RAYMOND, JOHN T.

(1836-1887)

Born John O'Brien in Buffalo, New York, the actor had a distinguished career as a comiccharacter actorfrom his debut in 1853. During the modernist period he was known primarily for his Colonel Mulberry Sellers in Mark Twain'sThe Gilded Age, which remained in hisrepertoirefrom 1874 until his death. The originalNew York Timesreview (17 September 1874) hints at why the character and the performer continued to draw audiences for well over a decade: "The comicalities of Col. Sellers kept the audience merry throughout the whole four acts. . . . for breadth and zestiness, the plans developed by the Western settler are literally unprecedented. Utterly insane as some of Col. Sellars' theories appeared, . . . Mr. John Raymond assumed this role with an earnestness which insured his success. . . . the perfect heartiness of all his speeches, together with the absence of self-consciousness in his wildest excentricities [sic], rendered his personation as artistic as it was striking."