Our American Cousin - Theatrical Acclaim and "Lord Dundreary"

Theatrical Acclaim and "Lord Dundreary"

Among Our American Cousin's cast was British actor Edward Askew Sothern, playing Lord Dundreary, a caricature of a brainless English nobleman. Sothern had already achieved fame on the New York stage in the play Camille in 1856, and had been reluctant to take on the role, because he felt that it was too small and unimportant. He mentioned his qualms to his friend, Joseph Jefferson, who had been cast in the lead role, and Jefferson supposedly responded with the famous line: "There are no small parts, only small actors."

Our American Cousin premiered in New York on October 15, 1858. After several weeks of performances, Sothern began portraying the role more broadly, as a lisping, skipping, eccentric, weak-minded fop prone to nonsensical references to sayings of his "bwother" Sam. His ad-libs were a sensation, earning good notices for his physical comedy and spawning much imitation and mockery in both the United States and England. Sothern gradually expanded the role, adding gags and business until it became the central figure of the play. The most famous scene involved Dundreary reading a letter from his even sillier brother. The play ran for 150 nights, which was very successful for a New York run at the time. Sothern made his London debut in the role when the play ran for 496 performances at the Haymarket Theatre in 1861, earning rave reviews. The Athenaeum wrote, "it is certainly the funniest thing in the world... a vile caricature of a vain nobleman, intensely ignorant, and extremely indolent".

"Dundrearyisms", twisted aphorisms in the style of Lord Dundreary (e.g. "birds of a feather gather no moss"), enjoyed a brief vogue. And the character's style of beard — long, bushy sideburns — gave the English language the word "dundrearies".

Dundreary became a popular recurring character, and Sothern successfully revived the play many times, making Dundreary by far his most famous role.

A number of spin-off plays of Our American Cousin were written, all focusing on the Lord Dundreary character. The first was Charles Gayler's Our American Cousin at Home, or, Lord Dundreary Abroad (which premiered in Buffalo, New York, in November 1860, and had its New York City debut the following May ). Later sequels included Henry James Byron's Dundreary Married and Done For, and John Oxenford's Brother Sam (1862; revived in 1865), a play about Dundreary's brother.