50. Lectures on War
Civil War Magic Lantern Shows – Andersonville
War coverage was a continuing subject of lantern shows.
James Taylor, a colleague of Beale’s at Frank Leslie’s Weekly, illustrated this Civil War Magic Lantern Show about the horrors of the Southern prison at Andersonville, GA. The lecture, by Ezra Hoyt Ripple, an Andersonville survivor, was called Dancing Along the Deadline. Ripple was the only performer using these images which were made especially for him by Taylor.
Charles Thomas’s Heroes and Battle Fields was notable because of his previous experience narrating the Gettysburg Cyclorama—a giant circular painting with the audience at center that is still at Gettysburg. Thomas gave his lantern performance over 500 times.
A cable car placard advertises the Civil War Show at the 2700-seat amphitheater at Sutro Baths in San Francisco in 1898, thirty years after the war—another indication of the enduring fascination of Civil War Shows.
Archival Notes