The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 116 - The Actor Rivalry

Episode Date: September 19, 2015

Comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds examine the rivalry of actors Edwin Forrest and William Macready SOURCES TOUR DATES REDBUBBLE MERCH

When you're staying at an Airbnb you might be like me wondering could my place be an Airbnb and if it could what could it earn? You could be sitting on an Airbnb and not even know it. That in-law sweet guest house where your parents stay only part-time Airbnb it and make some money the rest of the year whether you could use a little extra money to cover some bills or for something a little more fun. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.ca slash host. Hi my name is Dave Anthony I host a bi-weekly podcast and occasionally I

invite in a friend mm-hmm it feels like you just even it's smashing yeah yeah but you need me I mean I have to be a part of this well yeah I mean there's other people yeah aunt aunt the comedian aunt he'd be good you should get him God do you want to look who to do? I'll do one bottle. People say this is funny. Not Gary Gara. Dave okay. Someone or something is tickling people. Is it for fun? And this is not going to come to tickling podcasts. Okay. You are Queen Fakie of made-up town. All hail Queen Shit of Liesville. A bunch of religious virgins go to mingle. And do what? Pray. Hi Gary. No. Is he done my friend? No. No. March 9th, 1806. Your six was great. 1806. Edwin Forest. Edwin's a bad name. You think? I'm not a bad man. Better than Ed Luz. Ed's cool. Ed Luz way worse. So you're on fire today. Yeah spicy from the top. Let's just say right now that Gareth's football team won. Yeah. And he's celebrated with beers. And I had many beers. So enjoy. He was born in the city of Philadelphia. He was born. We're back. Yeah. Always. It's always fun to be here. He was born into poverty to a Scottish father. And a German American mother. Okay. It's a combo. Yeah. So that's you know there was a lot of like emotional moments in that household. You can say what you felt when he was just a boy. He joined an amateur theater company and performed plays in a sparsely decorated woodshed. Lovely. I mean that's what you did back then. Theater. Woodshed. Yeah. Woodshed theater. At 11 years old he got his big break landing a role at Philadelphia's South Street Theater. His father died when he was 13. And after a few jobs he volunteered to participate in an experiment on the effects of nitrous oxide. That's I mean we've really jumped in fast so far. Okay. So we just got to know this guy. He performed in a woodshed and now he's agreed to get nitrous oxide tested. He's banging out. He's banging out the nitrous. It's cool. It's fine. Listen you're talking to a guy who's maybe tried nitrous oxide. I might have. Fine. Fine. Fine drug. The helicopter sounds. Yeah. One time a friend of mine went down passed out after doing a bunch of nitrous and

when someone said it's just like Sammy Hagar and he said he went under and it just went Hagar. Hagar. Hagar. Hagar. Hagar. Hagar. Hagar. When Edwin was under the influence of nitrous he spewed out a delightful Shakespeare soliloquy. What? When he was under. Then I see Queen Mab have been with you. And for whatever reason important Philadelphia lawyer was there. He got Edwin an audition at the Walnut Street Theater. Wait what happened so wait he would do nitrous and then become an amazing actor and that got any got an audition. Yeah. So if you're listening and you want to be an actor nitrous nitrous move to LA and get a bunch of nitrous tanks. Yeah. He made his professional stage debut on November 27th 1820. Next he won a tour of the West on the story gained a bit of a celebrity for his terrific blackface characters. You know those are SNL always says they want two celebrity impressions two originals in one blackface. American author Constance Rourke said he was so great at blackface that he often hung around in the streets with blacks completely unnoticed. Oh bull fucking shit. What a fucking liar. He hung out. I mean how could you like if you're a if you're a black guy and a guy walks up here. This is what it really was was in this day and age. You couldn't do anything to white people if you were black. That's right. So he was just hanging out and they were just like just pretend whatever he wants. He is. That's all there is to it. Oh yeah you're not going to be like did why are you wearing blackface and hanging out with us like you're black. These N words are bothering me. I've had to have a lot of reverb. What do you say. What do you say to a guy wearing blackface. He just. Yeah. He's made the choice. He's out of the house awkward. It's too. He can't talk him down. He's got it on. She said Edwin tricked an elderly black woman into believing he was a friend. He then talked her into joining him on stage that night. So he's just a asshole to the black people. Yeah. In 1826 he found himself in New York City. He had a great run of the Bowery Theater as Orthello. After this successful run he was getting $200 a night for his performances. That's a lot of fucking dough. Yeah but these performances are in regular face. I don't think he was doing black. Human face. Okay. I don't think I think there was a black Othello and reason memory. So I don't think there's ever a black face. No we haven't gotten there yet but Kenneth Branagh is probably on top of that.

Edwin was well built. A tough man who swagger and blustering performances made him a favorite of the working class especially the people in the Rough Bowery. Okay. He was pretty much the opposite of actor William McCready. Oh boy. McCready was born in London on March 3rd 1793. He followed his father into the theater. And at the age of 17 he made his first appearance as Romeo in the city of Birmingham. He was very successful. He made his first London appearance two years later and two years after that he made his name in the play Rob Roy. It was in England where he went? Yep. This guy is for English. Boomingham. Oh right. Okay. Boomingham. It's from my brother. Yeah. Is he an Austin Villa fan? An Austin Villa fan. He doesn't support the Austin Texas spin off. Okay. That's how popular his football team is. Yeah. Well I got to tell your brother that his football team. There's no reason to root for him. We don't want to do it like this. I'll pull him aside one on one and I'll tell him. I don't want to do it through the podcast. From then on McCready was off and running and he decided to have a go of America in 1827. Okay. Have a go at it. Things did not go very well for McCready in the US. In Baltimore while playing William Tell, the props man forgot to break an arrow before giving it to McCready. Sorry. Sorry. So I'm sorry. So William Tell, apple on the head. Okay. So the props guy forgot to break the arrow. Did his son shoot the apple off his head? What was the... I think it was his boy. Yeah. So that's the story of William Tell is that his son shot an apple off his head with an arrow. But this guy decided to make it actually the exact moment of William Tell with a real arrow.

Well, yeah, I'm not sure. Yeah, maybe. Well, I mean, the idea must have been that you're supposed to like put up a broken arrow and put it... Yeah, something like that. Right? Yeah. And then he gets a full arrow. And he gets a full arrow. Oh, wait. So wait, the actor who's getting the... I assume that he's supposed to put the broken arrow in the apple and be like, oh, you've hit the apple. But instead he's got a real arrow. He's got a full arrow. Well, I'm excited to see what this next moment's about. Well, it's not that great because he... McCready then was forced to break the arrow on stage himself and he flipped out in front of the audience yelling, I can't get such an arrow in your country, sir. Wow. So he kind of broke the third wall. Yeah, shattered it. This was taken as an insult to all of America. Well, what? Americans are so sensitive. How dare he? Letters were sent to... If you don't like our arrows, get out, mister. Letters were sent to newspapers from upset patriots. McCready offered an explanation and a major catastrophe was avoided. And he continued on. McCready and Edwin Forrest were both touring the US in different plays, but had no rivalry with each other at the time. They both played very different characters because they were such different actors. And they were said to be very gentlemanly towards each other. McCready was, you know, soft and pretty and Edwin was tough and... Love blackface. Love blackface. McCready returned to England after a hardly successful tour in the US. Edwin then decided to go to England in 1836 to conquer the stages of England.

Sure. I'm sure that's exactly what it'll take place. In London, he took to the stage to play The Gladiator, which was not well received. But Edwin did... You can't stop thinking it's Russell Crowe. I know, that's all I thought about. Let me picture it. Although Edwin got good reviews for his performance, the rest of the play was panned. He spent 10 months in England performing in several plays and hanging out with English actors like McCready. While in England, he married Catherine Sinclair in June 1937, then he returned to Philadelphia. In 1844, McCready returned to the US. A successful actor. By this time, McCready and Edwin had become friends. But by now, most cities had two theaters and then one booked McCready, the other manager of the other theater would book Edwin in order to have the best talent going. Are we talking about an actor off? We might be.

Are we talking about... Yeah, this might be it. Who can act the hardest? Now, this happened all over the US and the result was a rivalry between the two. Actor fights. Edwin was billed as, quote, the American Tragedian. The American Tragedian? Tragedian? Yeah.

Tragedian. Yeah. Bi-weekly. I guess that's a word. And he had great success. While McCready did not have great success. So McCready went back to England with not the best feelings about Edwin, but he was too much of a gentleman to say anything about it in public. What could he say? He was getting out of acted. He wasn't wrong because Edwin could have easily turned down the gigs he was offered in the same town, but he never did because Edwin never turned down an opportunity to make a buck.

Well, okay. Can't fault him. Then in 1845, Edwin returned to England with his wife. Okay. He acted in more plays and it was all going fairly well until he decided to take on the role of Macbeth. He was completely the wrong choice for this role because of his build and style. Okay. And the English were waiting.

Excuse me. No. No, I don't think so. Looks nothing like Macbeth. This is wrong. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Dear shithead.

He's a big Macbeth. Off the stage, you're large and blustering. Oh, don't feel very well actually. I don't know if it's him that's upsetting me or something bigger. I feel German. Oh my God, there's something popping out of my stomach. What? Oh, that's an alien.

What happened? I've been eaten by an alien. I was bit the other night. Wow, that took a turn. So the McCready's friends and the theater press were ready to pounce on Edwin. They were not feeling gentlemanly about Edwin's treatment of McCready in the U.S. And during Macbeth, the audience hissed at him. That's supposed to be that.

McCready did not take part in the poor reaction and there's no proof yet anything to do with it, but Edwin concluded that the audience had been turned against him by McCready. I mean, in a way, accurate-ish a little bit, right? I mean, they've got his back. They're not giving him a fair shake. We haven't seen Big Macbeth. Right. Who knows?

Big Macbeth could be a big hit. Listen, I'm not against Big Macbeth. I love a Big Macbeth. It's like Kevin James and Macbeth. Oh God, finally. You're like, how did they get a talking panda in this fucking clay? Really not good. What's about time Macbeth wears a mall security guard outfit?

Yeah, it's a matter of time. Make it real? Yeah. Baz, get on it. Yeah, Edwin thought that McCready was jealous. A couple of months later, Edwin went to see McCready perform Hamlet in Scotland. Okay. During the play, he stood up in his private box and hissed at McCready.

Jesus. It was described in the papers as, quote, marked and offensive. So now he's got his own his campaign. The British press were not thrilled with him. And overnight, the respect he had in England was completely wiped out. Then he printed a letter in The Times. I bet it was a bad call. He was responding to an article The Times had published titled Professional Jealousy.

Quote, there are two legitimate modes of evincing approbation and disapprobation in the theatre. One expressed of approbation by the clapping of hands and the other by hisses to marked dissent. He's really condescending so far in his letter. And as well timed and hearty applause is just mead of the actor who deserves well, so also is hissing a salutary and wholesome corrective of the abuses of the stage. So it's a note. It was against one of the abuses that my dissent was expressed. Oh, well, he was directing.

If you think about it, he was directing. A little bit. I mean, just from the box with hisses. The truth is Mr. McCready thought fit to introduce a fancy dance into his performance of Hamlet. Oh, boy. We got to dance in Hamlet? I think I'm honestly, I think I'm with him. I think I am too.

Who's dancing? You can't just add lip dances in Shakespeare. I'm going to do me a jig. Excuse me. Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo. Sonny Hammy. Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo. Call me Hammy.

I would love to see that. Yeah. Oh, God. And I thought and still think it was a desecration of the scene. seen, it must be observed also that I was by no means solitary in this expression of opinion. The writer of the article, who has most unwarrantably singled me out for public animate version, has carefully omitted to notice the fact that I warmly applauded several points of Mr. McCready's performance. As to the pitiful charge of professional jealousy

preferred against me, I dismiss it with the contempt it merits yours respectfully, Edwin Forrest. I don't think he was being respectful. The letter did not help. Yeah, oh, why? People thought that was condescending. Yeah, I don't know. Interesting. But he did clap. He did. He clapped. He hissed and clapped. He hissed at the dancing. He clapped. He was basically like market research. He was like a market research style. I mean, the theater sounded awesome. See, is that hissing dude clapping there? The fucking and hissing at once. I think he's conflicted. He conflicted. I like the words, but not the dancing. So Edwin then returned to the US. There his friends felt he had been screwed over by McCready.

Pretty much the same way McCready's friends in England felt he had been screwed over by Edwin. Friends can be funny like that. McCready apparently thought this would be a good time to head back to the US. Perfect. Strike while the iron's strange. In Boston, he learned that many now had a bitter feeling about him. Okay. The first to dip into talking shit about McCready was the Boston Mail, writing about his performance on October 30th, 1848. Oh boy. Mr McCready plays this evening at the Howard Anthonium and refuses to show himself for less than one dollar a ticket. In New York, this price resulted in quote, beggardly account of empty boxes. The article want on to congratulate another theater owner for now giving in to the dictatorial terms of this

actor. We pity his ignorance of the institutions of this country and hope for his credit's sake that he will not, when he gets home, write a black book about American manners. But if he does, that he will spare us the production of his brain. Jesus. We've got a real biggy Tupac going on. The article went on to explain how McCready had attacked and ruined Edwin in England. I mean, this is like a Cold War, but with actors almost. Very look, man, the pride. Have we ever had actor pride like that? No, that's Roberto Benini has a country cared so much for an actor. Do they really though? They did for a minute. Should they? Well, they shouldn't. But the Oscar. Yeah, this is very much biggy and

Tupac. Right. All that shit. Right. This is just actors, though. They got his back. Pre-wrap. America's got his back. So the article went on to explain how McCready had attacked and ruined Edwin in England. The next stop on McCready's tour was Philadelphia, where Edwin was also doing a show. At this point, Edwin had talked over tiring, but suddenly he was back to acting in the same time and same town as McCready. So now the gloves were off. Both actors made speeches against each other. One night, McCready spoke about the bad treatment he had received from a rival actor. So they would give speeches before the show. Before the show? Before the show, they would give a speech. Just like an opening diatribe about how much they hated a fellow actor?

A couple of things. I want to say I'm going to sell posters after the show. But wait, Edwin's giving a speech before too? They all did. That's apparently what they did. But aren't the Americans just like... First of all, I would like to thank the director and the producers. Next I want to talk about the cunt. So some McCready gave a speech and then Forrest responded with a letter that was published. He again explained that he had hissed McCready because of the weird dance he had done during Hamlet. Look, it was the goddamn dance. If you had seen it, it was like a one-footed hop. It was a terrible dance. Here's the thing. I don't think Hamlet would have danced that way if he did dance. He's a box snapper. I've always said that about Ham. He also said McCready was

a liar and quote, has no feelings of kindness for any actor who is likely by his talent to stand in his way. He has a very lively imagination and often draws upon it for his facts. Interesting. Yeah. I like the way they talk shit back then is you really have to sort of like decipher some of their shit talk. Yeah, it's something else. It takes a while. Like now you're just like, fuck you, bitch. Okay, his imagination. His imagination pulls from non-realistic. He believes... And then the guy from the 2010 goes, why don't you eat my ass? Well, that's quite streamlined. Very to the point. While Edwin's speech didn't help his car, or by Edwin's letter didn't help his cause with the wealthy and intelligent people, it did rile up the working class on those of the Bowery. There we go. That's all you need.

McCready then prepared to sue Edwin for libel. Wow. I mean, I really thought that horseshit started like 40 years ago. No, it's been going on for a long time. He met with two Philadelphia lawyers who told him to drop it and just focus on his reputation. I want a second opinion. But he couldn't. He then went to New Orleans where he found Southern lawyers who were not fans of Northern actor Edwin Forrest. Well, we'll definitely help you show Edwin a thing or two about how we do things down here. I mean, I gotta say, his blackface did entertain me some. Look, obviously, as far as blackface goes, Edwin is number one. But we're not trying to attack him on blackface. Well, now we're talking about Macbeth. We're talking about Macbeth. That dance?

So they egged him on and he asked for proof from England that Edwin was lying. And he got letters from Edinburgh that proved Edwin was alone in, quote, hissing the fancy dance. I mean, if you are like a friend of either of these guys, you're like, will you stop? Will you stop, Bill? We're good. Stop. Wrap it up. I just want to let everyone know how big of a fucking asshole this guy is. Look, he hissed my dance. Yeah. You don't just hiss a dance. I know, but let's let it go. No. Hamlet should be allowed to dance. Okay. Yeah, I get it. Now, drive me a bath. And they also got letters from newspaper critics who stated that McCready had not influenced them to give bad reviews and on and on, right? Okay. But none of that mattered. Those who supported Edwin

were not, we're not going to change their minds. And the consensus was that McCready shouldn't perform in New York again. Should not? Should not. Okay. People were so upset that a movement began to drive every English actor from the stage in the US. Although no, no actual actions were taken, but there was like a movement to get rid of every English actor to get rid of every English actor. Well, that's so hard though, because they're so good at American accents. You'd just be like, where are you from? He'd be like, right down the street, why? Looked, looked English for a minute. He seemed like, were you on the wire? No, no. What is that? He was bloody close, wasn't it? I thought they had us for a minute.

There was anger simmering. Americans still had bad feelings about the British from the Revolutionary War, the war of 1812. Plus, the British had a thing for constantly talking shit about American manners. Well, I mean, yeah. Yeah, that's never stopped. No. Why would it? We don't have manners. We have very little. We're animals. Yeah, really monsters. Now this was also a time when disturbances at theaters were not uncommon. They were planned ahead of time. They were protest and were usually intended to oppose a specific policy at the theater or a stage manager or sometimes the music that had been played and upset patriots. Wait. Wait. You heard it. No. They, they're sorry. They would plan little protests in the audience

members. They would protest music or the stage manager or, yeah. What? Look, it was different time. It's like all you have is theater. Like, I mean, you just can't. That's probably why they did it there. Yeah, but of course. But if you're there, you're like, oh God, I mean, I just have no escape. I cannot believe you're playing tears for fears. This stage manager is a moron. People would break furniture, throw things at the stage. This is a riot. And the theater manager would take care of the problem and life would go on. This occurred in both the U.S. and Europe. And the cops didn't get involved unless it led to serious violence. When violence occurred, the theater was closed and it was said no actor ever felt he had the backing of the police. Oh

my God. And then for some reason, three producers decided to bring McCready back to New York for an engagement. No, no, he's not supposed to perform there anymore. On May the 7th. Oh boy. It would be at an aristocratic, fancy opera house. Edwin was playing at the Broadway theater nearby. To the fans of Edwin, Edwin, this was a horrible insult. I mean, this is really what it's just like, imagine supporting actors this much. Like people do it in this day and age, but they're like crazy people. Yeah. You know, they're like, well, no, listen, Jennifer left you it. I don't need to meet her to know her. She's the greatest. I'm on Taylor Swift's side. Yeah. Yeah. They believed Edwin needed to be avenged and that McCready should be prevented from performing

in front of a New York audience. A captain Rudner's bought 50 tickets and gave them out to people who were instructed to hiss until McCready left the stage. Other organizations got in on it and by the time of the performance, it is estimated there are around 500 people ready to have a go at McCready. Oh boy. The night of the show, the house was packed. When the curtain came up, local popular actors were applauded. Okay. What a bunch of assholes. Then McCready walked out as Macbeth, which I believe is in the third scene. Yeah. And he was hit with a wall of hisses. Oh, yells and just noise. He continued with the performance, but no one could hear what was being said. The audience seemed to take this as a challenge and the noise and racket just got

louder. But McCready held firm, still performing. Wow. In the eye of the storm. So they began throwing rotten eggs at him. Jesus. And then coins and then anything else that would fly. Then chairs were picked up and thrown from the balcony. What the fuck is happening? Chairs? Eggs is fucked up. Chairs. Police were on hand because they were expecting trouble, but those in the audience did not heed their instructions to stop. Greatly outnumbered, the police did not attempt to make any arrests. Well, this is why cops should have always had guns that they could just kill people with. Would have shut this. Did you just shoot all anyone who had a chair? That's a weapon. Or an egg. An egg is a weapon. Oh God. So,

uh, which was the right call. I'm not arresting anybody because the trouble makers were, uh, were apparently prepared to take on the police if they tried to arrest them. And they'd even brought bags of gum, gunpowder that they were going to throw into the chandelier, which what makes for an exploding chandelier because it was candlelit. Probably. It's like living in fucking Bosnia. This is just like, I mean, why go? Why would you go to this show? Only to his. It's a good show. Uh, finally, the play was stopped and the curtain came down. McCready said, that's it. I'm done. But one of the producers of the play hated Edwin Forrest. And this is, was his way of getting back at him. So he had no intention of ending the run of the show. McCready,

McCready. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, I know tonight was not good. I understand that. They're just blowing off a little tension. Fuck Edwin. Fuck right. So we will just, don't worry. Let's get out there. Don't worry. You did the right thing, steaming through, plow through. You McBeth. Let him hiss. You McBeth him right in the ass. That Edwin, I tried to shake his hand one time. He would not look at me. He fucking walked away. And I'm a producer. Anyway, good show. Other than that, I thought really good. Ed, the producer insisted on a second performance. He got all of his rich friends to sign on to a formal request asking McCready to continue. They said they would sustain him and he couldn't give

up like this. So another show was scheduled for Thursday, May the 10th. Oh boy. Now this was turning into a rich versus poor battle. Those are the power eight thought they had won, but the wealthy wanted to continue the fight. It was now the aristocrats against the people and the rich represented the hatred, the hated arrogance of England. Now the people decided that the play should not go on at all costs. And word was put out that if McCready appeared on stage, he would be met with a riot. Oh boy. The police were informed and told that they should stop the play or else. The mayor tried to shut the play down, but the men who held the lease, the producers, refused. I can't believe there's a time when the mayor's like, well, what do you want? They have

a lease. They want to put on a play. They have a bunch of paperwork. I can't go through it. They're right in the Constitution. It says you have a right to play. Yeah, it isn't written in a different ink, but I don't know. Just let them do it. The show was officially announced and those who had shut down the first night felt insulted and ignored. The city was on edge. Everyone expected a riot, except McCready, who had been assured there would be no problem. Yep. Nothing to worry about. The morning of the show, the rabble rousers passed out tickets while the producers asked the mayor for protection. In city hall, the mayor met with the chief of police, the sheriff, Major General Sanford, Brigadier General Hall, to discuss protecting... Just a normal cabinet

when you're going to talk about a play. Got your men we're here to talk about. Macbeth, gentlemen. I have a machine gun. We're talking about Operation the Scottish Play. The mayor then again told the two producers, knee-blow and hack it, to stop the performance, and they refused. It's a fun meeting. Oh my god. Stop. No, we can't. All right. I don't like him. Okay. The chief police said his 900 man force was not enough to handle what was coming, so the military was called out. Good. Normal. 200 policemen were stationed inside the opera house. The others were placed across the street. It sounds like the Blues Brothers. It's just a play. Yeah. Meanwhile, news spread on the street that tonight was going to be,

there was going to be a riot. Seeing the military and police just caused more troublemakers to come to the area. Police from the Bowery couldn't care less about Edwin and McCready, and we're now just coming for some violent fun. Cool. Yep. Meanwhile, Edwin Forrest said nothing. The night before he performed to a full house at the Broadway Theater, he just went on his business as usual. Oh, and he was also doing Macbeth. Oh, what? They're doing the same thing? Yep. Competing Macbeth's? Yep. It's just this fucking big takeoff. Oh my god. An hour before the show. They're like, Big Beth's like a highlander. Dooling Macbeth's. You must cut off the head of the other Macbeth. An hour before the show,

crowds began to gather all over the city. Tickets were sold out at the theater. There were only seven women in the entire house. Good. The doors and windows were barricaded. Class just a normal play. Interesting decision. When I went and saw the Lion King, they did the same thing. They did. Yeah. Really? They just barricaded the doors now. Right. So nobody can leave. How many women were there? Three. Wow. Okay. It's still three too many, in my opinion, but we're getting warmer. Outside the crowd continued to increase in numbers. They tried to get in, but were kept out by police. The curtain rose. An American actor named Clark was the first on stage. He was wildly applauded. That's what they would do today. Oh, for sure.

Without a doubt. Oh, yeah. Then the third act came and McCready walked out. Third scene, right? Or third, you're right. Okay. Third act. Well, third scene. Yeah. He was greeted with groans, and screaming. Shut up. What about just that guy's the best. You're like, actually, that guy's going too far still. That guy's crazy. Did anyone find the screaming guy? I think he's hurt. The rich people who were friendly to McCready stood and cheered and waved their hats. But I mean, not a lot. You don't go to a play a lot of times and it's actually like a sporting event. I mean, this is completely like a sport. Or people are like boo. But when the cheering stopped, the hissing and groaning took over. A card was held up on stage that read,

quote, the friends of order will remain quiet. Yeah. But what about the enemies of order? There's more. That's right. It did not remain quiet. That's not to them. Police then moved in and arrested the noisiest protesters. I'm sure they went quietly. These were the ones shaking their fists and saying they were there to hurt McCready. Jesus. They only numbered around 20. They were taken to the basement and the show continued now, mostly in silence. That's right when a large stone smashed through one of the barricaded windows. Oh boy. Outside there is now a mob of 15,000 people. Holy shit. 15,000 people. I love the theater. Were that angry about a play? That's the most interesting theaters ever been.

Seriously. I mean, if you found out 15,000 people that they give a fuck about the same play, that would be insane. It's insane. They began throwing large paving stones at the theater. Fortunately, there was construction nearby. So there were tons of stones available. Oh, good. Oh, that's good. Nobody thought about that. No, nobody was like, these could be weapons. These are. They see these big things here. A lot of weapons, if you think about it. The stones broke windows and actually started breaking through the barricades. The police tried to move in, but they were driven back by flying stones. Stones. Okay, interesting. A fire was started under the dress circle, but it was quickly put out. I don't know what the dress

circle is. I do. Is it where they get dressed? Yeah. Or just where they put dresses. Exactly. Many of those outside were just there to watch. Spectators. Most of the attacking was being done by teenage boys. Think about going to watch people, like, to watch people watch theater and get angry about it. I'm going to go to the theater tonight. You have tickets. Now I'm going to sit outside and watch The Horde with Attacks. They're all really pissed off at this one actor and they're going to try to kill him. I'm going to go watch that. I want to see someone die in the streets. Then the military came. Okay. The sound of horses and marching military men echoed in the streets. Okay. The military are coming, yelled someone in the mob.

The infantry had their bayonets out, which enraged the mob. They turned their attention from the opera house to the soldiers. I mean, this is how much they hate this play. They're going to start killing soldiers. They really don't like this. They're not a fan. They're not a fan of, well, the actor. Right. I mean, I think they enjoy like Beth because they just saw their buddy. Well, it seems like they're having trouble separating it. I don't, for me, it's not about the words. They threw stones and brick back, brick bats at the men on horses. Almost everyone of the Calvary were knocked from their saddles and the horses bolted. The mob cheered their victory. Then the infantry came. Oh my God. They marched in a column surrounded on both sides by the mob

and being pelted with stones. The general ordered them to march on, but then they came to the construction site, which the general had not known about and they were unable to proceed. Oh, I mean, there's just so many rocks. I mean, it's just endless rocks. I want you to talk about these things. I mean, honestly, I mean, this whole thing could have been handled if someone just knew about the construction site. Yeah, I mean, it's just the too many rocks. They're just going to throw rocks. So they had to make their way around the big hole in the ground while stones were tossed at them. So they just had to go out toward the side with it so they're easier to hit. It's like a smaller path. They're like, that'll be easy. It's like a carnival game.

Many of the soldiers were injured and carried off wounded. Even officers were taken out. This is over a plane. Yeah. Yeah. An actor. An actor. Yeah, actor in a plane. Uh-huh. They finally made it to the theater and formed two lines protecting the theater. General Hall was struck with a stone and seriously injured. Good. At this point, eight of 11 of the first platoon were now down injured. I mean, eight of 11. Yeah. Okay. As was Major General Sanford, Colonel Doria and Captain Shemway. Then someone in the mob shot Captain Shemway in the leg. Who's shooting? General Hall was then shot in the face. Okay. Okay. It's over an actor. And it's, I mean, now it's not anymore. It was and now it isn't.

Now it's about. That's a little different. Now someone's been shot in the face. So now it's about, all right, well, someone got shot in the face. We should freak out as much as we can have to. I think we should start shooting more people in the face probably or get the fuck out of here. I think this is going to end well because we just shot the guys with guns in the face. Let's keep moving. Oh, the mob was warned to disperse or they would be fired upon. They're already firing. It's not warnings are done. General Sanford was watching his men go down one by one. So the order was given to charge with their bayonets. So charge the mob who's upset about the actor with bayonets. But the mob was so large

and dense and close together that they couldn't charge. A few muskets were just pulled from the soldier's hand. We got muskets now. Amazing news. We got a bunch of muskets. I don't know. They think they were handing them to us. The order was given to fire over the heads of the mob. The shots went off and struck Miss Langdon's house across the street. Excuse me. I love that. Excuse me. I love that they knew the name of the lady. Yeah, shooting over their heads too. That'll scare them. They had all these witness reports and everyone talked about Miss Langdon's house. Miss Langdon's house was hit pretty bad. They really shot the shit out of Miss Langdon's. Yo, Miss Langdon. You okay? I just had it painted. Excuse me. My roses. Oh, someone shot her roses.

Not saying anyone hurt. Someone in the mob yelled, they only have blanks. Give it to them again. So they shot over their heads and some idiot was like, no one's hit. Yeah, well, right. Because they don't have real guns. Okay, right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that's bad. A volley of stones rained down on the soldiers. It's raining stones. The order was given to shoot over their heads again. But General Hall, who had been shot in the face, changed the order and said, fire low. Fire low. Fire low. Fire at the mouth. My fucking, my fucking face. Oh, shots are fired. Men in the mob fell to the ground dying. The mob was livid and roared to attack again. Oh, Jesus. They were just met with the second round of musket fire. Meanwhile, during

act two, I'm sure he's still doing the play. Yeah, of course, my lady. I mean, if we knew any Macbeth, this would probably be better. I know a little bit. Yeah, you did. You did. Thank you. Comedy sports. Thank you. I know. I know a lot from comedy sports. The road was now covered with the dead and wounded. Blood was everywhere. Panic took over. People raced in every direction screaming and yelling. 52 people had been shot. 22 of those would die. What? 22 dead. They now lay in the street moaning and dying. General Sanford. The place outside, baby. The place in the streets. That's the tragedy. General Sanford had never given the order to fire before and said in his 35 years of military service, he had never seen a mob

so violent. The audience is let out of the theater from a side exit. Well, that was actually pretty. What the fuck happened out here? You guys missed a great show. We were hissing. What? Hey, why are there so many dead? I am not going to be able to catch a cab. What's going on at Mrs. Langdon's? Oh, my God. Where are roses? Okay. Holy shit. Oh, I slipped in a man. Jesus. That is a man. So McCready just up as a policeman and made a getaway. Acting as always. When isn't he acting? Officer coming through. Excuse me. Just a regular cop. Can you believe what happened with that McCready inside? Out of my way, man. Police business. That was close. Uh, but not everyone shot was taking part in the melee. Henry Oton was standing across the

street on a sidewalk with other spectators. When shots rang out, he fell to the ground. Well, they didn't think there was going to be shooting. Still, I mean, you're gonna watch a classic riot. Yeah, but New York riot with rocks. I get the idea of wanting to watch a riot, but there's time that you got to like, it's like when people take pictures of the tsunami or the people who like stood around on 9 11 like, holy shit, move, get out of there. All right. I just, I, I get out of the danger zone. I think this was a time when you watched riots. Well, I think this was maybe the last time you did that then. Are you going down to the right? Yeah. You want to bring some sandwiches? Yeah. What's the worst that could happen? So Henry Oton was standing

across the street on a sidewalk with other spectators. When the shots rang out, he fell to the ground. He had been shot in the stomach and the ball went clear through and out his back. He was carried to a drugstore where he died. A husband carried his dying wife to a hospital. An old woman searched the wounded on the street and found her mortally wounded son. Men carried the wounded and dead to hospitals drugstores and some to the Vox Hall Saloon where they were put on billiard tables. A large crowd gathered there and speeches were made. Interesting. So, so could you get taken to a hospital or a drugstore or be put on a billiard table and have a speech made? I mean, it's tough. I think I'd opt for the hospital by

a hair. Hey, no, I love your speech. Can I go to a hospital? Nine corner pocket. Okay. Can you move your arm, dude? Can you stop playing? Can you move your arm? Where's that chalk? Did this dude knock the chalk down? Can you stop playing? Nine corner. I need to go to the hospital. Ah, no, that's slops. You get to go. I didn't call that off the eight. Off the eight. Okay, this one off his ear. Yeah. All right. And then it's high five. I'm gonna actually try to shoot it in his wound. Eight in his wound. Don't worry, speeches are on the way. It's about help. Afterwards, it was determined that most of the person shot and wounded were not part of the

mob, but spectators are people just passing by. Bridget Fagan was walking with her husband along the bowery when she was shot in the leg and later died. Mr. Stewart. Shot in the leg and died. Yeah, because it's a big musket ball. So if it hits your artery, forget about it, or just goes through a bone. Well, you're also going to like a saloon for medical attention. She died. They did amputate her leg and that's why she died was because of the amputation. Right. Okay. Well, thanks. Thanks, medicine. Thank you. Thanks. Mr. Stewart, a retired merchant, was just standing on a sidewalk in the bowery when he was shot in the neck. Mr. Collins was getting out of his car on Harlem Railroad when he was shot and killed. William Russell turned

a corner and had his arm shattered. Mr. Livingston was talking to someone two blocks away when he was shot in the stomach. Jesus. Hey, how you been me? Oh, there's a play on. I forgot about the play. I won. That lady died from her leg. I think I'm going to die. McCready was escorted by a group of friends and left the city on horseback that night. He then disguised as another horse. Just three horses. Yeah. And then one cloth horse. Yeah. You a horse? No. Yeah. Story checks out. Keep moving. I then took a car to Boston and got on a ship to Europe within days. The next day, public opinion was divided over who was to blame. Well, real quick, I mean, so he did it. He came to town, did the play, got the fuck out. Yeah, he did everything he needed to do.

So his side's pretty good. Yeah. The angry people called for vengeance. Others held meetings to condemn the violence. Many wanted a grand jury convene to indict the mayor and the sheriff. People wanted the opera house destroyed. Jesus. Once again, the military came out the next night to protect the opera house. There were four troops of horse artillery, one squadron of cavalry, four regiments of infantry, and a two pound howitzer. A mob did appear, but the military drove them off. That same mob then attacked troops in the Bowery, severely injuring several. The Bowery was barricaded by the mob and bonfires were set. Good. The light from the fires made it easy for police to see who was leading the mobs and they were quickly arrested. Smart.

The downside that nobody thought of. That is the downside of bonfires. Very easy to see you. Oh, such a very easy to see your coat. Perfect. Now we can see everything. No. There's a guy at a Batman mask. Hey. Hey. Hey, I did a bonfire. By midnight order was finally restored. A grand jury determined the shootings were justified. I was like in my head comedically. I was like, if they say justified, that's great. Okay, so the shootings were justified. Edwin Forrest moved to Philadelphia soon after and sought to divorce his wife that year. He had an affair and said he did it because his wife had an affair with a writer named Nathaniel Willis. The divorce was covered largely in the press and Willis publicly defended Edwin's wife.

On June 17th, 1950, Edwin beat Willis with a gutta percho whip in Washington Square while yelling, this man is the seducer of my wife. Oh my God. What? Okay. What year is this? 1950? I love Lucy was on the 1850. Sorry, I said 1950. Okay. I was like, we took quite a jump. 1950. That would be awesome. Be great. 1850 is great. Still. This man is the seducer of my wife. Yeah. And then just hitting him with a whip. Just classifying. But you can't approach that. Like you that's a zone of like, stay the don't help. This is this is a triangle. You definitely observe this one. Don't get in that shit. Yeah. Willis couldn't defend himself because he was just getting over rheumatic fever. Oh my God. Oh, it's even hotter. He sued Edwin and won $2,500. It's worth it. During the divorce proceedings,

a waiter said he had seen Edwin's wife and Willis quote lying on each other. Mm hmm. All right. Well, that's chicken. I mean, a gentleman does not lie on a woman for conversation. I can't believe we're finally at this point. Fully clothed laying on each other in public. My dear to get under that dress of yours in the corner of a restaurant. What the hell are they doing? Imagine this without the clothing. Oh, my love. Oh my God. Oh, Edwin continued as a successful actor for a short time. He then came down with hereditary gout. Oh, that's the thanks dad. What? How did it wasn't gout from like eating like? Yeah, just garbage. Yeah. Hereditary gout. I'm down to diet and it's not working. Oh, my legs. Every time I walk,

I step on needles. The gout slowly ate away at him. He caught pneumonia and then had a stroke. Jesus. I mean, it really when it rains it pours. When you died in the 1800s, you just went boom, boom, dad. You went down hard. He slowly fell apart and died in his sleep in 1872. McCready enjoyed success in England. He retired from the stage in 1951 after doing a final performance of Macbeth. He lived a happy life and died in 1873. Well, there's our winner. There's our winner. Yeah, he did win. He won. Fuckin' Brits. Right? Get one over on us. Sons of bitches. See you in the World Cup. Look at you for my credit.

The Astor Place Opera House riot pretty much ended theater writing. Wait. That's a statement. Wait. But that's something that a theater expert said that I found. But that is on NPR. He said that it ended theater writing wouldn't the illegality of writing and why apparently it was a thing that was done much like you go to a sporting event and cheer your team. You could go to a play and riot. Right. Interesting. It was like the Red Hour and start. I think I kind of would rather those times. The writing indeed. Yeah. There is some there is some theater I could do. I do a play called The Riotings on the Wall and see what happened. It would be a play about people rioting outside

and people wouldn't know what to do. From then on, theaters were policed more and people weren't allowed to throw things at the stage. Well, again, people weren't allowed. Well, you should never have been allowed. Well, you're voicing your opinion. That's not how you do it. You hiss like a gentleman. Oh, you pick up a chair and you heave it. Cheers. Fuck you, howl, Lyndon. I mean, it's like you're glad we're not in those times anymore. But God, to be an audience member when you could just be like, I'm not throwing a rock at that actor. You know what? I am not enjoying the show. I'm just going to throw a chair at his mom, the woman who played his mom. She's a satir accent. Yeah. Why don't you just hiss at her? Oh, man. Oh, it's so past that. That's rude.

So past that. Rude. I'm going to go into the bathroom and kick the urinal off the wall and then I'm going to throw it at the main guy. I'm going to throw it at you. I'm going to come back in. I'm going to throw it at Joyce DeWitt. And then I'm going to throw it at Joyce DeWitt. All right. I don't want to be rude. So after after this more middle class attitude started to dominate theater audiences and it is considered maybe the most important turning point in theater. I mean, well, I didn't know. But yeah. Right. Right. Right. Right. Oh my god, I would love to go to a play back then. Yeah. It'd be great. So much better. Clearly sitting the back of the balcony. But you don't even go inside necessarily. Just be like, I just want to get there early for when

people leave. See what happens at the streets. You'll kill me all bloody. Yeah. Ah, guy with pencil stuck in his neck. How was it? A total triumph. Oh my god, it was so great. I saw my wife dead. Someone set the orchestra on fire. It was really good. But then the orchestra got killed. And someone now stoned the main actor to death. But it was the first half was great. But you know what? I was for the stoning because he was dancing. Yeah, he danced. Anyway, we're going to go pair condolences down at the billiard room. That's he died on a pool table. Yeah, he wanted he always said he wanted to die on a foosball table. It just makes me want to have an air hockey coffin. You just go into the billiard place the next day and just this red. That's how red felt started

on pool tables. They're eventually like, you know what, I can bleed the whole thing. I mean, there's just so many blood in here. We should look, I told you, we shouldn't open this place next to a theater. I understand retrospect. I get it. And you wanted to use white felt. All right. All right. Well, actor fights. I hope you feel happy about theater. Actor fights. Go to I'll probably put this up next Friday, but go to Friday. Yeah, this is one turn out not to be a small up. It's not it's not a long up. It's a what is it a regular? Is it a reg? Yeah. So, so this weekend, the LA pod LA podcast festival, you can go by, you can go by the live stream, watch all the shows you want from your home or wherever you watch things from.

Go ahead and click on the live stream. It's like 20 bucks. You get five bucks off if you use the code dollop. All right, you guys. Stay safe, man. Hey, guys, stay safe. Support live theater.