Susan Webb Cushman

Background

Susan Webb Cushman was born on March 17, 1822 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. She was the daughter of Elkanah Cushman and Mary Eliza Babbitt, and a younger sister of Charlotte Cushman.

Career

Cushman and her mother accompanied the elder sister to New York and Albany in 1836, when Charlotte was getting her feet on the professional ladder, and a year later she made her own début as Laura in Epes Sargent’s play, The Genoese. She was then only fifteen, but in those days the child actor was more admired than at present and her success was considerable.

Being left destitute by her husband, with an infant, she took up acting at her sister’s advice, as a means of livelihood.

Later she acted Grace Harkaway to Charlotte’s Lady Gay Spanker, both in New York and Philadelphia, probably in 1841 or 1842, was acclaimed in Satan in Paris, and appeared as Desdemona to the Othello of George Vandenhoff, a man of culture and not apparently much given to over-heated eulogies.

In 1842 Charlotte was stage manager of the Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, and Susan was also a member of the company.

Vandenhoff gave six performances with them, receiving $180 as his share for the six nights.

In 1845, Charlotte went to England to seek acclaim there, hoping thus to better her position at home, and took Susan with her. She had already played Romeo in America, and now studied the play again with Susan as Juliet, and the two sisters presented this tragedy to London, at the Haymarket, December 30, 1845.

They insisted on using the original version, not the theatre prompt copy, and for so doing the vexed company called them “American Indians. ”

The play ran eighty nights in London, and was then taken on a tour of England, with success. Charlotte was a good showman, and she also enjoyed assuming masculine roles. The sisters also played Twelfth Night together. A further record of Susan’s theatrical career in England is found in the Autobiography of Anna CoraMowatt. She did not appear at the first rehearsal, and the manager was furious. He persuaded another actress to try the role, but as the next rehearsal was about to begin, in walked Susan. It was now her turn to be furious. “An angry scene ensued, ” wrote Mrs. Mowatt, “such as I never before, and I rejoice to say never after, witnessed in a theatre. ” But Susan lost in the encounter, and was forced to leave the house.

Achievements

• In England Cushman's impersonation of Ophelia was regarded as of the first rank, her Juliet ran 200 nights, and in her old and many new characters her acting was greatly admired for its grace and delicacy.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

Personality

George Vandenhoff, a man of culture and not apparently much given to over-heated eulogies, wrote in his autobiographical book, called Leaves from an Actor’s Note-Book “Susan was a pretty creature, but had not a spark of Charlotte’s genius; she pleased ‘the fellows, ’ however, and was the best walking-lady on the American stage. ”

Quotes from others about the person

• “Susan was a pretty creature, but had not a spark of Charlotte’s genius; she pleased ‘the fellows, ’ however, and was the best walking-lady on the American stage. "

Connections

On March 14, 1836 Susan married Nelson M. Meriman, in Boston, and that she was left destitute by him, with an infant.

In 1848 Susan married Dr. James Sheridan Muspratt, “a distinguished chemist and author” of Liverpool.

Father:

Elkanah Cushman

Mother:

Mary Eliza Babbitt

Second husband:

James Sheridan Muspratt

chemist, author

Sister:

Charlotte Cushman

First husband:

Nelson M. Meriman