Historical Recording of Edwin Booth Placed in Harvard Theatre Collection

Actual voice records of Edwin F. Booth, the foremost American actor of the last century and said to be the greatest Hamlet of all time, have been salvaged for posterity largely through the work of Frederick C. Packard '20, assistant professor of Public Speaking.

George Middleton, author of "The Unknown Lady," first informed Mr. Packard of the existence of a collection of voice records of actors of the last century. The trail finally led to the Players' Club, a society of actors in New York, where Booth had delivered the speeches for recording in April, 1889.

Grandson Gives Records

Through this organization Mr. Packard was able to contact Edwin Booth Grossman, grandson of the actor. Mr. Grossman had two wax cylinder records, one of Othello's speech to the Venetian senators concerning the wooing of Desdemona, and the other of Hamlet's soliloquy "To be or not to be." Both records take exactly four and a half minutes to play. They were, however, very faint and obscured by much extra noise to such an extent that Mr. Grossman, despaired of ever having them transferred to modern phonograph discs.

It was finally agreed that the originals should be deposited in the Harvard Theatre Collection in Widener Library, for safe keeping, and in return for this gift, the Theatre Collection was to subsidize the necessary experimentation to have the originals salvaged. The interest of Henry M. Rogers '62, oldest living graduate of Harvard, and close friend of Edwin Booth's daughter, Edwina, was secured, and his generosity permitted the experimentation to proceed.

Booth's Voice Amplified

Much of the background noise was eliminated and Booth's voice was carefully amplified before the transfer, so that the results are indeed a triumph of recording. The striking features of Booth's presentation are the richness of his resonance, the beauty of his inflection, and the simplicity of his interpretation.

In the Rogers Room of the Theatre Collection a phonograph will he installed, so that all interested can actually play the Booth records and other historical records.

One amusing incident in connection with the discovery of the records was the finding of a cigar among the pile of papers. Close by was a note bearing the inscription, "This was the last cigar which Edwin Booth ever held in his mouth." The teeth marks were still apparent, for, though forbidden by his doctors to smoke, the dying actor was not to be denied the pleasure of keeping the cigar in his mouth.