I found this little gem of an image for sale on eBay today.  It comes from a 1965 set of “Civil War Picture” cards – essentially Civil War themed baseball cards.

I’m not quite sure what my favorite part of this hilarious image is:

• Mary Surratt, who was experimenting with volumizing shampoo with horrible results?
• Sam Arnold, who appears to have suffered a massive blow to the head causing a cartoonishly large lump?
• David Herold, who had his eyebrows waxed off, penciled back on, grew a mustache, and then went for the wind swept look for his hair?

If I have to choose, however, I guess my favorite part would have to be John Wilkes Booth, who, in his attempt to remain undetected during his escape, apparently sported a wig.  Oh, the things you learn from the internet.

Just in time for Christmas there’s a new book out that tells the story of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination in a fun and creative way.  Instead of relying on boring old drawings and photographs, author Brendan Powel Smith recreates the assassination of Lincoln along with the successful and attempted assassinations of eleven other United States Presidents using his preferred medium: Legos.

His book, entitled, Assassination! The Brick Chronicle of Attempts on the Lives of Twelve US Presidents, is over 250 pages long and filled with over 400 hand crafted Lego recreations of Presidents under fire.

I discovered this book on Amazon last week and while my main focus is the Lincoln assassination, I do have a passing interest in the other attempts (successful and otherwise) on our heads of state.  I knew I had to buy it and check it out.  When I opened this book, I found myself both entertained by the imagery and surprised at the level of research that went into it.  As a “fun and silly” Lego book, you don’t really expect to find a bibliography in it.  But this book has one and for the Lincoln chapter it listed fifteen sources from Michael Kauffman’s American Brutus, to Asia Booth Clarke’s book about her brother, to General Hartranft’s letterbook about his supervision of the conspirators during their trial and execution.  The research on the book is solid and the scenes are hilariously and painstakingly laid out.

His chapter on the Lincoln assassination is 34 pages long and contains over sixty images.  Here is a sampling of the Lincoln pages:

The chapters on the other Presidential assassination are equally well done and make this book a definite “buy” in my eyes.  The $20 price tag is worth it for just the Boston Corbett “surgery” scene that I can’t spoil for you here. So, if you want a funny and educational book about Presidential assassinations, check out: Assassination! The Brick Chronicle of Attempts on the Lives of Twelve US Presidents by Brendan Powell Smith

Sometimes, no matter how hard I try, I just can’t think of something to write about.  I usually correct this by going through my Boothie files and looking for a picture or an article that motivates me.  However, there are still instances where, even after consulting various sources, nothing inspires me.  When that happens,  I usually resort to making posts like the following, which are purely just for fun.

It’s time to test your knowledge, resourcefulness, and observational skills with a game I’d like to call, What’s Missing?

Below you will find 18 different pictures of people, places, and things relating to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.  All of the pictures below are present here on BoothieBarn in their corresponding Picture Gallery.  However, in the pictures that follow, I have altered each image and removed a detail.  Some of the details I have removed are large, noticeable things that you might figure out just from your own familiarity with the image.  This would demonstrate your knowledge of the subject matter of the picture.  Other missing pieces are very minor details that will probably require you to find the original image in the Picture Galleries, demonstrating your resourcefulness.  Lastly, these minor details may require you to compare the altered and original images closely, testing your observational skills.

Therefore here is an arbitrary scoring guide for you to test your mettle by:

You get 3 points if you can identify the missing detail just from the picture below, without looking for or consulting the original image.
You get 2 points if you can identify the missing detail after finding the original image in the Picture Gallery without clicking it to see a larger version of it.
You get 1 point if you can identify the missing detail after finding the original image in the Picture Gallery and clicking it to view the larger version or downloading it to compare.
You get 0 points if you cannot or incorrectly identify the missing detail.

Without further ado, let’s see how knowledgeable, resourceful, and observant you all are with images relating to the Lincoln assassination:

What’s Missing Image #1:

What’s Missing Image #2:

What’s Missing Image #3:

What’s Missing Image #4:

What’s Missing Image #5:

What’s Missing Image #6:

What’s Missing Image #7:

What’s Missing Image #8:

What’s Missing Image #9:

What’s Missing Image #10:

What’s Missing Image #11:

What’s Missing Image #12:

What’s Missing Image #13:

What’s Missing Image #14:

What’s Missing Image #15:

What’s Missing Image #16:

What’s Missing Image #17:

What’s Missing Image #18:

Figured them all out one way or another?

Click here to see the What’s Missing Answer Key

So, how did you do? Comment below to let us all know.

Adam Scott and Will Forte portray John Wilkes and Edwin Booth in an episode of “Drunk History”

So, I’m still dying of laughter after watching this, yet to be aired, episode of Comedy Central’s new series, “Drunk History“.  As it’s name suggests, “Drunk History” consists of individuals drinking a lot of alcohol and reciting an historical event.  Then the historical event in question is acted out by popular actors, using this drunk recitation as the narration.  The concept started as a web series on the site FunnyOrDie, and has since been picked up by Comedy Central as a TV series.  The first episode about events in Washington, D.C. is not scheduled to air until July 9th, but eagle eyed Carolyn Mitchell noticed it was already up on Comedy Central’s website.

The untrained John Wilkes Booth on the stage

Warning – There is a considerable amount of swearing in the video as you might expect from a drunk person trying to remember things.  Regardless, the piece is historically hysterical.

Uh….Line?

You can watch the entire episode if you wish, but the part about the Booth brothers starts after the first commercial break at about the 8:10 mark. The Booth part concludes after the second commercial break, so make sure to sit through it.  Without further ado, here’s the link to the Comedy Central episode of “Drunk History” featuring the story of Edwin and John Wilkes Booth:

The Story of the Booth Brothers on “Drunk History”