cricket on the Hearth, after which he lectured widely and published his autobiography. Four of his sons continued the family tradition as actors.

Joseph Jefferson (February 20, 1829 – April 23, 1905) was an American actor. He was the third actor of this name in a family of actors and managers, and one of the most famous of all American comedians.

Jefferson was born in Philadelphia. It was there that the four year old Jefferson sang alternating stanzas in the song Jump Jim Crow. His father died when he was 13, and young Jefferson continued acting and helping to support the family. He saved money, visited Europe in 1856, and in November of that year joined Laura Keene's Company in New York and established a reputation as a first-rate actor. After this experience, partly as actor, partly as manager, he won his first pronounced success in 1858 as Asa Trenchard in Tom Taylor's Our American Cousin at Laura Keene's theatre in New York.

Other early parts included Newman Noggs in Nicholas Nickleby, Caleb Plummer in The Cricket on the Hearth, Dr. Pangloss in The Heir at Law, Salem Scudder in The Octoroon, and Bob Acres in The Rivals, the last being not so much an interpretation of the character as Sheridan sketched it as a creation of the actors.

In 1859, Jefferson made a dramatic version of the story of Rip Van Winkle on the basis of older plays, and acted it with success in Washington. He arrived at Sydney in the beginning of November 1861, and played a successful season introducing to Australia Rip Van Winkle, Our American Cousin, The Octoroon and other plays. In 1865 Jefferson with health recovered went to London and arranged with Dion Boucicault for a revised version of Rip Van Winkle. It ran 170 nights, with Jefferson in the leading part. Jefferson would continue acting in this show for 40 years.

Returning to America, Jefferson made it his stock play, making annual tours of the states with it, and occasionally reviving The Heir-at-Law in which he played Dr Pangloss, The Cricket on the Hearth (Caleb Plummer) and The Rivals (Bob Acres). Jefferson also starred in a number of films as the character starting in 1896, the earliest of which is in the US National Film Registry.

With the exception of minor parts, such as the First Gravedigger in Hamlet, which he played in an all-star combination headed by Edwin Booth, Jefferson created no new character after 1865;

Jefferson died from pneumonia on April 23, 1905 in Palm Beach, Florida. Jefferson was twice married: to an actress, Margaret Clements Lockyer (1832-1861), in 1850, and in 1867 to Sarah Warren, niece of William Warren the actor.

Publications

William Winter, The Jeffersons (Boston, 1881) Carroll, Twelve Americans: Their Lives and Times (New York, 1883) Matthews and Hutton, Actors and Actresses of Great Britain and the United States (New York, 1886) N. Dole, Joseph Jefferson at Home (Boston, 1898) Francis Wilson, Joseph Jewfferson (New York, 1906) M. Moses, Famous Actor-Families in America (New York, 1906) Francis Wilson, Reminiscences of a Fellow Player (New York, 1906) William Winter, Other Days (New York, 1908) E. Jefferson, Intimate Recollections of Joseph Jefferson, {New York, 1909)