Lew Bloom

Lew Bloom
Bloom as his "tramp" character
Born	Ludwig Pflum (1859-08-08)August 8, 1859 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	December 12, 1929(1929-12-12) (aged 70) New York City, New York, U.S.
Cause of death	Disease complications
Resting place	Charles Evans Cemetery
Nationality	American
Other names	Bud Bloom
Education	Poplar Street School
Occupation	Vaudeville performer, art collector
Spouse(s)	Jane Cooper (m. 1892; ?)

Lew Bloom (August 8, 1859 – December 12, 1929) was an American vaudeville actor and art collector, known for creating the comical "tramp" character. Bloom later became known for being the perpetrator of an art forgery involving an oil portrait of First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln.

Early years

Bloom was born Ludwig Pflum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Ludwig and Louisa (née Moyer) Pflum. His parents, who immigrated from Germany, had six other children: Susannah, Susan Deborah, Louisa, Charles, Edward and Adolph (who died as a child). Bloom's father worked as a cooper.^[1] The family eventually moved to Reading, Pennsylvania where Bloom attended Poplar Street School. Around 1871, the family moved to Williamsburg where Bloom began working as a jockey. In 1873, Bloom began working in the Potter Hart Colossus Circus performing a "bounding jockey act" in which he rode horses and performed acrobatics. During his time at the circus, "Ludwig Pflum" changed his name to "Lew Bloom" and would use that name for the remainder of his performing career.^[2]

Career

Early years

Bloom spent several years touring in variety shows with his jockey act before returning to Dover, Delaware where he competed in horse match races. He then returned to Reading where he and a friend opened the Drovers' Hotel. The establishment was the first to introduce cabaret to Reading. Bloom began performing song and dance acts at the hotel and also began competing as a lightweight boxer.^[2]

Bloom later became the stage manager for his friend's second establishment, The General Taylor Hotel. He left after two years to work as a clown in the Shelby, Pullman & Hamilton Circus. After a year, Bloom returned to Reading where formed a partnership with vaudevillian Howard Monroe. The duo performed song and dance numbers and comedy skits in blackface. Bloom eventually left the act and went to New York to perform comedy as a solo act.^[2]

Stage and vaudeville

Bloom was cast in the play Nobody's Claim followed by a role in The Red Spider in 1888. It was Bloom's role in the latter production where he first conceived of the "tramp" persona. The tramp became a big hit with audiences and was quickly copied by other performers.^[2]

He reached the height of his fame in the 1890s as a deadpan solo performer.^[3] Bloom claimed he was "the first stage tramp in the business".^[4] His character was a philosophical homeless man with comedic intent.^[5][6] He recalled an early performance in 1885 which, though well received by the audience, angered the theater manager enough that it caused a fistfight between the two. "I guess it must have been so lifelike that the manager thought it was too shocking," Bloom recalled.^[4] Among his lines was: "I don't spend all my time in saloons. I can't. They have to close up some time."^[3] His character preceded similar comedic characters by the likes of Charlie Chaplin and W. C. Fields.^[7] Typically, tramp characters like Bloom's included slapstick comedy as well as dancing or pantomime and, despite the character's poor treatment, always kept a positive outlook.^[8]

Bloom continued to portray tramps in various stage productions by Charles Hale Hoyt including A Black Sheep, On the Bowery, A Milk White Flag, A Day and a Night and A Society Tramp. After leaving Hoyt in 1892, Bloom and his wife, known as "Miss Jane Cooper", toured the vaudeville circuit with their comedy act "A Picture of Life". Bloom played his usual tramp role while his wife played the comic foil - a "New England spinster" or a "city maiden."^[9]

By 1909, Bloom's tramp persona had run its course and his career began to wane. At least one critic during that time said that Bloom was "the worst act on the bill".^[10]

Later years

After retiring from performing, Bloom lived in Mount Penn, Pennsylvania before eventually moving to New York. He occasionally visited Reading to spend time with his family and attended Elks Club meetings.^[2] Bloom also devoted his time to art collecting, which he began during the his career. Between 1889 and 1892, Bloom acquired thirty to forty paintings from artist Ralph Albert Blakelock.^[7] He acquired his sister Susan's collection upon her death in 1910.^[11] He also trained horses for Metropolitan Race Clubs in the New York and Pennsylvania area and in Cuba.^[2]

Mary Todd Lincoln hoax

In 1929, Bloom made news when he announced that he owned a previously unknown portrait of former First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln. Bloom claimed that Mary Lincoln had commissioned painter Francis Bicknell Carpenter in 1865 (who had lived at the White House for six months during Lincoln's presidency and had previously painted First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln) to paint a portrait of her as gift to her husband President Abraham Lincoln. After President Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865, Bloom claimed that Mary Lincoln could not afford to pay Carpenter for the painting and asked him to destroy it. According to Bloom, Carpenter kept the painting and eventually sold it to a wealthy Philadelphia shipbuilder named Jacob G. Neafie who was a great fan of President Lincoln's.^[12][13] After Jacob G. Neafie died, his daughter supposedly inherited the portrait who then gave it to Bloom's sister Susan as gift for taking care of her mother, Anna "Annie" Neafie, who died in 1860.^[12][14] Bloom claimed he inherited the portrait upon his sister's death in 1910.^[11]

To validate his claim, Bloom attached a notarized affidavit to the portrait to prove its authenticity and displayed the portrait at Milch Galleries in Manhattan. Shortly before his death in December 1929, Bloom sold the portrait to Jessie Harlan Lincoln, the daughter of Robert Todd Lincoln.^[13] The exact sale price is unknown, but is believed to be between $2,000 and $3,000.^[14] The portrait was the subject of considerable media attention and was written about in the February 12, 1929 edition of the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune. It was later was included in various books about the Lincolns, including Carl Sandburg's biography Mary Lincoln: Wife and Widow (1932).^[12]

In 1976, Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, the last Lincoln descendant, donated the portrait to the Illinois State Historical Library (now known as the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum). It was estimated to be worth $400,000. In 1978, conservators at the Art Institute of Chicago noted that the portrait had been "heavily retouched" with significant elements added after the original painting had been completed. After a partial restoration, it was discovered that the facial area had been altered. The woman in the portrait was noted to have coloring that was brighter than the original 1929 portrait and that the face of the woman was "different, plainer" than Mary Todd Lincoln's.^[12] The conservators also uncovered a cross necklace hanging from the subject's neck (Mary Lincoln would not have worn a cross as she was not a Roman Catholic). As the painting had been owned by Lincoln's family, the authenticity of the painting was not immediately questioned. The conservators that worked on the initial restoration reasoned that the added paint was the result of "heavy handed" retouches by other conservators or by Francis Bicknell Carpenter who was known to "fiddle" with his finished paintings.^[15] The lack of resemblance to the woman in the portrait to the real Mary Lincoln was rationalized as a result of an artistic idealization. For the next 32 years, the portrait hung at the Illinois Executive Mansion in Springfield, Illinois.^[12]

In April 2010, art conservator Barry Bauman was hired to clean the portrait as it had accumulated dirt and grime after years of being displayed. Bauman also hoped to restore the painting to its previous version. Bauman soon discovered that a layer of varnish sat on top of the painting indicating that someone had altered it. After removing the varnish, Bauman uncovered an unknown woman who was not Mary Todd Lincoln with coloring that was "...much fresher, a much warmer, a much redder toned, flesh toned..." than the original painting depicted.^[16] Bauman also discovered that a brooch bearing the face of Abraham Lincoln worn by the woman covered a floral brooch. Bauman also inspected the signature of Francis Bicknell Carpenter and the date, both of which were added on top of the varnish layer. After comparing the signature to Carpenter's other paintings, the signature was deemed a forgery.^[13]

After the portrait was completely restored, Bauman determined that while it had been painted in the 1860s (likely around 1864), the woman in the portrait was not Mary Todd Lincoln and the painting was done the work of Francis Bicknell Carpenter. The real subject and painter remain unknown.^[15] Bauman also determined that Bloom, who was noted to have "dabbled in oil painting", painted over the original portrait, forged Carpenter's name and created the fake affidavit.^[12] Bloom's claim that his sister was given the portrait in 1860 as a gift for caring for the ailing Anna Neafie was proven to be false. Bloom's sister Susan was born in 1855 and was only five years old when Anna Neafie died in 1860. James M. Cornelius, the curator of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, believes that Bloom was able to pull off the hoax because all the participants in his story were dead. Cornelius also believes that Bloom sought the Lincolns out to not only make money but to legitimatize the painting. He was likely aware that the surviving Lincolns were eager to portray Mary and Robert Todd Lincoln in a more sympathetic light after the family received a great deal of negative publicity after Robert had his mother forcibly institutionalized in 1875.^[12]

Death

On December 10, 1929, Bloom was admitted to Bellevue Hospital in New York City. He died there two days later of a "complication of diseases" at the age of 70.^[2] Bloom's funeral was held at the Seidel Funeral Chapel in Reading on December 16. He was buried at Charles Evans Cemetery the following morning.^[17]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lew Bloom.

• Lew Bloom at the Internet Broadway Database
• Lew Bloom at Find a Grave