December, 1851: New York City. In the midst of winter, America’s press and public are gripped by the celebrity scandal of the century. Edwin Forrest, the most famous actor in the country, is pitted in a courtroom battle against his estranged wife, as they accuse each other of adultery. One of them must prevail for a divorce to be granted. As the jury and public rake over every titillating and salacious detail of the failed marriage, the conduct and reporting on the trial provide a striking foreshadowing of another celebrity couple court case that would play out over 270 years later.
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Resources:
Report on the Forrest Divorce Case, digitized by Harvard University Library.
Various contemporary newspapers, including the New York Daily Tribune; the New York Herald Tribune; and The Sunday Dispatch, are accessible on the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America resource.
Music:
Waltz of Treachery by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4606-waltz-of-treachery
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Sonatina in C Minor by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4393-sonatina-in-c-minor
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
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