In Barbarous Nights,
Abraham Lincoln plays an important, though somewhat enigmatic, part in Buster
Keaton’s journey to discover his humanity. As Keaton explains to the Maiden in
scene two of the first shade after she wrenches off his mask, “My face is iconic. My face is as iconic as Lincoln’s face someone once told me.” Keaton strongly identifies with Abraham Lincoln, the other “great stone face” of American history.
In Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, she describes Abraham Lincoln being photographed in
1863, a month after he gave his revered Gettysburg address:
“On Sunday, August 9, [John] Hay accompanied the president
to Alexander Gardner’s photo studio at the corner of Seventh and D streets. The
pictures taken that day do not reflect what Hay characterized as the
president’s 'very good spirits.' Rigidly
posed, with one hand on a book and the other at his waist, Lincoln was forced
to endure the lengthy process of the photograph, which almost invariably
produced a grim, unsmiling portrait. Subjects would be required to sit
absolutely still while the photographer removed the cap from the lens to expose
the picture. ‘Don’t move a muscle!’ the subject would be told, for the
slightest twitch would blur the image. Moreover, since ‘contrived
grinning in photographs had not yet become obligatory,’ many faces, like
Lincoln’s, took on a melancholy cast.”[1]
While Lincoln’s “stone face” in photos from the era may be
attributed in part to the technological limitations of the camera or cultural
norms regarding smiling in pictures, whatever the reason for his serious
expression, it is clear is that the images of Lincoln circulated amongst the
public were not fully representative of the man known to his close colleagues,
friends and family. Abraham Lincoln’s iconic “deep set gaze” that appears
“steady and melancholy” in his photographs is not only a constructed image
separated from his everyday self, a Presidential mask, if you will, worn for
the public eye, but it is also readily apparent to anyone familiar with the
arduous task of posing for a photograph (Goodwin 230).
Perhaps Lincoln and his public were more comfortable with
the dual identity of the President than Buster Keaton seems to be with his own,
struggling to navigate without his mask in a world where nobody seems to know
who this star of silent pictures is. In this play, Lincoln not only helps a
modern audience understand the level of fame Buster Keaton had achieved at the
height of the silent film era, his face as iconic as Lincoln’s, but he also
represents part of Keaton’s personal journey to uncover his identity beneath the “stone faced” celebrity persona. When Lincoln says to Buster, “It is
impossible to see our humanity,” perhaps he is talking celebrity to celebrity,
speaking of the iconic mask we recognize as “President Abraham Lincoln” and
silent film star “Buster Keaton.”
Much thanks to Nathan Kinsman for his brilliant historical
knowledge, thoughts, and assistance researching for this post.
[1] Goodwin,
Doris Kearns. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2005. 545. Print.
