by Henry James
67.27 Mr. Blake] Canadian comic actor and theater manager Rufus William Blake (1805–1863).
67.30 Mrs. Blake] American actor Caroline Blake (1797–1881), a member of the Placide theatrical family.
67.34–37 Brougham’s Lyceum . . . migratory life as Wallack’s Theatre] Brougham’s Broadway Lyceum, established by Irish-born playwright and theater manager James Brougham (1814–1880) in 1850 on Broadway near Broome Street, was bought by actor and theater manager James William Wallack Sr. (1794–1864) in 1852 and renamed Wallack’s Theatre; it was replaced by a second Wallack’s Theatre, at the corner of Thirteenth Street and Broadway, built in 1861, and a third, at Broadway and Thirtieth Street, which opened in 1881.
68.3 English version of Le Père de la Débutante] The First Night (1849), adaptation of French play Le Père de la Débutante (1837; The debutante’s father) by Jean-François Bayard and Emmanuel Théaulon (1787–1841).
68.10 Mr. Placide.] American actor Henry Placide (1799–1870).
68.14–15 Miss Kate Horn in Nan the Good-for-Nothing] Irish-born actor Kate Horn (1826–1896), known after her marriage in 1852 as Kate Buckland, was one of the stock company at Brougham’s Broadway Lyceum and starred in a production of Good For Nothing (1851), farce by English comic actor and playwright John Baldwin Buckstone (1802–1879).
68.15–16 displaced by the brilliant Laura Keene] English-born actor and theater manager (born Mary Francis Moss, 1826–1873), who began her long American career in 1852–53 at Wallack’s Theatre.
68.17 Goldsmith’s Hardcastle pair] Mr. and Mrs. Hardcastle in She Stoops to Conquer (1773), comedy by Irish novelist and playwright Oliver Goldsmith (1728–1774).
68.18 Dogberry] Bumbling chief constable in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing.
68.20–21 Mr. Lester—the Lester Wallack that was to be] American actor and theater manager John Lester Wallack (1820–1888), son of James William Wallack Sr. (see note 67.34–37).
68.25 at the Broadway] The Broadway Theatre at 356–58 Broadway, which opened in 1847 and was demolished in 1859.
68.30–32 sisters Gougenheim . . . roguish “Joey”] English-born actor Adelaide Gougenheim (b. 1828) and her sister Josephine, known as “Joey,” who performed together.
68.33–38 Mrs. Nagle . . . Lysander or Demetrius;] English-born actor Mary Nagle (née Logue, c. 1833) and her American husband Joseph E. Nagle (b. 1828); but the actors who played Lysander and Demetrius in the February 1854 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream that James is recalling were James Lanergan and Joseph Grosvenor.
68.38 Davidge] English-born comic actor William Pleater Davidge (1814–1888).
68.39 Madame Ponisi] Stage name of English actor born Elizabeth Hanson (1818–1899).
69.1 white-veiled heroine of The Cataract of the Ganges] The Cataract of the Ganges; or, The Rajah’s Daughter (1823), equestrian melodrama by English playwright William Thomas Moncrieff (1794–1857); Ponisi starred as Zamine in the production at the Broadway Theatre, December 1853–January 1854.
69.17–18 Green Bushes . . . Madame Céleste, who came to us straight out of London] John Baldwin Buckstone’s play The Green Bushes, or a Hundred Years Ago (1845); French actor, dancer, and theater manager Céline Céleste (1810 or 1811–1882) starred as an American Indian in the play’s premiere run in London and in several revivals.
69.24–25 Mr. Bourcicault, as he then wrote his name] Irish-born playwright and actor Dion Boucicault (1820–1890), who for a time used the spelling “Bourcicault.”
69.29–30 London Assurance . . . “Fanny” Wallack, I think] Boucicault’s comedy London Assurance (1841); American actor Fanny Wallack (1822–1856).
69.33 Love in a Maze] Comedy (1851) by Boucicault.
69.36 Mrs. Russell . . . Mrs. Hoey] English-born actor born Josephine Shaw (1824–1896).
70.1 Miss Julia Bennett] English actor and theater manager Julia Bennett Barrow (1824–1903).
70.2 the Haymarket] London’s Theatre Royal Haymarket.
70.9 Edwin Booth’s] American classical and Shakespearean actor (1833–1893).
70.9–10 Portia, Desdemona and Julie de Mortemer] Major roles in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice and Othello, and in Richelieu (1839), play by English novelist, playwright, and politician Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873).
70.19–27 A Morning Call . . . Porte Ouverte ou Fermée] The one-act “comedietta” A Morning Call (1851) was an adaptation by English playwright Charles Dance (1794–1863) of Il faut qu’une porte soit ouverte ou fermée (1845; A door must either be open or closed) by French dramatist, poet, and novelist Alfred de Musset (1810–1857).
70.20 Mr. Lester] See note 68.20–21.
70.26 Musset’s elegant proverb] Musset’s play is an example of the “dramatic proverb,” French genre originating in the seventeenth century in which a short play’s action illustrates the proverb of its title.
71.38–39 Captain Cuttle . . . form of the big Burton] William E. Burton (see note 66.35–36) played Captain Cuttle in numerous performances of James Brougham’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s novel Dombey and Son (1846–48), starting with its inaugural run at Burton’s Chambers Street Theatre in the summer of 1848.
72.1–2 he whom I remember as a monstrous Micawber] Burton played Mr. Micawber in the stage adaptation of Dickens’s novel David Copperfield (1850) by William Knight Northall, which premiered at the Chambers Street Theatre late in 1850.
72.6 illustrations of Phiz] See note 43.21.
72.12–14 Miss Cushman . . . Nancy of Oliver Twist:] American actor Charlotte Cushman (1816–1876) was well-known for her portrayal of Nancy in a stage adaptation of Dickens’s Oliver Twist (1837–39), which she first performed at the Park Theatre in 1839.
72.17–18 Bosio and Badiali, Ronconi and Steffanone] Italian opera singers: soprano Angiolina Bosio (1830–1859); baritone Cesare Badiali (1810–1865); baritone Giorgio Ronconi (1810–1890); soprano Balbina Steffenone, also spelled “Steffanone” (1825–1896).
72.22 Castle Garden] On the Battery at the south end of Manhattan. Originally a fort called Castle Clinton (built 1808–11, named 1817), the building was named Castle Garden when it was made into an opera house and amusement hall in 1823. From 1855 to 1892, before Ellis Island was opened, it served as an immigration processing station, and from 1896 to 1914 housed the New York Aquarium.
72.22–23 rarest of infant phenomena, Adelina Patti] Celebrated soprano (1843–1919) born to Italian parents in Spain who sang in her first public concert at the age of eight in New York. In Dickens’s novel Nicholas Nickleby (1838–39), eight-year-old performer Ninetta Crummles is known as the “Infant Phenomenon.”
72.28–29 Tripler Hall or at Niblo’s] The theaters Tripler Hall (later Metropolitan Hall) on Broadway near Bond Street, and Niblo’s Garden, at Broadway and Prince Street.
72.32 Henrietta Sontag, Countess Rossi] German soprano Henriette Sontag (1805–1854).
73.5 “Casta Diva,”] Aria from act 1 of Norma (1831), opera by Vincenzo Bellini (1801–1835).
73.18–19 Signor Blitz, the peerless conjurer] English-born magician, ventriloquist, and entertainer Antonio Blitz (1810–1877).
73.30 Smike of Miss Weston] Male character in a stage adaptation of Dickens’s Nicholas Nickleby played by American actor Lizzie Weston (née Elizabeth Jackson, d. 1899).
73.31–33 afterwards Mrs. E. L. Davenport and then . . . Mrs. Charles Matthews] Weston was married not to the American actor Edward Loomis Davenport (1816–1877) but to the actor Adolphus Hoyt “Dolly” Davenport (1828–1873). Almost immediately after the couple was granted a divorce in February 1858, Weston married Charles Mathews (1803–1878), an English comic actor and theater manager then on tour in the United States. Davenport was later reported to have horsewhipped Mathews in a public altercation.
73.38–40 Dotheboys Hall . . . Brodie.] Grim Yorkshire school in Nicholas Nickleby; “John Brodie” refers to the
character John Browdie.
75.33 Cruikshank’s splendid form of the work] English caricaturist George Cruikshank (1792–1878) was best known for his illustrations for Dickens’s novels.
78.39 fils de famille] French: literally “son of the family,” a young man coming from a respected family.
81.13–14 pious institution of his founding] The Alexander Robertson School, founded in 1789 with funding from James’s great-grandfather Alexander Robertson (1733–1816), run by New York City’s Second Presbyterian Church.
81.27–28 the worst visitation of cholera New York was to know.] The cholera epidemic of 1849 resulted in more than five thousand deaths in New York City.
82.30 “stock”] A stiff neckcloth.
82.31–35 then great subject of Jenny Lind . . . “Miss Lind”;] Internationally renowned Swedish soprano Jenny Lind (1820–1887) sang in America in 1850–52 on a tour organized by P. T. Barnum; she married German pianist and composer Otto Goldschmidt (1829–1907) in February 1852.
83.18 Barmecide banquet] Or Barmecide feast: an imaginary meal or illusion of abundance, phrase derived from the name of the royal house (also spelled Barmakids) in a tale in The Thousand and One Nights.
83.38–40 Madame Ristori . . . wrong emphasis of the then acclaimed Mrs. Rousby] Both the eminent Italian actor Adelaide Ristori (1822–1906) and English actor Clara Rousby (1848–1879), known primarily for her beauty, performed at the Lyceum Theatre, on Fourteenth Street west of Sixth Avenue, during the 1874–75 season. James devoted a review to Ristori in 1875 as “before all things stately.”
84.4 John Toole] English comic actor and theater manager (1830–1906).
84.11 cousin Helen] Helen Rodgers Perkins (née Wyckoff, 1807–1887).
84.13–14 a small New York Orestes ridden by Furies;] In Greek mythology, and notably in Aeschylus’s tragic trilogy the Oresteia (458 B.C.E.), Orestes is tormented by the Furies after he murders his mother, Clytemnestra, in revenge for her murder of his father, Agamemnon.
84.17 admirable Aunt] Catharine Walsh (1812–1889), the sister of James’s mother.
88.3–5 the great Daumier, say, or Henri Monnier . . . Monsieur Prudhomme] French artist Honoré Daumier (1808–1879), about whom James wrote an essay, “Daumier, Caricaturist,” in 1890. French caricaturist Henri Monnier (1799–1877) is best known for his satirical bourgeois character M. Joseph Prudhomme, also the main character in a play (1852) and a fictional autobiography (1857) written by Monnier.
89.26 Wanderjahre] German: traveling years, a reference to Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre (1821, 1829), novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832).
91.15–17 Mr. Dick . . . Miss Trotwood] In David Copperfield, Richard Babley, known as Mr. Dick, is a simple-minded man who lives with and is cared for by Betsey Trotwood.
97.5–7 Barnum . . . Museum] See note 43.8–9.
98.5–6 celebrity of the hour, then “dancing” . . . Lola Montes, Countess of Lansfeldt] Irish-born dancer and actor Lola Montez (1818–1861) was mistress of Ludwig I of Bavaria (1786–1868), who ennobled her and allowed her to exert political influence until his abdication during the political unrest of 1848. Montez danced at the Old Broadway Theatre in the ballet Betley, The Tyrolean, December 1851–January 1852, and also performed there as herself in the stage biography Lola Montes in Bavaria (1852) by C.P.T. Ware.
98.21–22 Love, or the Countess and the Serf, by J. Sheridan Knowles] Play (1839) by Irish playwright, novelist, and actor James Sheridan Knowles (1784–1862).
98.23 Emily Mestayer] American actor (1813 or 1814–1882).
98.35 that Boston Museum] Theater at the Boston Museum and Gallery of Fine Arts, which was home to a stock company, 1843–94.
99.2 the Booths] The Booth theatrical family, most notably Edwin (see note 70.9).
99.30–32 Barnumite scenic memories . . . Eliza of Uncle Tom’s Cabin] Emily Mestayer played the fugitive slave Eliza in the dramatic adaptation (1852) by Henry J. Conway (1800–1860) of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) that was staged in the lecture-room theater at Barnum’s American Museum in the fall of 1853.
100.36–37 fine free rendering . . . National Theatre] Purdy’s National Theatre, formerly called Chatham’s Theatre, on what is now Park Row south of the Bowery, staged two distinct adaptations of Uncle Tom’s Cabin: first the version by Charles W. Taylor (c. 1800–1874) in August 1852 (which closed after eleven performances), then the version by George L. Aiken (1830–1876) in 1852–53. James is referring to Aiken’s adaptation.
101.31–32 “Cassy,” . . . Mrs. Bellamy] Eliza’s mother in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, played in the production at Barnum’s American Museum by Mrs. William Hoare Bellamy (d. 1857), Scottish-born actor.
101.38–39 the real water of Mr. Crummles’s pump] In Dickens’s Nicholas Nickleby.
102.10–11 “free play of mind”] Cf. the phrase “free disinterested play of mind” in “The Function of Criticism at the Present Time” in Essays in Criticism (1865) by English poet and critic Matthew Arnold (1822–1888).
102.28 Kenwigs tradition of pantalettes and pigtails] Children of the Kenwigs family in Nicholas Nickleby.
103.34–39 Ravels, French acrobats . . . offshoots of Martinettis and others] The family of French acrobat Gabriel Ravel (including his son Jean and grandchildren Gabriel, Antoine, Angelique, Jerome, and François), accompanied by other acrobats, mimes, and performers, were a popular attraction at the Park and Niblo’s Garden theaters. Members of Paul Martinetti’s family of acrobats were among the European performers who joined them or performed in successor troupes, sometimes billed under the Martinetti name.
104.9 Raoul or the Night-Owl] Conflation of titles of two pantomimes staged by the Ravels’ troupe: Mazulme, or The Night Owl; and Raoul, or The Magic Star.
104.31–32 Martinetti Jocko] Paul Martinetti played the role of Jocko in hundreds of performances of Jocko, or, The Brazilian Ape.
105.10–11 Signor Léon Javelli] French-born tightrope walker and mime (1821–1854), a member of the Ravels’ troupe.
106.3 Franconi’s] Franconi’s Hippodrome, 1853–54, at Broadway and 23rd Street.
106.9 Crystal Palace, second of its name] Glass-and-metal exhibition hall on what is now Bryant Park, 1853–58, inspired by and named for the Crystal Palace built in London’s Hyde Park for the Great Exhibition of 1851.
106.9–10 not passibus æquis] Latin: [not] with equal steps. See Virgil, Aeneid, II.724.
106.11–12 Paris Palais de l’Industrie of 1855] Palace of Industry, 1855–97, built for the Universal Exposition in Paris in 1855.
106.16 “talma”] Long cape, sometimes hooded, named for the French actor François Joseph Talma (1763–1826).
106.23–24 Thorwaldsen’s enormous Christ and the Disciples] Sculptures (1821–27) of Christ and the twelve apostles by Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770–1844) created for the Church of Our Lady in Copenhagen.
106.36–37 Kiss’s mounted Amazon attacked by a leopard or whatever] Mounted Amazon Attacked by a Panther (1837–41), bronze statue by German sculptor August Kiss (1802–1865).
108.11–13 Gus Barker . . . cut short, in a cavalry dash] Augustus Barker, a captain in the Fifth Regiment, New York Cavalry, was shot by a Confederate sniper behind Union lines near Kelly’s Ford, Virginia, September 17, 1863, and died the following day.
111.34 étape] French: stopping-place.
112.12 M. Arsène Houssaye, Philosophes et Comédiennes] Book (1851; Philosophers and actresses) by French critic, editor, poet, and novelist Arsène Houssaye (1815–1896), administrator of the Comédie Française 1849–59 (see note 49.14–16).
112.30 chronique galante of the eighteenth century] Or histoire galante, French mostly fictional genre that focused on the private and often the amorous life of its protagonists.
112.35–36 the Confessions . . . of the celebrated “Rosseau.”] The Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712
–1778) (see Notes of a Son and Brother, p. 462).
115.39–40 That was all the witchcraft the occasion used] Cf. Shakespeare, Othello, I.iii.169: “This only is the witchcraft I have us’d.”
118.19 falot] French: wan, said of a light.
120.8 ranz-des-vaches] Swiss French dialect: literally “rows of cows,” a melody played or sung to assist in the herding of cattle.
122.6–10 Count Adam Gurowski . . . so polyglot] Polish writer Adam Gurowski (1805–1866), who spent his last seventeen years in the United States, worked for the New-York Tribune and as a translator for the State Department, and was known for speaking eight languages.
124.13–19 Alphonse Daudet’s chronicle of “Jack,”] The novel Jack (1876) by James’s friend the French writer Alphonse Daudet (1840–1897); “petits pays chauds” (“little hot countries”) refers to children from abroad who attended the boarding school depicted in the novel.
124.29 dictées] French: dictations.
128.22 Serjeant Buzfuz’s exposure of Mr. Pickwick.] In Dickens’s The Pickwick Papers (1836–37), Serjeant Buzfuz is the prosecuting attorney for Mrs. Bardell, Samuel Pickwick’s landlady, in the lawsuit she has brought against Pickwick for breach of promise of marriage.
128.26 novels of the once-admired Theodore of that name] American lawyer, traveler, and writer Theodore Winthrop (1828–1861), killed fighting for the Union during the Civil War, whose writings include three novels posthumously published in 1862: Cecil Dreeme, John Brent, and Edwin Brothertoft.
130.4 barbiche] French: goatee.
130.24–25 aspects of that season as Mr. Jenks’s image presides;] Peter Collister, in his edition of A Small Boy and Others, includes as an appendix a passage he found in the Houghton Library in a sheaf of forty-seven typescript pages catalogued as “Notes of a Son and Brother, TS. with autograph revision. Scattered fragments of an early draft” (bMS Eng 1213 [72]). The passage in question, Collister persuasively suggests, might have been intended for Chapter 15 or 16 of A Small Boy and Others, since they evoke an episode in James’s New York schooldays. “Johnny” here has not been clearly identified.