David Selby wrote the play Lincoln and James and played the role of Abraham Lincoln in productions in various venues in 1997 and 1998. Currently, David is developing Lincoln and James as a screenplay. David explains the background of the play in a program that was distributed at a performance at the Dark Shadows Festival in New York on August 23, 1997. The inspiration for Lincoln and James came from my long interest in Lincoln and the Civil War period. In 1993, I read an article about James Hudson, who, as a government employee, had the job of caring for Abraham Lincoln's statue at the Lincoln Memorial. Mr. Hudson was a Vietnam veteran and had been awarded the Purple Heart. He loved his job and kept a newspaper photo hanging on his living room wall of himself standing on Lincoln's shoulders. On that July 4th, after working a 16-hour shift in above 90 degree temperatures at his beloved Lincoln Memorial, Mr. Hudson's heart gave out. He was a proud man, a wonderful family man who worked hard and played by the rules. At the time of his death, he had no pension and no health or life insurance. He did not deserve his fate, but it was his fate that brought changes within the government. It seemed only natural to me that James would talk to President Lincoln. Further inspiration for the play came from a Winslow Homer painting, The Carnival. [Click here to see the painting.] In the painting, a man is being dressed as Harlequin in the tradition of the commedia dell'arte. But the strips of cloth attached to the costume derive from African ceremonial dress. At some places at Christmas time, costumed plantation slaves could leave the confines of their quarters and dance and sing at the master's house. Later, celebrations of Emancipation and the Fourth of July were added. Homer's painting is deeply moving in its tragic image of the "uprootedness, dislocation, and disruption of African-American culture." Harlequin is the sad clown and social outcast. So imagine if you will, a hot, humid Fourth of July evening at the Lincoln Memorial.
Lincoln and James was directed by Natalija Nogulich. At the New York performance, John Wesley portrayed James, and Allen Collins was The Musician. A photo of Selby with Wesley and Collins in a post-performance Q-and-A session from the 1997 Dark Shadows Festival is located in the Photo Gallery. The Photo Gallery also contains screen grabs of Selby as Lincoln on Touched by an Angel. David Selby performed Lincoln and James at his alma mater, West Virginia University, on April 18, 1998. Charles Turner portrayed Benjamin James and Horace-Alexander Young portrayed The Musician during the WVU performance.The WVU web site includes a picture of Selby as President Lincoln, affectionately referred to by some fans as "Abe the Babe." Another photo is featured on WVU's Mountaineer Spirit Online. The original WVU news release is also available online. During the weekend, Selby was presented with the WVU College of Creative Arts' Lifetime Achievement Award. The April 19, 1998 Sunday Gazette-Mail featured an article/interview with David about the play entitled "Actor Brings Lincoln to Life."
On June 15, 1998, Lincoln and James was presented at the Lincoln Theatre in Washington, D.C. This performance was connected with the dedication of an African-American Civil War Memorial. David has continued to work on the play since its initial performances. | 
![[Click here to see the painting.]](http://www.artchive.com/artchive/H/homer/homer_carnival.jpg.html){kind=link}