7 articles at the bottom of this link!!!
http://www.sondheim.com/shows/assassins/
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Thursday, July 1, 2010
JWB: Ballad of Booth
Ideas :
-towards the end... take off splint, to keep respect and honor
-Vulgar (b) High and Mighty Niggar Lover Never! Never, (b) Never, (b) Never. (b)
Support:
"Some say it was your voice had gone"
There's been some superficial theories that his voice was giving away on him, that he had not had the proper training that his older brother had had and that he had sort of reached his peak and there was nowhere else to go. - A&E Biography
"Some say it was booze"
In contrast the nations celebration of the war's end, he was known to be fairly drunk some of the time. He was drinking a quart of Brandy at a time. - A&E Biography
-It is also a country in which we want everything explained in ten-second sound bites. The Balladeer wants a neat and simple motive for John Wilkes Booth’s act of violence – bad reviews, sibling rivalry – but from the very beginning, Assassins declares that there are no easy answers. Booth believed in his cause, believed that the country he loved so deeply was being torn apart, believed that Lincoln was the cause.
The Case for Booth
The power of Assassins – like 1776 and other historical dramas – is its ability to make fully drawn human beings out of the one-dimensional cardboard figures of history books. In Assassins, John Wilkes Booth may be somewhat unbalanced thinking assassination will solve America’s troubles, but he honestly believes he is a patriot. He didn’t kill Lincoln for fame or glory; he killed him to save the country. Looking back, we may quarrel with Booth’s assessment of the state of the union, but it’s important to remember that Lincoln was a widely disliked president; he was not "the pride and joy... of all the U.S.A.," as the Balladeer sings. Booth’s indictments against him are true. Lincoln did throw political dissenters into prison without charge or trial. His decision to abolish slavery was more economic than moralistic. Booth loved his country deeply and saw quite accurately that it was on its deathbed. The issue of slavery is beside the point here. Though we can see in retrospect that slavery was unconscionable, it’s easy to see how it was condoned by society and by people like Booth; Thomas Jefferson and other very moral men owned slaves. From our modern vantage point, we can call Booth a racist, but at the time, his view of slavery was not outside society’s norm. All he could see was that Lincoln was effectively destroying the economy of the South.
The section of "The Ballad of Booth" that begins with "How the country is not what it was..." is profoundly moving. This is not a madman talking; this is a man who loves the U.S.A. and can’t bear to see it divided and its citizens murdered in a bloody war. Many historians have commented that had Booth killed Lincoln two years earlier, he might’ve been hailed as a hero instead. Are Booth’s concerns that different from those voiced by commentators today? Americans across our nation often feel that the president or other politicians are destroying our way of life. Booth wasn’t that different from the protesters during the Vietnam war. Certainly we can’t sanction his method of righting the perceived wrongs – cold-blooded murder – but we also can’t ignore the despair he must’ve felt over the destruction of his beloved country, a destruction that was very real. "The Ballad of Booth" can be a deeply moving, impassioned plea for understanding by a man who honestly believed he was doing what had to be done. Saddest of all in Booth’s hope that the history (i.e., the Balladeer) will pass on the truth; it won’t. Booth’s motivations, passions, and beliefs will be ignored or distorted.
What most people don’t know – what History (personified here by the Balladeer) has left out and distorted – is that John Wilkes Booth was at the top of his fame and wealthy beyond his dreams when he decided to give it all up to kill Lincoln. He’s being sincere when he says, "I have given up my life for this one act." And what he gave up was considerable – he was making about $20,000 a year, an incredible sum at that time. More than that, he was universally adored. He had tons of friends. He was friendly to both the rich ladies who craved his company and to the stable boys. He often gave money to kids on the street. When he dined out with friends, he usually picked up the bill. People thought of him as kind, charming, generous, and a genuinely good man. He absolutely did not kill Lincoln over bad reviews (he was getting stellar reviews) or a failing career (he was becoming an even bigger national star than his older brother) or the need for attention (he was always in the papers and was a big league celebrity wherever he went).
Booth’s motives were political and born out of a genuine and desperate love of his country. Yes, he was a racist, but then again, so were many of the greatest men in history – it’s naïve to condemn him for that any more than we would condemn Jefferson or Washington for it. That’s not say it’s excusable, but it is easy to understand. His racism had nothing to do with his hatred of Lincoln. He hated Lincoln for destroying his country, for killing thousands of American boys, and for trampling on the Constitution, taking powers from Congress that were not his to take. We now know that Abraham Lincoln desecrated in some ways the very foundation of our American government. He ignored – some would say overthrew – the careful construction of the three branches of government designed to hold each other in check, the structure our Founding Fathers so carefully created to avoid tyranny and corruption. He declared war without the approval of Congress. He threw innocent people into jail in both the North and the South without charges and without trials. And as a result, many people hated him, in both the North and the South. They believed he was destroying our country. So it wasn’t all that unreasonable for Booth to think he’d be hailed as a hero for killing Lincoln. Michael Phillips, producer of the political assassination film Taxi Driver, says, "The difference between a hero and a monster is such a fine line."
In "The Ballad of Booth" we can see Booth’s confusion and utter despair over the way the country turned its back on him (at least in his perception), as well as his great sorrow over the destruction of a country he loved with all his heart. He was misguided and he was a murderer – there’s no ignoring that fact – but he was also in many ways, very patriotic.
-towards the end... take off splint, to keep respect and honor
-Vulgar (b) High and Mighty Niggar Lover Never! Never, (b) Never, (b) Never. (b)
Support:
"Some say it was your voice had gone"
There's been some superficial theories that his voice was giving away on him, that he had not had the proper training that his older brother had had and that he had sort of reached his peak and there was nowhere else to go. - A&E Biography
"Some say it was booze"
In contrast the nations celebration of the war's end, he was known to be fairly drunk some of the time. He was drinking a quart of Brandy at a time. - A&E Biography
-It is also a country in which we want everything explained in ten-second sound bites. The Balladeer wants a neat and simple motive for John Wilkes Booth’s act of violence – bad reviews, sibling rivalry – but from the very beginning, Assassins declares that there are no easy answers. Booth believed in his cause, believed that the country he loved so deeply was being torn apart, believed that Lincoln was the cause.
The Case for Booth
The power of Assassins – like 1776 and other historical dramas – is its ability to make fully drawn human beings out of the one-dimensional cardboard figures of history books. In Assassins, John Wilkes Booth may be somewhat unbalanced thinking assassination will solve America’s troubles, but he honestly believes he is a patriot. He didn’t kill Lincoln for fame or glory; he killed him to save the country. Looking back, we may quarrel with Booth’s assessment of the state of the union, but it’s important to remember that Lincoln was a widely disliked president; he was not "the pride and joy... of all the U.S.A.," as the Balladeer sings. Booth’s indictments against him are true. Lincoln did throw political dissenters into prison without charge or trial. His decision to abolish slavery was more economic than moralistic. Booth loved his country deeply and saw quite accurately that it was on its deathbed. The issue of slavery is beside the point here. Though we can see in retrospect that slavery was unconscionable, it’s easy to see how it was condoned by society and by people like Booth; Thomas Jefferson and other very moral men owned slaves. From our modern vantage point, we can call Booth a racist, but at the time, his view of slavery was not outside society’s norm. All he could see was that Lincoln was effectively destroying the economy of the South.
The section of "The Ballad of Booth" that begins with "How the country is not what it was..." is profoundly moving. This is not a madman talking; this is a man who loves the U.S.A. and can’t bear to see it divided and its citizens murdered in a bloody war. Many historians have commented that had Booth killed Lincoln two years earlier, he might’ve been hailed as a hero instead. Are Booth’s concerns that different from those voiced by commentators today? Americans across our nation often feel that the president or other politicians are destroying our way of life. Booth wasn’t that different from the protesters during the Vietnam war. Certainly we can’t sanction his method of righting the perceived wrongs – cold-blooded murder – but we also can’t ignore the despair he must’ve felt over the destruction of his beloved country, a destruction that was very real. "The Ballad of Booth" can be a deeply moving, impassioned plea for understanding by a man who honestly believed he was doing what had to be done. Saddest of all in Booth’s hope that the history (i.e., the Balladeer) will pass on the truth; it won’t. Booth’s motivations, passions, and beliefs will be ignored or distorted.
What most people don’t know – what History (personified here by the Balladeer) has left out and distorted – is that John Wilkes Booth was at the top of his fame and wealthy beyond his dreams when he decided to give it all up to kill Lincoln. He’s being sincere when he says, "I have given up my life for this one act." And what he gave up was considerable – he was making about $20,000 a year, an incredible sum at that time. More than that, he was universally adored. He had tons of friends. He was friendly to both the rich ladies who craved his company and to the stable boys. He often gave money to kids on the street. When he dined out with friends, he usually picked up the bill. People thought of him as kind, charming, generous, and a genuinely good man. He absolutely did not kill Lincoln over bad reviews (he was getting stellar reviews) or a failing career (he was becoming an even bigger national star than his older brother) or the need for attention (he was always in the papers and was a big league celebrity wherever he went).
Booth’s motives were political and born out of a genuine and desperate love of his country. Yes, he was a racist, but then again, so were many of the greatest men in history – it’s naïve to condemn him for that any more than we would condemn Jefferson or Washington for it. That’s not say it’s excusable, but it is easy to understand. His racism had nothing to do with his hatred of Lincoln. He hated Lincoln for destroying his country, for killing thousands of American boys, and for trampling on the Constitution, taking powers from Congress that were not his to take. We now know that Abraham Lincoln desecrated in some ways the very foundation of our American government. He ignored – some would say overthrew – the careful construction of the three branches of government designed to hold each other in check, the structure our Founding Fathers so carefully created to avoid tyranny and corruption. He declared war without the approval of Congress. He threw innocent people into jail in both the North and the South without charges and without trials. And as a result, many people hated him, in both the North and the South. They believed he was destroying our country. So it wasn’t all that unreasonable for Booth to think he’d be hailed as a hero for killing Lincoln. Michael Phillips, producer of the political assassination film Taxi Driver, says, "The difference between a hero and a monster is such a fine line."
In "The Ballad of Booth" we can see Booth’s confusion and utter despair over the way the country turned its back on him (at least in his perception), as well as his great sorrow over the destruction of a country he loved with all his heart. He was misguided and he was a murderer – there’s no ignoring that fact – but he was also in many ways, very patriotic.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Mr and Mrs. Hinckley's Defense Witness Statements at Trial
JoAnn Hinckley, Defense Witness
On direct examination:
John seemed to be going downhill, downhill, downhill and becoming more withdrawn, more antisocial, more depressed, and more down on himself. He was just discouraged and we were just terribly worried about him....We didn't know what was wrong, but we knew something wasn't right....We wanted John to be self-supporting, to be a happy child, to stand on his own two feet....The harder we tried to push him from us, the harder he tried to stay....
Dr. Hopper strongly advised us not to do it [to institutionalize John]. He talked us out of it....Dr. Hopper said, "No, don't do it. It will really make a cripple out of John if you put him in an institution."
[On the last trip with John to the Denver Airport, three days before the shootings:]
I broke down for the first time and gave him some money of my own. I just couldn't stand to see him go off without any money...[At the airport], John got out of the car and I couldn't even look at him. He said, "Well, Mom, I want to thank you for everything you've done for me." I said, "You're very welcome" and I said it so coldly...and then I drove off and that was the last I saw of John....On March 30, I received a telephone call. It was a reporter from the Washington Post. He said, "Mrs. Hinckley, do you have your television set on?....Did you know your son John Hinckley is the man they have identified as shooting the President?
Jack Hinckley, Defense Witness
[ Jack Hinckley met John at the Denver Airport on March 7, 1981, and informed him of the family's decision to cut off his financial support. Testimony concerning that meeting follows:]
I prayed all the way [to the airport] that we were doing the right thing....He was in very bad shape. He needed a shave. He was wiped out. He could hardly walk from the plane. We sat down and I told him how disappointed I was in him. How he had let us down, how he had not followed the plan [for independence] we had all agreed on. He had left us no choice but to not take him back in the house again, but force him to go on his own. So that's what I did. I took him to his car which was parked at the airport. It was an old car and the radiator leaked. And I put some antifreeze in it and we got the car started. And I had a couple of hundred dollars with me that I had brought from the house. And I gave that to him and I suggested that he go to the YMCA. He said he didn't want to do that. I said, "Okay, you are on your own. Do whatever you want to do." In looking back on that, I'm sure it was the greatest mistake in my life. We forced him out at a time when he just couldn't cope. I am the cause of John's tragedy. I wish to God I could trade places with him right now.
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hinckley/hinckleytranscript.htm
John Hinckley's Poems
This first poem might be where Sondheim found some inspiration for "The Gun Song." These are excerpts of poems written by John Hinckley - used as evidence in his trial.
Guns are Fun! See that living legend over there?
With one little squeeze of this trigger
I can put that person at my feet
moaning and groaning and pleading with God.
I don't know her well but I know her.
I know she knows that I know her
and she knows that I love her.
I don't know her true feelings towards me
but she knows that I know her name.
cry
at the sight of me writhing in
pain
down in the gutter of Anystreet USA
because Jodie will always be
Jodie.
it was a time for pretending.
The martyr in me played games
and I was the young alienated loner.
With one little squeeze of this trigger
I can put that person at my feet
moaning and groaning and pleading with God.
This gun gives me pornographic power.
If I wish, the president will fall
and the world will look at me in disbelief,
all because I own an inexpensive gun.
Guns are lovable, Guns are fun
Are you lucky enough to own one?
I Know a Girl
I don't know her well but I know her.
I know she knows that I know her
and she knows that I love her.
I don't know her true feelings towards me
but she knows that I know her name.
Amen
cry
at the sight of me writhing in
pain
down in the gutter of Anystreet USA
because Jodie will always be
Jodie.
Don't cry for me Arizona
the truth is
I brought it on myself
in a calculated way
and by means which
I would postively hurt
everyone around me.
The Painful Evolution
it was a time for pretending.
The martyr in me played games
and I was the young alienated loner.
Toward the middle,
I lied about pain and troubles.
It was a mere three years ago
that I played the part so well.
Nearing the bend,
I should have turned back.
I could have taken the road
that leads to meaningful existence.
In the end,
I cursed myself and suffered.
I have become what I wanted
to be all along, a psychotic poet.
Monday, June 28, 2010
JWB: A&E Biography Notes
Melodious voice
Know for impulse acting…he was the passionate one…the richard the 3rd…
He was known for his physical prowess on stage, very athletic, very live, very impulsive, very passionate. And in his roles, be it Romeo or Richard the 3rd, he was known for his swashbuckling abilities. And he fit the part. He dressed accordingly. And he acted his own way.
John was not known for preparing well. In fact there is a story about him pacing up and down the floors of a Philadelphia boarding house, while he was with the Archstreet Stock Company, marching up and down saying "I must have fame…fame." And his friends all wondered how he was going to get it if he didn't work for it.
In 1862, he performed in Saint Louis, Chicago, Baltimore, New York, Boston, Louisville, Lexington, and Cincinnati. He was Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello and Romeo. Appearing 167 times, Booth played 18 different roles in the course of a single year. Booth flourished during the war. He would play in a given theatre for a week, supported by the stock company and then move on to another theatre. He would sometimes make $1,000 dollars a night. He was a very young star, being around 24, 25 years old.
He played Richard the 3rd on November 2nd, 1863 & Romeo on May 7th, 1864.
An avid reader of the newspaper.
Seemingly in the peek of his carrier, Booth's main focus drifted away from acting. There's been some superficial theories that his voice was giving away on him, that he had not had the proper training that his older brother had had and that he had sort of reached his peak and there was nowhere else to go. I have a sneaking suspicion that his confederate sympathies were taking over. He realized that his beloved South was going down hill. I think his strong Maryland background kicked in.
At Ford's Theatre in Washington D.C., ten days before Lincoln gave his famous speech at Gettysburg, he saw Booth perform in the "Marble Heart". Lincoln asked Booth to come back and see him later- that he wanted to shake hands with him and it is said that Booth said "I would rather have the applause of a nigger."
Booth apparently had tired of acting. He was determined, finally, to react to the war. In october he traveled to a northern hotbed of Southern Sympathies, Montreal, Canada. After meeting with confederate agents, Booth returned to Maryland and began slowly to assemble a plan to kidnap Abraham Lincoln. His horrible plot had a humanitarian appeal. Booth hoped to trade he President back to the US in exchange for confederate prisoners of war hopelessly trapped in northern prison camps.
In contrast the nations celebration of the war's end, he was known to be fairly drunk some of the time. He was drinking a quart of Brandy at a time. He was unhappy with history. He could not accept the outcome of the Civil War and he hoped to do something to change it. JWB and some of his fellow conspirators were in the crowd gathered on April 11th at the White House. Abraham Lincoln spoke and suggested a newly reconstructed government offer the right to vote to African American citizens. This outraged Booth, he said, "This means nigger citizen chip, now i'm going to get him. That's the last speech he'll ever make." So 3 days later when he heard Lincoln was going to be attending a play at Ford's Theatre I think he began to make his plans for an assassination.
It was known within Booth's family that he was secretly engaged to wed. He's fiance's family would not have preferred their marriage, Lucy Hale's was the daughter of a US senator.
After several shots of whiskey. He went to the Ford theatre that night.
There's no reason to think that there was anything wrong with John Wilkes Booth. He just hated Lincoln. And at a time he was a true believer. He believed in the cause of the South. And this was a time when hundreds of thousands of American men were willing to kill and to die for what they believed in. Booth saw himself as a southern solider. And he saw his act as an act of war.
"I love peace more than life. I have loved the Union beyond expression. For four years I have waited, hoped and prayed for the dark clouds to break and for a restoration of our former sunshine. To wait longer would be a crime. All hope of peace is dead. God's will be done, I go to see and share the bitter end." - JWB
Know for impulse acting…he was the passionate one…the richard the 3rd…
He was known for his physical prowess on stage, very athletic, very live, very impulsive, very passionate. And in his roles, be it Romeo or Richard the 3rd, he was known for his swashbuckling abilities. And he fit the part. He dressed accordingly. And he acted his own way.
John was not known for preparing well. In fact there is a story about him pacing up and down the floors of a Philadelphia boarding house, while he was with the Archstreet Stock Company, marching up and down saying "I must have fame…fame." And his friends all wondered how he was going to get it if he didn't work for it.
In 1862, he performed in Saint Louis, Chicago, Baltimore, New York, Boston, Louisville, Lexington, and Cincinnati. He was Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello and Romeo. Appearing 167 times, Booth played 18 different roles in the course of a single year. Booth flourished during the war. He would play in a given theatre for a week, supported by the stock company and then move on to another theatre. He would sometimes make $1,000 dollars a night. He was a very young star, being around 24, 25 years old.
He played Richard the 3rd on November 2nd, 1863 & Romeo on May 7th, 1864.
An avid reader of the newspaper.
Seemingly in the peek of his carrier, Booth's main focus drifted away from acting. There's been some superficial theories that his voice was giving away on him, that he had not had the proper training that his older brother had had and that he had sort of reached his peak and there was nowhere else to go. I have a sneaking suspicion that his confederate sympathies were taking over. He realized that his beloved South was going down hill. I think his strong Maryland background kicked in.
At Ford's Theatre in Washington D.C., ten days before Lincoln gave his famous speech at Gettysburg, he saw Booth perform in the "Marble Heart". Lincoln asked Booth to come back and see him later- that he wanted to shake hands with him and it is said that Booth said "I would rather have the applause of a nigger."
Booth apparently had tired of acting. He was determined, finally, to react to the war. In october he traveled to a northern hotbed of Southern Sympathies, Montreal, Canada. After meeting with confederate agents, Booth returned to Maryland and began slowly to assemble a plan to kidnap Abraham Lincoln. His horrible plot had a humanitarian appeal. Booth hoped to trade he President back to the US in exchange for confederate prisoners of war hopelessly trapped in northern prison camps.
In contrast the nations celebration of the war's end, he was known to be fairly drunk some of the time. He was drinking a quart of Brandy at a time. He was unhappy with history. He could not accept the outcome of the Civil War and he hoped to do something to change it. JWB and some of his fellow conspirators were in the crowd gathered on April 11th at the White House. Abraham Lincoln spoke and suggested a newly reconstructed government offer the right to vote to African American citizens. This outraged Booth, he said, "This means nigger citizen chip, now i'm going to get him. That's the last speech he'll ever make." So 3 days later when he heard Lincoln was going to be attending a play at Ford's Theatre I think he began to make his plans for an assassination.
It was known within Booth's family that he was secretly engaged to wed. He's fiance's family would not have preferred their marriage, Lucy Hale's was the daughter of a US senator.
After several shots of whiskey. He went to the Ford theatre that night.
There's no reason to think that there was anything wrong with John Wilkes Booth. He just hated Lincoln. And at a time he was a true believer. He believed in the cause of the South. And this was a time when hundreds of thousands of American men were willing to kill and to die for what they believed in. Booth saw himself as a southern solider. And he saw his act as an act of war.
"I love peace more than life. I have loved the Union beyond expression. For four years I have waited, hoped and prayed for the dark clouds to break and for a restoration of our former sunshine. To wait longer would be a crime. All hope of peace is dead. God's will be done, I go to see and share the bitter end." - JWB
Sunday, June 27, 2010
JWB: Youtube on Ballad of Booth
ASSASSINS- Ballad of Booth (Scene #2)
noticed:
-drinking
-tearing out pages from diary
Ballad of Booth from Assassins
noticed:
-a moment of consideration of leaving, giving up or stopping Harold when he leaves
Assassins- The Ballad of Booth
noticed:
-emphasizing the "e" vowel on the first "Never"
Assassins pt. 2 - Ballad of Booth
FabioVagnarelli - The Ballad of Booth da "Assassins"
Assassins Part 2 - The Ballad of Booth Parts 1 & 2
Victor Garber - Ballad of Booth
noticed:
-"let it mingle with the ashes of the country" sounds like weeping
last time- "the country is not _ what _ it was"
noticed:
-drinking
-tearing out pages from diary
Ballad of Booth from Assassins
noticed:
-a moment of consideration of leaving, giving up or stopping Harold when he leaves
Assassins- The Ballad of Booth
noticed:
-emphasizing the "e" vowel on the first "Never"
Assassins pt. 2 - Ballad of Booth
FabioVagnarelli - The Ballad of Booth da "Assassins"
Assassins Part 2 - The Ballad of Booth Parts 1 & 2
Victor Garber - Ballad of Booth
noticed:
-"let it mingle with the ashes of the country" sounds like weeping
last time- "the country is not _ what _ it was"
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