Bingo - Our American Cousin Challenge

Question

This month's Friday Night Bingo theme centers around the 19th century British play, Our American Cousin, and a particular performance held 14 Apr 1865 at Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC. 

That night, renowned actress Laura Keene and her company were headlining, along with Ford's stock company of performers. Halfway through Act III Scene 2, actor Harry Hawk, standing alone on stage, uttered the sidesplitting line "Don't know the manners of good society, eh? Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal - you sockdologizing old man-trap!" During the ensuing laughter, fellow actor John Wilkes Booth entered the box occupied by President Abraham Lincoln, and fatally shot him in the back of the head.

Much has been written about the Lincoln assassination, but not so much about the men and women who made up the cast, crew, and orchestra of that fateful night's performance. Most of these individuals never achieved the level of fame required for us to declare them "notable," but their stories are fascinating none-the-less.

If this era of history is of interest to you, why not help us make WikiTree the "go-to" place for Our American Cousin biographies. To do so, we'll need Researchers, BioBuilders, Soucerers, Connectors, DataDoctors, Categorizers, Formatters, Proofreaders, PhotoFinders, and more. Of course, for those who prefer connecting over profile-building, we also want to increase CC7 connections and link these families to the Big Tree.

To participate, simply visit the Our American Cousin Free Space page, select a profile from the list, and begin working your magic, Just be sure to share your finds with us here on G2G.

Comments

I was not very familiar with the word "sockdologizing" and I immediately had to look it up. Here is the "wiktionary" entry for the word: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sockdologizing.

Answer 1

Laura Keene

Born in England in 1825, she became an actress after her husband was convicted of an unknown crime and shipped to Australia. She soon moved to America where she became one of era's most successful theatrical managers. 

Immediately after Lincoln was shot, she took to the stage to calm the crowds before heading to the president's box, where she cradled his head until he could be transferred to a boarding house across the street.  

She was detained twice as a possible co-conspirator but was quickly cleared of any wrongdoing.