Rufus C. Somerby
Rufus Choate Somerby | |
---|---|
Born | 1832 (March 31) |
Died | 1903 (November 30) |
Nationality | American |
Other names | Dr. Judd |
Occupation(s) | Panoramist and Showman |
Known for | Arctic panoramas |
Rufus C. Somerby (1832–1903) was an American entertainer, showman, and
Somerby may possibly have served in the
Articles in The Billboard
Somerby's career is known chiefly through a series of articles which appeared in The Billboard between December 1903 and December 1904 under the by-name "Doctor Judd." In these columns, the good Doctor offered his reminiscences over the decline of the panorama trade, which by then was almost entirely eclipsed by motion picture exhibition; he remarks that "all the old panorama men who catered to the last generation with their exhibitions are fast passing away, and soon they and their shows will be forgotten." Yet puzzlingly, although Dr. Judd goes on to lament the recent death in Boston of Rufus Somerby, the first-person accounts given in the articles are all of shows at which Somerby was the lecturer. It's possible that the author, an acquaintance of Somerby, worked alongside him in some capacity, or is quoting from some memoir written by him. Or, alternatively, the "Judd" identity, and the conceit that he mourns the passing of Somerby, may be a ploy, and Somerby himself may have been "Dr. Judd."[2] Be that as it may, the description of Somerby's activities is rich in period detail:
I first met Rufus Somerby years and years ago, in what was then called, the Western Country—Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois—when we had but few railroads, and all shows then travelling had to have their own conveyances or take the public stages to get over the country. In those days, Somerby was exhibiting a panorama called the "Pilgrim [sic] Progress," travelling in his own red wagon throughout the above named states. Wandering about those states in the early days with our panoramas we had to exhibit in all kinds of places: sometimes the dining room of various taverns, then an empty store would be turned into an exhibition room. Other times the school or court-house would be utilized. A number of times, our 'hall"'was the village blacksmith shop.[3]
Dr. Judd goes on to relate his travels with a series of moving panoramas, beginning with Bullard's Panorama of New York City, and continuing through an account of his association with George K. Goodwin's Panorama of Kane's Arctic Explorations in 1857. Handbills for this panorama confirm that Somerby was the lecturer, and that the show had its debut in East Boston late in 1857. Yet other of Dr. Judd's claims are not necessarily reliable; he speaks of Dr. Kane himself visiting the panorama (unlikely, given that Kane had been dead for many months), and recalls that a Danish "Eskimo" boy, "Hans Christian," one of Kane's guides, appeared with the show (the actual Hans was, at the time, still in Greenland). Nevertheless, Dr. Judd regales his readers with a colorful account of the panorama's success.
A highlight is his claim—undocumented, quite possibly spurious, but entertaining nevertheless—that while appearing with the show in Springfield, Illinois, he was involved in a dispute over a debt tied to one of the horses that drew his wagon, and sought out the law firm of "Lincoln and Herndon." Not surprisingly, Abraham Lincoln was able to swiftly resolve the dispute, and Dr. Judd rewarded him with complimentary tickets to the panorama; "that evening he attended it, accompanied by one of his sons."
Dr. Judd's other reminiscences are of a similar sort, regaling his readers with tales of travel by wagon, steamship, packet boat, and train to every hinterland of the nation. In the December, 1904 installment, "The Old Panorama," he recounts how he, (again, apparently speaking for or as Somerby), traveled to England to secure J.P. Thiodon's mechanical "Theatre of Arts" for a run at
Thiodon's theater's central showpiece was a scene of the
References
- ISBN 978-0-295-98680-7.
- ^ Potter, Russell (2010) “"Perilous Adventures, Wonderful Discoveries, and Singular Phenomena' -- American Panoramas of the Arctic Regions, 1855-1863,” p. 31. In The Panorama in the Old World and the New, edited by Gabriele Koller (Amberg: Büro Wilhelm / Verlag Koch, Schmidt, Wilhelm GbR, for the International Panorama Council).
- ^ "Fifty Years' Recollections of an old Amusement Manager, The Billboard, December 5, 1903, p. 21
- ^ The Complete Works of Artemus Ward, A. L. Burt Company, 1898. ebook version
This article incorporates material from the