Public Faces, Private Lives
Text from Improper Bostonians

Charlotte's Web Toward the middle of the nineteenth century, a group of highly mobile, independent women began enjoying an international transatlantic lifestyle that now seems strikingly modern. These women were respected members of the art world, earned large incomes, and kept company with the intellectual and moneyed elites of the time. Actress Charlotte Cushman (1816-1876) was the most visible and influential of these women. Cushman set up a feminist household in Rome in the 1850s. Born in Boston's North End, she debuted in New Orleans during 1836 as Lady Macbeth. A versatile actor, Cushman played comic as well as tragic parts, and appeared in more than 30 male roles - a fact that caused public comment. She maintained a house in London and wintered in Rome; her apartment on the Via Gregoriana became a mecca for theater people and aspiring artists. She died of breast cancer in 1876. Continued on next page. Photo: Charlotte Cushman (seated) and Matilda Hays