Lincoln’s Ghost and Me
Posted by jaybeacham on 10 Feb 2020 | Tagged as: blog
Lincoln’s Ghost and Me
I started portraying Mr. Lincoln in 1972 at Dixie Junior College in St. George Utah.
I was a seated Abraham Lincoln on a float a girl’s housing apartment complex entered into the Homecoming parade.
A guy from the drama department makeup class manufactured a chin beard on my face.
The department costume lady got me a set of Lincoln clothes.
I sat on a chair like the monument in DC at the Lincoln Memorial amid guys from the associated men student leadership.
One black ball player and a white guy as modern students, one man as a Confederate soldier and one as a Union soldier of the Civil War.
The float’s point was that the past made modern schooling available to all.
I was in a play or two for the fun of it, even being the sound engineer for one play and did a weekly radio news program but nothing more about Lincoln.
Later I attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.
One of my first classes was stage makeup.
The instructor thought that I and another fellow had facial structures similar to Lincoln and we should learn to use make up for old Abe.
We studied the face and on a drawing we made, we designed how we should use lines and shadowing and highlights of grease paints and makeup pencils to look more like Mr. Lincoln.
I found out that my health was adversely effected by those paints and gave it up and tried something else.
I was in several plays and in two operas but mostly not for credit but for fun having been asked to participate.
I was a voice in a radio play and then left school for work.
In the 1980s I stared doing one man appearances as Abraham Lincoln teaching the principles of integrity that can be learned from Honest Abe.
I developed a script to introduce him based on stories of the appearance of Lincoln’s Ghost in the White House and elsewhere.
By this time my facial hair was coming in full and dark and I made a good Mr. Lincoln.
But then life and work got in the way of doing more with my Lincoln’s Ghost character.
I did other one man shows and some stage and film acting.
In 2004 I dressed as Lincoln for the Republican Party County Lincoln Day Breakfast
to deliver the Gettysburg Address.
Then when 2009 came around and the 200 year anniversary of Lincoln’s birth drew near,
I thought now was the time to do Lincoln in a big way.
But my beard was getting very white even though my head hair has stayed dark for longer.
At first I thought this would be a problem.
Then I reasoned, no problem, a ghost would look ghosty.
To make the beard not stark white as I have it for some other characters I’ve played and still do, I color the beard a little with charcoal. This makes it a little darker, grayish really, and I can be Lincoln’s Ghost not a Lincoln impersonator.
I’d been working in St. George Live performances for several years
portraying Jacob Hamblin and Brigham Young
and being close to the city staff running the Pioneer Opera House,
I contracted to rent the hall and put on Lincoln’s Ghost.
I’ve done it for four years now. 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014.
One year I was in Ghost Tours in Santa Clara in October
and one year appeared at the Washington County Fair so people could get their photos taken with Mr. Lincoln.
Another year I attended the St. George City 4th of July day celebrations as Mr. Lincoln
at the political booths, photos with celebrants, road in the little train, helped judge the hot dog eating contest and was interviewed by a TV News program.
I’ve presented Lincoln’s Ghost to both Democrat and Republican Parties, to public, private and home schools, to a policeman convention.
One year, the students at Red Mountain Elementary School who were studying US History met with Lincoln’s Ghost in the gym.
2012 saw Lincoln’s Ghost at the Washington (Utah) County Fair where he recited some of his poetry at the Poetry contest, had his photo taken with the Fair princess, and people could get their photos taken with Lincoln’s Ghost.
In 2014, St. George hired me to tell stories as Mr. Lincoln on President’s Day February 22.
Whereas other years the show had been on February 12th-Lincoln’s birthday anniversary.
Lincoln’s Ghost in Pleasant Grove, UtahPoetry,
Lincoln’s Ghost at the Utah Patriot Camp.
“Wednesday, June 7, 2017! Camp will begin at 9:30. We’ll start with the flag ceremony and the Gettysburg Address. At about 9:40, we will separate and go to the different stations. The six groups will rotate through the six stations. ages 5 to 13 and older teen leaders.” The young people asked many questions about the presentation: some funny ones are recounted at: http://jaybeacham.com/2017/06/24/lincolns-ghost-in-pleasant-grove-utah/ The presentation included Lincoln’s poetry and the “wild bear chase”. Hear a re-telling of it: https://soundcloud.com/user-528363945/lincolns-wild-bear-chase-mp3
2019 for President’s day, Lincoln’s Ghost was at the Veterans Home in Ivins, Utah. He told his advise about how the government should be and he sang some songs. One can be heard at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8gsZQj-WII
February 12, 2020 is Lincoln’s Birthday anniversary and President’s day is February 17th. Do you need Lincoln’s Ghost at your school or event? Contact him at: http://jaybeacham.com/ there are 5 page links at the top of the page that tell about Lincoln’s Ghost. And you can find the 2009 one man show on You Tube and promos for 2010 and 2011 there too.
One man asked when I was going to do another show. Soon. It will be: The Wisdom of Lincoln.
See more at: https://www.facebook.com/pg/abelincolnghost/about/