EXPLORATIONS - Ford's Theater

EXPLORATIONS - Ford¹'s Theater
By Paul Thompson

Broadcast: Wednesday, March 24, 2004

(THEME)

VOICE ONE:

This is Faith Lapidus.

VOICE TWO:

 
Ford's Theater Today.
And this is Steve Ember with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today, we visit one of the most famous theaters in the United States. It is Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C.

(THEME)

VOICE ONE:

Ford's Theater is both a happy and sad place. It is happy because it brings music shows and other theater productions to Washington, D.C. Ford's Theater is also a sad place in American history. This is where the actor John Wilkes Booth² assassinated³ President Abraham Lincoln.

Today, the theater is a living memorial to President Lincoln's love for the performing arts. It is also a museum operated by the National Park Service.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

For a few minutes, we would like you to imagine that it is the evening of April fourteenth, eighteen-sixty-five. You are one of the one-thousand-seven-hundred men and women who have come to Ford's Theater tonight. You have come here to see a popular and funny play, "Our American Cousin." The famous actress Laura Keene has brought her theater company to Washington to perform it.

The play will begin in a few minutes. People are walking into the theater to their seats. The inside is bright with candlelight. As we look towards the stage, we see something unusual.

To the right and above the stage is a special small area called the State Box. It contains seats that President Lincoln uses when he comes to the theater. For tonight's performance, John Ford, the owner of the theater, has ordered that the State Box be decorated with flags. Near the bottom of the box and in the center is a painting of America's first President, George Washington.

VOICE ONE:

 
A marbel bust⁴ of President Lincoln in the Senate⁵.
President Lincoln likes to go to the theater. But he has not had many chances to attend recently because the nation was involved in the Civil War. Five days earlier, however, the forces of the southern states surrendered⁷ to end the war. People in Washington are celebrating. Tonight the president and Missus Lincoln want to enjoy the funny play performed by Laura Keene and her company of actors.

President Lincoln arrives after the play has begun. The actors stop performing and the people in the theater stand and cheer. The band plays a song to honor⁸ the president. Minutes later the play continues.

VOICE TWO:

President and Missus Lincoln have invited two guests to sit with them in the State Box. They are army Major Henry Rathbone and Clara Harris.

The play is funny and Mister⁹ Lincoln laughs. He leans forward a little and places his hand on one of the flags to hold it down because it blocks his view of part of the stage.

The actor John Wilkes Booth enters the theater. He is there to kill the president. He strongly believes that killing¹⁰ Abraham Lincoln will stop the Union victory in the Civil War. He believes it might help the Southern states renew¹¹ their efforts to fight the war.

The people who work in the theater know Booth well. He is also a friend of John Ford, the owner of the theater. No one stops Booth. He slowly walks up the stairs that circle to the right side of the theater. He stops for a minute and watches the play and then walks to the closed door of President Lincoln's box.

Booth listens carefully to the words of the play. He knows it very well. He has chosen the exact moment in the play when the people watching will begin to laugh.

 
The gun used by John Wilkes Booth.
Booth quickly opens the door to the box, enters the small room and closes the door behind him. He reaches in his pocket and pulls out a small gun. He aims it at the president.

VOICE ONE:

On the stage, Laura Keene and an actor are speaking lines from the play:

VOICE THREE:

"I am aware, Mister Trenchard, you are not used to the manners of good society, and that alone will excuse the impertinence of which you have been guilty."

VOICE FOUR:

"Don't know the manners of good society, eh? Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal¹² -- you sockdologizing old man-trap."

(SOUND EFFECTS) (MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

President Lincoln died the next morning. Doctors could do nothing to save his life. Ford's Theater was immediately closed. For a few days, police held Mister Ford while they investigated the murder of the president. John Wilkes Booth escaped Washington on horseback. But he was found twelve days later in Virginia. He was shot to death when he refused to surrender⁶.

VOICE TWO:

Three months later, Mister Ford was preparing to reopen the theater. But the powerful Secretary of War Edwin Stanton placed troops outside the building and would not permit it to be opened. The government offered to pay Mister Ford each month for the use of the theater. He had no choice but to accept the money.

In August, the War Department began work to change the theater into an office building. In less than one year, part of the held War Department information. Another part of the building was the Army Medical Museum. Still another part was the Library of Medicine. In eighteen-sixty-six, the government bought the building from Mister Ford for one-hundred-thousand dollars.

VOICE ONE:

In eighteen-ninety-three, a terrible accident took place in the building. Three floors fell down. Twenty-two government workers were killed. Sixty-eight were injured.

For many years after that, the government used the building as a storage area. In nineteen-thirty-two, it opened a small museum to honor President Lincoln. The National Park Service took control of the building.

VOICE TWO:

As the years passed, many people thought it would be a good idea to rebuild the theater. They wanted it to look as it did the night President Lincoln was assassinated. They wanted to make the theater into a memorial to honor President Lincoln.

In nineteen-forty-six, a member of the United States Senate introduced legislation¹³ that called for rebuilding the theater. However, it was not until nineteen-sixty-four that Congress¹⁴ agreed to provide more than two-million dollars to rebuild the old theater.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Rebuilding Ford's Theater was difficult. The building plans for the theater had been lost many years earlier. However, photographs greatly helped the rebuilding process. The police had taken many photographs of the theater and kept them as evidence during the investigation¹⁵ of President Lincoln's murder.

These photographs included the stage, the president's special box seats, and the seating area for the public. Many of these photographs were used to help rebuild the theater to make it look like it did on April fourteenth, eighteen-sixty-five.

The rebuilding effort began in January, nineteen-sixty-five -- almost one-hundred years after President Lincoln's death. It was finished in December, nineteen-sixty-seven.

The re-opening ceremony took place on January thirtieth, nineteen-sixty-eight. American actress Helen Hayes walked on to the stage of the newly¹⁶ reopened Ford's Theater. She was the first actress to stand on the stage since President Lincoln watched Laura Keene in the play, "Our American Cousin."

VOICE TWO:

Today, Ford's Theater is a popular place for visitors in Washington D.C. People on holiday come to see the famous theater. Many buses bring school children to the theater to learn about President Lincoln.

The small museum is under the theater. It shows the clothing Mister Lincoln wore that night long ago. It has the small gun Booth used in the assassination¹⁷ and many photographs. It also has a likeness¹⁸ that was made in stone from President Lincoln's face.

Visitors can walk into the main theater to see the stage. They can sit in a chair for a few minutes and look up at the State Box where President Lincoln sat. It is decorated with flags the way it was then. Near the bottom of the box, between the flags, is the painting of George Washington. Experts believe it is the same one that hung there the night of the assassination.

VOICE ONE:

Many actors say Ford's Theater is a difficult place in which to perform. Most say they do not look at President Lincoln's State Box when they are on stage. But the memory of what happened there is always present.

A new musical play is opening at Ford's Theater March twenty-fifth. "Children of Eden" will be performed at until June sixth. It is a funny play about family relationships. It includes many different kinds of music. It is not difficult to imagine that President Lincoln would have enjoyed a play like "Children of Eden." He loved going to the theater.

(THEME)

VOICE TWO:

This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced by Mario Ritter. This is Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE:

And this is Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for another EXPLORATIONS program in VOA Special English.

1 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

2 booth   

n.小房间，公用电话亭，岗亭；货摊

参考例句：

• Where can I find a telephone booth?我在哪儿可以找到电话亭？
• Let's walk around to each booth.我们到每个摊子转一转吧！

3 assassinated   

v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏

参考例句：

• The prime minister was assassinated by extremists. 首相遭极端分子暗杀。
• Then, just two days later, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. 跟着在两天以后，肯尼迪总统在达拉斯被人暗杀。 来自辞典例句

4 bust   

vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部

参考例句：

• I dropped my camera on the pavement and bust it. 我把照相机掉在人行道上摔坏了。
• She has worked up a lump of clay into a bust.她把一块黏土精心制作成一个半身像。

5 senate   

n.参议院，上院

参考例句：

• They feel deeply the honour of belonging to the Senate.他们为作为参议院的成员而深感荣幸。
• His unsuccessful senate run was his last hurrah.这次失败的参议员竞选是他最后的尝试。

6 surrender   

v.投降，自首；屈服；交出，放弃

参考例句：

• He preferred to die rather than surrender to the enemy.他宁死也不愿向敌人投降。
• Liu Hulan would rather die than surrender before the enemy.刘胡兰在敌人面前宁死不屈。

7 surrendered   

n.电子放单；Telex releasedv.投降( surrender的过去式和过去分词 )；放弃，抛弃

参考例句：

• The bandit chief surrendered himself to despair and took his own life. 匪首在绝望中自杀了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She gradually surrendered her dream of becoming an actress. 她渐渐放弃了当演员的梦想。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 honor   

n.光荣；敬意；荣幸；vt.给…以荣誉；尊敬

参考例句：

• I take your visit as a great honor.您的来访是我莫大的光荣。
• It is a great honor to receive that prize.能拿到那个奖是无上的光荣。

9 mister   

n.(略作Mr.全称很少用于书面)先生

参考例句：

• Mister Smith is my good friend.史密斯先生是我的好朋友。
• He styled himself " Mister Clean ".他自称是“清廉先生”。

10 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

11 renew   

vt.使更新，复始，使恢复，补充；vi.更新，重新开始

参考例句：

• The most important thing is to renew your health.最重要的是恢复你的健康。
• We must renew our supplies of coal.我们必须补充煤的储备。

12 gal   

n.姑娘，少女

参考例句：

• We decided to go with the gal from Merrill.我们决定和那个从梅里尔来的女孩合作。
• What's the name of the gal? 这个妞叫什么？

13 legislation   

n.立法，法律的制定；法规，法律

参考例句：

• They began to draft legislation.他们开始起草法规。
• The liberals band together against the new legislation.自由党员联合一致反对新的立法。

14 Congress   

n.(代表)大会；(C-:美国等国的)国会，议会

参考例句：

• There were some days to wait before the Congress.大会的召开还有几天时间。
• After 18 years in Congress,he intented to return to private life.在国会供职18年后，他打算告老还乡。

15 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

16 newly   

adv.新近，最近；重新，再度；以新的方式

参考例句：

• Have you reviewed for this newly published novel?你给这本新出版的小说写书评了吗？
• It is a newly planted tree and it has not established yet.这是一颗新栽的树，还没有扎下根来。

17 assassination   

n.暗杀；暗杀事件

参考例句：

• The assassination of the president brought matters to a head.总统遭暗杀使事态到了严重关头。
• Lincoln's assassination in 1865 shocked the whole nation.1865年，林肯遇刺事件震惊全美国。

18 likeness   

n.相像，相似（之处）

参考例句：

• I think the painter has produced a very true likeness.我认为这位画家画得非常逼真。
• She treasured the painted likeness of her son.她珍藏她儿子的画像。