Adaptation

AUTOGRAPH on a card of the American actor who played Deacon Perry in the first stage adaptation of Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" WILLIAM J. LE MOYNE.

rif. 96446 — Very good. - William J. Le Moyne's autograph penned on a 3-1/4 inch high by 4-3/8 inch wide card stock. Signed "Yours Truly / Wm. J. Le Moyne". Once mounted in an album with glue stains and paper remnants to the verso of the corners. Very good. The American actor William J. Le Moyne 1831-1905 performed in amateur productions in and near Boston from the age of 15. His professional stage debut took place in Portland Maine in 1852 when he played the role of an officer in "The Lady of Lyons". Joining the repertory company at Peale's Museum in Troy New York he played the role of Deacon Perry when that company performed the first stage adaptation of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" that same year. His career picked up after he toured with the company the following year. Le Moyne enlisted as a first lieutenant with Company B of the 28th Massachusetts Volunteers at the start of the Civil War. He served under the command of his fellow actor Lawrence Barrett and assumed command after Barrett stepped down. Not only did he witness the death or wounding of half his men in a string of Union defeats in South Carolina and Virginia but he was himself severely wounded. Unable to resume military service Le Moyne was granted a retroactive promotion to the rank of Captain upon his retirement. He went back to the stage in 1863 playing major roles in stage adaptations of Dickens' works and also playing most of the roles in "Hamlet" during the course of his career. He had the pleasure of performing with companies headed by Edwin Booth Edwin Forrest Charles Fletcher and in producer Daniel Frohman's Lyceum Theatre Company. unknown