Our American Cousin

“You sockdologizing old mantrap!”

Remember in Downton Abbey when the dreadful Canadian is going to take Mary’s fortune? Our American Cousin was written in 1852. The American is a big galumphing rube with a heart of gold, and his English hosts are a rapidly declining houseful of eccentrics. The comedy swept America and culminated in a performance in Ford’s Theater in Washington D. C. on April 14, one hundred fifty years ago.