Benjamin Chapin (August 9, 1872 – June 2, 1918) was an American

stage actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

best known as an

impersonator An impersonator is someone who imitates or copies the behavior or actions of another. There are many reasons for impersonating someone: *Living history: After close study of some historical figure, a performer may dress and speak "as" that ...

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

. From childhood Chapin had an obsession with the assassinated president, and had a lengthy career playing him on the

Lyceum circuit The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies among countries; usually it is a type of secondary school. Basic science and some introduction to ...

and in

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

. In 1906 he wrote a play ''

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the 16th president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln (na ...

'' which was staged at the

Liberty Theatre The Liberty Theatre is a former Broadway theatre, Broadway theater at 234 West 42nd Street in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1904, the theater was designed by Herts & Tallant ...

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

following directly on from a production of the play ''

The Clansman ''The Clansman: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan'' is a novel published in 1905, the second work in the Ku Klux Klan trilogy by Thomas Dixon Jr. (the others are '' The Leopard's Spots'' and '' The Traitor''). Chronicling the American Ci ...

'' by Thomas Dixon Jr. In 1917, Chapin wrote and starred in '' The Lincoln Cycle'' series of films. Despite the success of the project he was increasingly in ill health, and died in June 1918 from

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

.Babington & Barr, p. 34.

References

Bibliography

* Bruce Babington & Charles Barr. ''The Call of the Heart: John M. Stahl and Hollywood Melodrama''. Indiana University Press, 2018.

External links

* 1872 births 1918 deaths American male stage actors American male film actors Actors from Ohio 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in New York (state) 20th-century American male actors 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights {{US-theat-actor-1870s-stub