Celebrations Today – February 20

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day:
  • Eleutherius of Tournai
  • Eucherius of Orléans
  • Bls. Francisco Marto and Jacinta Marto
  • Frederick Douglass (Episcopal Church (USA))
  • Wulfric of Haselbury
  • February 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Day of Heavenly Hundred Heroes (Ukraine)
• World Day of Social Justice

Celebrations Today – USA: February 20

National Cherry Pie Day
National Love Your Pet Day
Presidents Day – Third Monday in February
National Clean Out Your Bookcase Day
National Day of Solidarity with Muslim, Arab and South Asian Immigrants
National Handcuff Day
National Hoodie Hoo Day
National Student Volunteer Day
World Day of Social Justice

Today in US History: February 20

All the World’s a Stage

Joe Jefferson [seated in front], Palm Beach, Florida, circa 1904.
Touring Turn-of-the-Century America: Photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company, 1880-1920
Jefferson died in Palm Beach in 1905.

Comic actor Joseph Jefferson, one of the best-known American stage personalities of the nineteenth century, died in Palm Beach in 1905. Born into a family of actors in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on February 20, 1829, Jefferson achieved one of his first major successes in 1858 in Tom Taylor’s Our American Cousin. He is best remembered for his portrayal of Rip Van Winkle in an Americanized version of a German folk tale popularized by Washington Irving in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent (1819-20). Jefferson took this play on the road for years after he originated the role, and became known throughout the United States for his portrayal.

Joe Jefferson as Rip Van Winkle,
Napoleon Sarony, 1869.
History of the American West, 1860-1920: Photographs from the Collection of the Denver Public Library

The first American theaters were built in the eighteenth century–in Williamsburg, Virginia, (1716) and in Charleston, South Carolina (1730). Many theater groups of that period were itinerant. By the mid-nineteenth century, however, there were many theaters throughout the country and American actors were making a name for themselves on both sides of the Atlantic. Three of the most famous of Jefferson’s contemporaries were Edwin Booth, son of native Englishman Junius Brutus Booth and brother of the infamous John Wilkes Booth—himself an actor of some note, Charlotte Cushman, and Edwin Forrest,  who was known for his vocal power and athleticism on stage.

Edwin Booth, Seated, Facing Camera, Bust,
D. F. Barry,
[1897 or 1898].
History of the American West, 1860-1920: Photographs from the Collection of the Denver Public Library

Junius Booth, Father of John Wilkes Booth, in Theatrical Costume, studio of Mathew Brady, circa 1844-1852.
America’s First Look into the Camera: Daguerreotype Portraits and Views, 1839-1864

Charlotte Cushman, Half-length Vignetted Portrait, Facing Right,
[ca. 1855].
America’s First Look into the Camera: Daguerreotype Portraits and Views, 1839-1864

Edwin Forrest, studio of Mathew Brady, circa 1844-1860.
America’s First Look into the Camera: Daguerreotype Portraits and Views, 1839-1864

The Library of Congress is rich in materials on the performing arts.

• The collection The Nineteenth Century in Print: Periodicals contains many articles on the theater and the actors of that era. Search the collection on names such as Joseph, Jefferson; Washington Irving; Edwin Booth; Charlotte Cushman; Rip Van Winkle, and Edwin Forrest, to find related articles.
• Search the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog on the same names (above) as well as on phrases such as actors, actresses, theaters, and theatrical productions, to find images of these figures and of various aspects of the theater profession.
• American Variety Stage: Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment, 1870-1920 is a rich source of material on the history of popular entertainment in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Click on The American Variety Stage for introductory information about this collection.
• Click on Performing Arts, Music to access a list of American Memory collections with music, dance, and theater materials. Search across this list of collections, or any subset of this group, on terms such as theater, actress, and actor. For more related information, search the Today in History Archive on these same terms.
• View selected theatrical images from the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog in Pictorial Americana: Selected Images from the Collections of the Library of Congress: Theatrical Posters and Performances.
• Search on the term Booth in the collection An American Time Capsule: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera to see a wanted poster illustrated with photographic prints of John Wilkes Booth and others involved with the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.
• Search the American Memory collections on Washington Irving to locate more information on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, which inspired actor Joseph Jefferson’s most memorable performances.

Today in History – February 20-External Links

Today’s Weather in History
Today in Earthquake History
This Day in Naval History
Today’s Document from the National Archives
Today’s Events, Births & Deaths –Wikipedia
Today in History by AP
On this Day -1950 to 2005 – Today’s Story–BBC
On This Day: The New York Times
This Day in History –History.com
Today in Canadian History – Canada Channel
History of Britain that took place On This Day
Russia in History –Russiapedia