At Last, Poor Yorick

http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2010/top10_skulls/hamlet.jpg ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Re: Derivation of "Ham Actor" Posted by ESC on January 07, 2000 In Reply to: Derivation of "Ham Actor" posted by Mary on January 06, 2000 : I know I read/heard once that Hams were originally called Ham Fatters in Shakespeare's day, and that the phrase referred more to their being less than the best, not supported by the crown, as the King's Players were, and having to use ham fat to mix or remove their makeup. Further descriptions welcomed. I looked in three reference books and got three slightly different "takes" on the origin of "ham actor." So I'm going to list all three and let the Phrase Finder folks sort it all out: From "Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins" by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, 1997) with asides from Mr. Hendrickson in parenthesis: "HAM. Actors prefer to think that the word derives from the old theatrical use of ham fat to remove blackface makeup - actors were thus called hamfatters, or hams. Many scholars lean to this theory, but 'ham' in the sense of an amateur actor or a 10th rate actor who outrageously overplays his scenes has enough folk etymologies to make a one-act play. Since none really seems capable of absolute proof, I'll simply list three: 1) Ham derives from the Cockney slang 'hamateur,' for 'amateur actor.' (Unlikely, as the term 'ham' in this sense is American from about 1880.) 2) The word structure of 'amateur' itself suggested 'ham.' (A good possibility, but why did it wait so long to suggest itself?) 3) It comes from the role of 'Hamlet,' which actors frequently misperformed. (Another good possibility, but, if so, 'ham' should have been with us since Shakespeare's time.) 'Ham' for one of the rear quarters of a hog, or its meat, derives from Old English 'hamm' for the bend of the knee." From the "Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins" by William and Mary Morris (HarperCollins, 1977, 1988): "HAM ACTOR. 'Ham in this phrase has two distinct meanings. First, probably by analogy to 'amateur,' there is the use of 'ham' to mean an actor who is incompetent or unskilled. That's the meaning intended in such phrases as 'Hollywood hams.' Then there is 'ham' in the sense of one who overacts or outrageously overplays a scene - especially when his intention is to center all attention on himself to the exclusion of other players. Such devices as upstaging other actors, grimacing at the audience and pointedly fiddling with one's pocket handkerchief during another player's speech are common practices of actors bent on 'hamming it up.' In the days of blackface minstrel shows before the turn of the century, one popular song was 'The Hamfat Man' and it clearly referred to second-rate actors of the type that appeared in such shows. But nobody knows for sure whether the song inspired the name 'hamfatter' for these actors or whether the name preceded the song. We think that the name came before the song, probably from the minstrel's practice of using ham fat to remove the heavy black makeup used during performances. In any event, ham actor is an American expression which made its first appearance in print during the 1880s." From "The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology: The Origin of American English Words" by Robert W. Barnhart (HarperCollins 1995) "HAM. n. performer. 1882. American English, apparently a shortened form of 'hamfatter' , an actor of low grade, said to be from an old minstrel song 'The Ham-fat Man.' The idea amateurish was extended to a amateur telegraphist and an amateur radio operator ." Of course, there are other theories on the origin of the word "ham" for radio operators. But I'm stopping for now. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- According to poet Carl Sandburg: "They all want to play Hamlet" since all actors like to hold the skull to pronounce those words whose glory have long caused audiences to mull on just how life-and-death are transitory. Besides, since the word "ham" has been used for actor since around the time of Shakespeare what could be simpler than assuming its use may also have began there. However, its origin is probably a different matter which I hope won't excessively you shake up-- arising from the compound word "hamfatter" then a way to remove an actor's make-up. But an actor's itch*, I'd say for the stage must really be Historic to wish that part of him should go on and on to play- silently - the role of Yorick. (HzL. 10/25/16) *See below, Andre Tchaikowsky, and the Royal Shakespeare Company Carl Sandburg (1878–1967). Smoke and Steel. 1922. II. People Who Must 6. They All Want to Play Hamlet THEY all want to play Hamlet. They have not exactly seen their fathers killed Nor their mothers in a frame-up to kill, Nor an Ophelia dying with a dust gagging the heart, Not exactly the spinning circles of singing golden spiders, 5 Not exactly this have they got at nor the meaning of flowers—O flowers, flowers slung by a dancing girl—in the saddest play the inkfish, Shakespeare, ever wrote; Yet they all want to play Hamlet because it is sad like all actors are sad and to stand by an open grave with a joker’s skull in the hand and then to say over slow and say over slow wise, keen, beautiful words masking a heart that’s breaking, breaking, This is something that calls and calls to their blood. They are acting when they talk about it and they know it is acting to be particular about it and yet: They all want to play Hamlet. Carl Sandburg (1878–1967). Smoke and Steel. 1922. Vanitas imagery[edit] Portrait of Katheryn of Berain by Adrian van Cronenburgh c.1560. Shakespeare's 1601 poem The Phoenix and the Turtle was published in a collection dedicated to Katheryn's son, John Salusbury. The contrast between Yorick as "a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy" and his grim remains is a variation on the theme of earthly vanity (cf. Vanitas): death being unavoidable, the things of this life are inconsequential. This theme of Memento mori ('Remember you shall die') is common in 16th- and 17th-century painting, appearing in art throughout Europe. Images of Mary Magdalene regularly showed her contemplating a skull. It is also a very common motif in 15th- and 16th-century British portraiture. Frans Hals, Young Man with a Skull A more direct comparison is with pictures of playful children or young men, who are often depicted looking at a skull as a sign of the transience of life. It was also a familiar motif in emblem books and tombs. Hamlet meditating upon the skull of Yorick has become the most lasting embodiment of this idea, and has been depicted by later artists as a continuation of the Vanitas tradition. Name[edit] The name Yorick has most often been interpreted as an attempt to render a Scandinavian forename: usually either "Erick" or "Jørg", a form of the name George.[2] The name "Rorik" has also been suggested, since it appears in Saxo Grammaticus, one of Shakespeare's source texts, as the name of the queen's father. There has been no agreement about which name is most likely.[3] An alternative suggestion is that it may be derived from the Viking name of the city of York (Jórvík), a connection that was first made in 1866.[4] More recently Gerald Kilroy has suggested that it is an anagram of the Greek word 'Kurios', which he takes to be a reference to the Catholic martyr Edmund Campion.[5] Alas poor Yorick - A humorous rendering ofLaurence Sterne's Yorick byMartin Rowson in his graphic novel of Tristram Shandy The name was used by Laurence Sterne in his comic novels Tristram Shandy and A Sentimental Journey as the surname of one of the characters, a parson who is a humorous portrait of the author. Parson Yorick is supposed to be descended from Shakespeare's Yorick.[6] In B. Traven's novel The Death Ship the doomed vessel is named the "Yorikke". Portrayals[edit] The Young Lord Hamlet (1868) byPhilip H. Calderon, which shows Hamlet as a child, riding on the back of Yorick. The earliest visual image of Hamlet holding Yorick's skull is a 1773 engraving by John Hall after a design by Edward Edwards in Bell's edition of Shakespeare's plays.[7] It has since become a common subject. While Yorick normally only appears as the skull, there have been scattered portrayals of him as a living man, such as Philip Hermogenes Calderon's painting The Young Lord Hamlet (1868), which depicts him carrying the child Hamlet on his back, as if being ridden like a horse by the prince. He was portrayed by comedian Ken Dodd in a flashback during the gravedigging scene in Kenneth Branagh's 1996 film Hamlet. Pianist André Tchaikowsky donated his skull to the Royal Shakespeare Company for use in theatrical productions, hoping that it would be used as the skull of Yorick.[8] Tchaikowsky died in 1982. His skull was used during rehearsals for a 1989 RSC production of Hamlet starring Mark Rylance, but the company eventually decided to use a replica skull in the performance. Musical director Claire van Kampen, who later married Rylance, recalled: As a company, we all felt most privileged to be able to work the gravedigger scene with a real skull ... However, collectively as a group we agreed that as the real power of theatre lies in the complicity of illusion between actor and audience, it would be inappropriate to use a real skull during the performances, in the same way that we would not be using real blood, etc. It is possible that some of us felt a certain primitive taboo about the skull, although the gravedigger, as I recall, was all for it![8] David Tennant used the skull of pianist André Tchaikowsky for Yorick's skull in a 2008 Royal Shakespeare Company production. Although Tchaikowsky's skull was not used in the performances of this production, its use during rehearsals affected some interpretations and line readings: for example, Rylance delivered the line "That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once" with especial reproach. In this production, Hamlet retained Yorick's skull throughout subsequent scenes, and it was eventually placed on a mantelpiece as a "talisman" during his final duel with Laertes.[8] In 2008, Tchaikowsky's skull was used byDavid Tennant in an RSC production of Hamlet at the Courtyard Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon.[9] It was later announced that the skull had been replaced after it became apparent that news of the skull distracted the audience too much from the play.[10] This was untrue however, and the skull was used as a prop throughout the run of the production after its move to London's West End.[11]