Modern LGBTQIA+ Icon

[Theater]: [Cushman, Charlotte]:

National Theatre...Miss Cushman Having Been Received on Monday and Tuesday Evening With Great Enthusiasm as La Tisbe! In the Actress of Padua! [caption title and part of text].

[Boston]: Hooton's Press, 1851. Broadside, 20.25 x 8.5 inches. Two horizontal folds, some chipping around edges with no loss of text, minor dust-soiling. Good plus. Item #12751

A striking broadside advertising the final 1851 performance in Boston by famed actress Charlotte Cushman performing the lead role of La Tisbe in The Actress of Padua. Cushman's name appears three times on the present broadside, including the opening announcement, the cast list, and near the bottom, touting "Miss Cushman's Benefit" on Friday night following the final Thursday performance. Charlotte Cushman (1816-1876) was an international force on the stage, and considered the finest American actress of her age. She had an unusual ability in the 19th century to take on male as well as female roles, while also sporting a voice with a full contralto register. Cushman has become a modern queer icon based on her relationships with and faithful support of other women in her circle.

"By the time Charlotte Cushman retired to her newly built home in Newport in 1872 with her partner, Emma Stebbins, she was one of the most -- if not the most -- beloved Anglophone actresses of her age. With her forceful stage presence, powerful voice, and not inconsiderable height for the time period (a whole five feet six inches tall!), she dominated the stage on both sides of the Atlantic throughout her multi-decade career. Cushman never married and used this aspect of her life to portray herself in the media as a chaste 'true woman' who sacrificed her domestic life out of dedication to supporting her family and her art after the untimely death of her father (who had actually abandoned his family years before). This was a tactic meant to deflect concerns about the reputation of the theater for 'immoral' sexual behavior. In reality, Cushman, who was known to surround herself with a circle of female friends and admirers, had a number of romantic relationships with other women throughout her life. The wealth and fame that Cushman earned from her popularity on the stage allowed her a degree of freedom not available to most women of her time. She was known to sometimes don 'masculine attire' in public and lived as the head of a household of 'emancipated women,' which included several of the female romantic partners that she had throughout her life and a group of unmarried women artists and writers, whose careers she promoted and financially supported" - Bianca Scialabba, "Miss Cushman Is a Very Dangerous Young Man": The Meteoric Rise and Posthumous Erasure of a 19th Century Celebrity, Newport Historical Society, June 24, 2024.

Price: $450