Posts Tagged With: Media

Give Ford’s Theatre YOUR Opinion!

Posted on April 11, 2014 by Dave Taylor

fords-150-remembering-lincolnA couple weeks ago, I was invited by the Ford’s Theatre Society to take part in a focus group for Lincoln enthusiasts.  The purpose of the focus group was to gauge our interest and experience using websites as educational tools.  The Ford’s Theatre Society is preparing to launch an exciting new project which will coincide with the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination next year.  It is entitled the “Remembering Lincoln” project and will involve a website geared around the aftermath of Lincoln’s assassination and the national reaction towards his death.  As part of their preparation for this project, the Ford’s Theatre Society would love to hear your input about what interests you about the Lincoln assassination and what ideas you might have for the “Remembering Lincoln” site.  They asked me if I would be willing to spread the word about a survey that they will be conducting over the next few days, which I am more than happy to do.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RL-enthusiasts-survey

Please, as soon as possible, take the short survey created by the Ford’s Theatre Society linked above and provide your thoughts on a new website to teach about Lincoln’s assassination.  If you complete the survey, you will be entered into a drawing to win a new book about the history of Ford’s Theatre.  Even if you don’t win the book, however, you’ll still be helping an important institution in the Lincoln assassination saga develop their programming and strengthen their mission of educating the public about Lincoln’s last day.  The survey will only stay up for a few days, so please let your voice be heard soon.  They would love to get as many responses as they can in that time in order to help them craft the “Remembering Lincoln” website in a way that would be useful and enjoyable to you.

You can read a little bit more about the “Remembering Lincoln” project by clicking HERE or HERE

 

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“Lincoln’s Assassin” on NatGeo’s “Diggers”

Posted on March 19, 2014 by Dave Taylor

Those of you who get the National Geographic channel will want to be tuning in next Tuesday, March 25th at 10 pm EST.  On that date and time a new episode of the metal detecting show “Diggers” will be premiering.  The name of the episode is called “Lincoln’s Assassin” and the show will highlight the exploits of metal detecting duo “King” George Wyant and Tim “Ringy” Saylor as they search for long lost artifacts in places related to John Wilkes Booth.

Lincoln's Assassin Diggers

Over the course of the production, the Diggers dug for Booth relics at his childhood home of Tudor Hall, Bryantown Tavern, Thomas Jones’ Huckleberry, down by the edge of the Potomac, and at Mrs. Quesenberry’s house in Virginia.  “KG” and “Ringy” are unique treasure hunters, making jokes all along the way and making bets over who can uncover the best “nectar” (find).  At the end of the episode the pair will show their “nectar” to an archaeologist and assassination author Michael Kauffman to see if they found a Booth artifact that will change our understanding of history.

This episode will not only be an entertaining look at metal detecting, but also highlight several sites related to the life and escape of John Wilkes Booth.

On a personal note, I had the good fortune of being present at Huckleberry back in August on the day that the crew was shooting there.  I had unknowingly shown up at the Loyola Retreat House to take some pictures of the water’s edge, when I saw a large number of vehicles outside of Huckleberry.  After approaching the Diggers group and learning that they were shooting an episode about Booth, I was graciously invited to remain and watch the production.  It was an entertaining afternoon to say the least.  “KG” and “Ringy” are quite funny and Michael Kauffman was an excellent foil to their exuberant declarations of finding Booth’s “this” or “that”.  Here are a few pictures I took while the guys were shooting their scenes:

Diggers set 1

Diggers set 2

Diggers set 4

Here’s a shot of Michael Kauffman providing some background information about the different places the Diggers visited and Booth’s escape route:

Diggers set 5

 

I was also allowed inside of Huckleberry where some of the production assistants were working.  Huckleberry is used to house visiting priests to Loyola and is therefore furnished like a typical house today.  Nevertheless here is a short video I shot from inside the house.  Michael Kauffman makes a brief appearance to answer a couple of my questions:

In the midst of shooting there was a huge down pouring of rain and so there was a mad dash to protect the cameras and other equipment.  I helped the best I could by grabbing hold of the tent awning they had set up to prevent it from blowing away in the strong winds.  Michael Kauffman made the wiser choice of rushing into Huckleberry with his camera and microphone.  Within a half an hour the rain had stopped and there was only one more scene to shoot.  After they shot the scene I took this picture of Mike Kauffman and the guys:

Diggers set 6

Why is “Ringy” covered in mud?  You’ll just have to watch Diggers on Tuesday, March 25th at 10 pm EST to find out!

 

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BoothieBarn is now on Twitter!

Posted on March 8, 2014 by Dave Taylor

Yesterday, fellow Lincoln buff, Heath Atkinson, announced via Roger Norton’s Abraham Lincoln Discussion Symposium that he had started a Lincoln assassination Twitter account.  Usually I’m a bit reticent when it comes to social media, which might sound strange seeing as I write a blog.  However, since Heath’s new Twitter account, @ALassassination, is essentially tailor made for my interests, I decided to look into creating my own Twitter account so I could “follow” his tweets.  I found that setting up a Twitter account was very easy to do.  Soon I was not only following Heath’s tweets, but also Spirits of Tudor Hall, Ford’s Theatre NPS, Ford’s Theatre Society, and Lewis Powell’s biographer, Betty Ownsbey.  At first I thought I was just going to follow people but, after replying to one of Heath’s tweets, I branched out and wrote my own.  Strangely enough, it appears that this thing that millions of people like to do is actually quite enjoyable. Though the 140 character limit is a rather difficult limit for a verbose individual like myself, I feel this is a fun way to put up little assassination tidbits between postings.  So, rather than just follow others from the shadows, I’m pleased to announce that BoothieBarn is now on Twitter!

BoothieBarn on Twitter

There are three ways you can follow me and my tweets.

1. Join Twitter and Follow @BoothieBarn

This is the best way to go.  Even if you don’t want to make tweets, having an account allows you to get notifications every time I tweet a tweet.  Setting up an account is quick, easy, and free.  Sign up at Twitter.com

2.  Bookmark my Twitter page

You can bookmark my Twitter profile page on your computer and check it every once and awhile for new tweets.  My profile page is:

https://twitter.com/BoothieBarn

3. Check my Twitter feed on the side of this page

If signing up for an account or bookmarking another site seems like too much work, you can always catch up on my tweets when you’re visiting this site.  I just added a new Twitter widget to the main page.  My most recent tweets should show up on the right underneath the most recent comments here on BoothieBarn.

Twitter Widget

I hope you’ll check out @BoothieBarn on Twitter and be sure to also follow Heath Atkinson’s @ALassassination and @SpiritsTH as well.

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The Assassination in “The Birth of a Nation”

Posted on June 15, 2013 by Dave Taylor

In 1915, D. W. Griffith released his film, The Birth of a Nation. The silent movie told the story of two families, one Northern and one Southern, during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods. The second half of the film, which revolves around Reconstruction, depicts the hugely inaccurate formation and glorified rise of the Klu Klux Klan. Though considered an influential and important piece due to its groundbreaking cinematic techniques for the time, the racist content of the film makes it very uncomfortable to watch.

While not the first film to depict the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, The Birth of a Nation brought the event to the widest audience due to its commercial success. The scene itself was even used on some of the movie posters for the film:

Birth of a Nation Assassination Poster

The depiction of Lincoln’s assassination comes at the end of the first half of the film. What follows are some stills from that part of the film. Also, since the film is in the public domain, you can watch the assassination scene here, just start it at the 1 hour and 21 minute mark.

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The man who played Booth was Raoul Walsh. Walsh served as Griffith’s assistant director and editor for the film. He would go on to become a legendary director in Hollywood directing films until 1964. Walsh died in 1980 at the age of 93.

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April 14th, 2013

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Dave Taylor

On this, the 148th anniversary of  Lincoln’s assassination, I reflect on my own interest in the tragedy at Ford’s Theatre.  In high school, I was in speech and drama.  One day, a good friend of mine who had soundtracks to many musicals, starting playing Assassins by Stephen Sondheim in his car.  At first I thought, “what a dark thing to write a musical about”.  However, as I listened deeply to the lyrics, I was struck by how little I knew about the history of the people I heard.  The songs spoke of their misguided hopes and I was convinced to learn more about these people I knew little to nothing about.  I had heard of John Wilkes Booth of course, but only as the crazy, racist actor who shot Lincoln.  Beyond that, he was a mystery to me.  The more I read about Booth, the more I felt him to be such an oddity compared to the other Assassins.  In his song, entitled “The Ballad of Booth”, he sings of his crime, “Let them cry ‘dirty traitor’, they will understand it later.”

Despite all of the books that I’ve read on the subject since hearing this song for the first time, I still don’t truly understand what made Booth commit his deed.  There are many wonderful books that expertly dissect Booth, and the authors provide wonderful insights as to why he acted as he did.  However, the more I read, the more impossible I find it to put Booth into just one of these corners.  That is what keeps me drawn to this history.  Even after all this time, Booth and his band of conspirators are still an enigma to me.  So I will continue to read and learn about them.  This is what helps keep Lincoln’s legacy alive, in my eyes.  When we dismiss the men and women involved in the ‘dreadful affair’, we allow Lincoln to die.  When we claim to know all we need to know about the Lincoln assassination, we end his story.  So while my interest in Lincoln may be focused on the final chapter of his life, to me, that chapter will never close.  As long as others feel the same as I do, then Abraham Lincoln will never die.

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Replica Booth Diaries for Sale

Posted on March 21, 2013 by Dave Taylor

A month ago, I noticed an eBay auction selling, “John Wilkes Booth’s Diary National Treasure 2 Prop Replica“. I decided to contact the seller to ask about it. I learned that the piece was a handmade creation by an Italian replica prop maker. The creator’s name is Pasquale Marsella and he has an entire website showing his self-created prop replicas for his favorite move series, Indiana Jones. His cinematic interests are multifaceted and he also very much enjoys the National Treasure movies. Due to this he meticulously replicated items from that movie series such as the President’s Book of Secrets and Booth’s diary. After e-mailing for a bit, I inquired with him how many diaries he had for sale. Mr. Marsella told me he still had about 10 -15 completed leather covers in his possession, the interiors of which still needed to be completed. Up until now he was just selling them to other prop collectors for their National Treasure collections. However, the detail is so fine and the craftsmanship is so good, I told him he was missing out on a whole other market: Lincoln assassination researchers and collectors.

Over the past month, Mr. Marsella and I have been working together to tweak and adjust his original design. As stated, his original product was a replica of a replica. It was very good at a glance, but details like the interior pages themselves were not the same as the original Booth diary. Using John Wilkes Booth’s FBI file and images of the diary the Secret Service took of it in the 1970’s, Mr. Marsella and I have been able to duplicate the interior of the diary exactly. The written pages are now in Booth’s handwriting, and the diary has the exact number of present and missing pages as the original. I know that Mr. Marsella is very proud of his new design and is happy to offer his hand-made diaries to readers of this blog at a generously discounted rate.

Diary collage

Remember, these diaries are all hand-made by Mr. Marsella, with hand tooled leather and printed pages to match the interior of Booth’s diary exactly. The diaries will be aged to replicate the original diary housed at Ford’s Theatre.

In addition to a remarkable replica of Booth’s diary, Mr. Marsella is also throwing in copies of the CDVs of Booth’s ladies found inside the diary and a replica map that was used at the trial of the conspirators.

Mr. Marsella is offering all of these replicas; the diary, CDVs, and map, for the cost of $400 plus $25 shipping. I truly believe the workmanship is worth every penny and the rarity of a good replica makes it a great deal. For comparison, it would cost you $2,500 to purchase a replica diary from the original propmaster on National Treasure 2 and this pricey version would not be as exact as the one Mr. Marsella has created.

For those of you out there who are interested in buying your own replica John Wilkes Booth diary please email me at: boothiebarn (at) gmail (dot) com. Update: Pasquale has no more John Wilkes Booth diaries for sale and will not be making any more. Thank you all for supporting his wonderful creations. From there I’ll send you instructions on how to send Mr. Marsella payment. Please note that Mr. Marsella needs 25 days after payment is received to age and assemble the diary properly.

If it helps convince you, I have an order in for a diary as does the Surratt House Museum which will be putting the replica on display.

If you have any questions for me, or questions I can pass along to Mr. Marsella, please feel free to ask them in the comments below.

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“Killing Lincoln” TONIGHT!

Posted on February 17, 2013 by Dave Taylor

This post is just a friendly reminder to all the email followers of this blog that the much anticipated docudrama “Killing Lincoln” debuts tonight at 8pm EST on National Geographic Channel!  Make sure to watch it and post your thoughts and comments about it here or on Roger Norton’s Lincoln Discussion Symposium.

Killing Lincoln Header

While I’m waiting for the debut, I’m checking out the show’s official website which contains interviews with the cast, clips from the film, and production stills.  National Geographic has also created a phenomenal interactive timeline of Booth’s conspiracy and manhunt that you absolutely need to check out!

So remember, “Killing Lincoln” tonight at 8 pm EST on NatGeo.  Don’t miss it!

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The Doctor Who Came Back

Posted on January 9, 2013 by Dave Taylor

In the mail today, I received an item that I purchased off of eBay with the sole purpose of scanning it and sharing it here.  What follows is an extremely well documented and deeply researched story about Dr. Samuel A. Mudd.  The groundbreaking piece entitled, “The Doctor Who Came Back” appeared in the February 1943 edition of that eminent periodical…”True Comics”. 😀 I hope you enjoy it.

The Doctor Who Came Back 1
The Doctor Who Came Back 2
The Doctor Who Came Back 3
The Doctor Who Came Back 4
The Doctor Who Came Back 5
The Doctor Who Came Back 6

References:
True Comics #21 (Feb. 1943)

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