This chromolithograph depicts actor Joseph Proctor performing the role of the avenging Jibbenainosay in the play Nick of the Woods. Dressed in leggings and animal skins, he holds a stick in one hand and a large knife in the other.
Joseph Proctor (1816-1897) was born in Marlborough, Massachusetts, and began his stage career in Boston in 1833. Although he acted in several of the great tragic dramas, he became best known for his starring role in Nick of the Woods, a melodrama set on the Kentucky frontier. Making his debut in 1839, at a time when melodramas were especially popular with the American public, Proctor portrayed a savage Indian fighter nicknamed Nathan Slaughter, or Nick and also known as the "Jibbenainosay", which was said to be an Indian expression for the “spirit that walks." The play was written by the Spanish-American dramatist Louisa Medina (ca 1813-1838), who adapted it from an 1837 novel of the same name by American author Robert Montgomery Bird (1806-1854). Procter portrayed Nick some 2500 times in the United States and Europe until he retired from the stage in the 1880s.
There is no information available about the lithographer for this print though in the collection there is a similar image with more detail and different coloring and "letters" that was produced by Currier and Ives. See DL.60.3007.
This group of objects features a wide variety of personal care, hygiene, and beauty products held within the Division of Medicine and Science at the National Museum of American History.
