Edwin Booth Pioneer American Actor

Originally Aired: September 29, 1937 Cavalcade of America #102, "Edwin Booth Pioneer American Actor," dramatizes the early life of Edwin Booth, son of the renowned Shakespearean actor Junius Brutus Booth. Despite his father's insistence that young Edwin learn a practical trade like carpentry, the boy harbors a passionate ambition to become an actor himself. As Edwin travels with his parents on theatrical tours, he studies his father's performances with a critical eye, convinced that Shakespeare's works should be performed in their original form rather than in adapted versions, and that Hamlet should be played thoughtfully rather than vigorously. His tutor, Louis Dugar, witnesses Edwin's determination to pursue acting against his father's wishes. When the company performs Richard III at the Boston Museum in 1849, fifteen-year-old Edwin seizes an opportunity. After convincing fellow actor Harry to let him take over the small role of Tressell, Edwin must persuade his skeptical father to allow him on stage. Demonstrating his knowledge of the lines and the character's purpose in the play, Edwin finally receives his father's reluctant permission to make his theatrical debut, inheriting his father's stage spurs for the performance.