ast’s theatrical “set piece” of the June 1, 1872 issue introduces
presidential nominee Greeley as “The Modern Mazeppa” in “What I Know about the
Road from Cincinnati to___.” It is a travesty of the venerable theatrical
war-horse, “Mazeppa” (or “The Wild Horse of Tartary”), dating from 1830 and
itself based on a swashbuckling 1819 poem by Lord Byron. The play originally
depended for its limited appeal on a hair-raising final scene in which a young
Polish nobleman is stripped of his clothing by a villainous count, tied to the
back of a spirited stallion, and the two, in tandem, gallop across the stage on
an elevated runway. An 1861 production starring the seductive actress Adah
Isaacs Mencken became an overnight sensation when it was offered in New York
City and Albany.
Adah Mencken’s version generated even more interest than usual because she
played the male hero, wearing a flesh-colored body stocking that created the
illusion that she was totally naked, and because the runway was extended out
into the audience to further surround and engage the spectators. In the best
traditions of the special effects of the day, lightning flashed, snow fell,
wolves howled, and vultures circled. A moving background panorama of craggy
peaks and yawning gorges passed before wondering eyes. After fighting a duel
with the evil count, Adah Mencken was divested of her black cloak and prepared
for her unbridled ride in what has been described as the “first public
striptease act ever witnessed in a theater.”
An editorial in the New York Tribune, presumably penned by Greeley,
took a dim view: “We cannot believe that the actress scheduled to appear before
our citizenry in Mazeppa would so shock and revolt decent people by
exposing her body in the nude.” In Nast’s cartoon, 11 years later, Greeley is
the captive passenger, bound by a single rope, on a perilous course for the
White House atop the cliff in the upper-right. Although it is highly doubtful
that Greeley ever saw Adah Mencken’s sensational performance, it is possible
that an avid theatrical partisan like Nast would have seen it at the earliest
opportunity. (He drew Jefferson Davis as “The Modern Mazeppa” for Phunny
Phellow in June 1862.)
Greeley’s Liberal Republican steed, with the “Gratz Brown” tag on its tail,
is receiving a send-off (upper left) from the Cincinnati Convention leaders
(left-right): Senators Reuben Fenton, Lyman Trumbull, Carl Schurz, and Thomas
Tipton. The inevitable paper in Greeley’s pocket is entitled “What I Know About
Horsemanship, H. G.” The tiny figure just behind Schurz’s right arm seems to
represent a first attempt at sketching Whitelaw Reid, the Tribune’s
acting editor and manager of Greeley’s nomination at the Cincinnati convention.