Dickens in America

The DVD of the series was released in North America on 1 March 2011.[1]

Part One - Going Away

The first episode shows Margolyes preparing for the trip by not only reading American Notes, but also reading other writers' travel books that Dickens himself read before sailing. These include Frances Trollope's and de Tocqueville's books. She visits the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, where the original manuscript is kept.

Margolyes then meets with Dickens scholars and experts at the Charles Dickens Museum on Doughty Street in London. The experts include the late Cedric Charles Dickens, great grandson of the writer; Professor Michael Slater, one of the world's most renowned Dickens scholars; Dr. Paul Schlicke, then President of the Dickens Fellowship; Professor Lisa Jardine from the University of London and Jan Mark, writer and critic. The conversation ranges from advice on some of the lesser known places to go, to a discussion of what Dickens expected to do and accomplish.

The Dickensians show her the original Daniel Maclise drawing of Dickens' children and Grip the raven that Dickens and Catherine took with them to America.

Miriam then boards the RMS Queen Mary 2, which like the RMS Britannia which transported Dickens, his wife Catherine and Catherine's handmaid, is a Cunard ocean liner.

On board, Master Paul Wright takes Margolyes on a behind-the-scenes tour. He tells her the Queen Mary 2 is five times longer than the Britannia which was 207 feet. He says the Britannia would fit into their largest restaurant, which is appropriately called Britannia.

Margolyes disembarks the Queen Mary in New York and then drives north to Boston. Dickens' ship docked in Boston.

Part Two – Boston

It took Dickens 8 hours after arriving in the Port of Boston before he could disembark.

Some of the tourist spots that Margolyes visits while in Boston are the Massachusetts Statehouse and Boston Common, looking very much the way they did in 1842. Peter Drummey, a librarian with the Massachusetts Historical Society tells Margolyes how Dickens thought how much alike England and Boston were and how, in many ways, it was the cultural and literary center of the United States.

He also tells of how the citizens of Boston crowded around Dickens whenever he was out in public.

Miriam Margolyes then goes to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts to see a portrait of Dickens by noted portrait painter, Francis Alexander. Margolyes learns that when Dickens arrived in Boston, New England portrait artists lined up to be the first to capture him but Alexander beat them all to it. The portrait isn't normally on display but the film crew get special access to it.

The portrait is not on display to the public and is set up in a gallery just for the filming of the documentary.

Dickens also sat for a bust by Henry Dexter. (There are copies of the bust in the Charles Dickens Museum in London and the Philadelphia Free Library’s Rare Book Department)

The original bust is now lost. Miriam also sits for a bust by a young sculptor from Boston, Kalman Gacs.

Margolyes stays at the same hotel that Dickens did, the Omni Parker House. When stayed there it was just called the Parker House. She says it was noted for being the most modern hotel of its day.

Margolyes looks at a mirror in the Parker House that is reported to be a mirror that Dickens used to rehearse his public readings while staying at the hotel.

The last stop in the Boston episode is the Perkins School for the Blind. The school was founded in 1829 and is still one of the leading schools for the blind in the world. Dickens was so impressed he gave the school £1700 (around £1980000 in 2017 money) to buy special copies of The Old Curiosity Shop for the blind students. They were set in Boston line type, a raised text that could be read by the blind.

The president of the Perkins School, Steven Rothstein tells Margolyes how people a few decades before Dickens visited thought that deaf and blind people couldn't think, but one of the past presidents of the school, a Dr. Howe proved that they could.

Jaimi Lard, a deaf and blind spokesperson teaches her how to use sign language.

Helen Keller’s mother, after reading Dickens’ praise for the Perkins School in American Notes, sent her daughter there. Anne Sullivan, a former Perkins student became Keller's teacher. Margolyes finds the Perkins School most impressive. It touches her heart and she says she will never forget it.

Part Three - New England

Like Dickens did, Miriam Margolyes takes a train from Boston to Lowell, Massachusetts.

When Dickens visited Lowell, it was a recently built, planned company town a few miles outside of Boston. In its day it was the second largest city in New England. Today the city is a National Park, administered by the National Park Service. Margolyes tours the city on a trolley accompanied by Natalie McKnight, a Dickens scholar from Boston University. They tour the manufacturing mills and the factory girls’ boarding houses. McKnight comments how the city mixes industry and art. She and Margolyes see a copy of The Lowell Offering, the factory girls’ newsletter that Dickens wrote about.

McKnight tells Margolyes that Dickens was so impressed with the robust city that he called it the happiest day of his visit.

When American Notes was published most American newspapers gave it unfavorable reviews. Lowell was one of the few places that gave Dickens’ book a favorable review.

Margolyes attends a Dickens barbeque, led by Bob Googins, Adjunct Professor at the University of Connecticut.

Googins teaches a course titled, “Dickens and the Law.” He explains how he tries to teach that Dickens used the novel as an instrument of social change. Googins also informs Margolyes about the “Rule of 50,” which explains what happens in the case of Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce. Margolyes visits the Supreme Court of Massachusetts in Worcester, Massachusetts. The Honorable Peter W. Agnes, Associate Trial Court Justice tells Margolyes that Dickens understood human nature and that it has not changed since the 19th century.

At Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Joel J. Brattin shows Margolyes the esteemed Robert D. Fellman Collection of Charles Dickens treasures. The collection includes many first editions, original manuscripts and autograph letters.

Professor Michael Sokal of Worcester Polytechnic Institute explains phrenology to Margolyes. Dickens had a strong interest in the pseudoscience.

Margolyes takes a boat down the Connecticut River from Hartford to New Haven with Natalie McKnight. At one point she takes over the wheel.

Margolyes talks about the adulation that Dickens faced, but which he did not write about in American Notes. We learn that Dickens and his wife were treated by students from Yale to some songs, and Margolyes is too.

Miriam Margolyes tells us that Dickens was given an accordion on the trip and thereafter spent much time playing “Home Sweet Home.” Margolyes then, attempts to play one herself.

A replica of La Amistad, the famous slave ship, is docked in New Haven and Margolyes visits her. Dickens dedicated an entire chapter to slavery towards the end of American Notes.

Dickens liked to attend progressive and enlightened churches and Margolyes visits the Metropolitan Community Church that is mainly for the gay and lesbian community.

Part Four - New York City

Margolyes takes a train from New England to New York City’s [[Grand Central Station]]. Dickens talks about Broadway and the TV program shows us scenes of modern Broadway.

Margolyes sits on a rock in Central Park with Michael Patrick Hearn, author of The Annotated Christmas Carol and they discuss Dickens’ fury with American newspapers and publishers pirating his works. Mr. Hearn says that the newspapers were outraged that Dickens was advocating reciprocal copyright laws, but in the same issue where they chastised Dickens, they were pirating American Notes, publishing it right on the front page.

Dickens commented that the social reform he hoped to see in America was not working. “This is not the republic I came to see,” he said.

Dickens wrote about pigs wandering up and down the city streets. Margolyes says she is thankful we don't see anything like that today.

Dickens talked about the colours of women’s clothing, men’s whiskers, and the general hubbub of New York traffic as the camera shows what those look like in the 21st century.

Tour guide Michael Emyrs shows Margolyes where the Park Theater stood on Park Row. This is where the famous Boz Ball took place on Valentine’s Day, 1842. 3,000 people in full dress attended. It was the social event of the decade. Mr Emyrs shows her some music written for the Boz Ball that had been thought to be lost.

He also shows her where Five Points, Manhattan was (about where Baxter Street meets Worth Street) and where the Tombs stood. (Just north of Foley Square where the Dept. of Health building is). There is nothing remaining of Five Points today.

Margolyes visits the modern Tombs, just a few blocks north of the original, at White and Centre Streets. Captain Helmie, who is in charge, gives her a guided tour. She comments that it is much as she expected it to be. The cells are almost like a low-end hotel room. There is a basketball court on the roof of the Tombs. Margolyes thinks it is almost cruel that the inmates have a magnificent view of Manhattan but they can't go out to enjoy the Big Apple.

Margolyes then takes the tram to Roosevelt Island in the middle of the East River. When Dickens visited the island it was called Blackwell’s Island, though Dickens jokingly said he couldn't recall if it was Long Island or Rhode Island. Dickens was impressed with the New York Lunatic Asylum there. But when Margolyes visits, the building is a ruin. She talks with a real estate developer who plans to build luxury apartments there.

Just as Dickens traveled with two policemen to Five Points, Margolyes tours the 6th Police Precinct, which covers West Greenwich Village, with two police officers. She watches the police officers handle a domestic violence incident.

Margolyes goes to the New York Public Library’s main branch on 5th Avenue to visit the Berg Collection, a horde of Dickensiana. The curator, Dr. Issac Gewirtz shows her various items that had belonged to Dickens including a writing desk, a letter opener with a pet cat’s paw, a diary with entries written in shorthand that might be referring to Ellen Ternan and a reference to "George Silverman’s Explanation." There is also an inkwell, still containing some dried ink, and Dr. Gewirtz allows her to hold Dickens’ very small pen in her hand.

Part Five - Philadelphia

At the start of the episode, Margolyes comments that Philadelphia is “Dickens Mad.”

In West Philadelphia’s Clark Park, where the only statue of Dickens in the world at the time of filming. Margolyes explains that Dickens had requested in his will that there be no monuments or memorials erected. He wanted to be remembered by his works. But a statue by Francis Edwin Elwell was created in the 1890s and it ended up in the park. Margolyes comments that the statue is life-sized, but it is actually larger than life-size. There is an accompanying statue of Little Nell that is taller than Margolyes.

Margolyes attends a meeting of the Philadelphia branch of the Dickens Fellowship and visits a department store where a half sized walk-through exhibit of A Christmas Carol is open every holiday season. In about fifteen or so tableaus, dozens of animated figures tell the story with great charm and attention to detail.

Also in the store is the famous Wanamaker Organ. The organist plays some of the music from the Boz Ball that Michael Emyrs gave to Margolyes in New York. The Wanamaker Organ is said to be the world’s largest musical instrument.

Margolyes visits two historical items in Philadelphia that Dickens did not mention: the Liberty Bell and a draft of the United States Declaration of Independence in Thomas Jefferson’s own handwriting.

She also sees what Dickens wrote about in American Notes, starting with the straight streets and the recently restored Fairmount Water Works. Herb Moskovitz, editor of a Dickens newsletter, explains how William Penn, living through the Great Fire of London of 1666, ordered buildings to be built out of bricks and stones, and this helped Philadelphia escape the great fires that burned other contemporary cities to the ground, and explains Philadelphia today has blocks and blocks of 18th century and early 19th buildings.

At Pennsylvania Hospital, the oldest hospital in the USA, Margolyes sees the painting of Our Savior Healing the Sick, by Benjamin West that Dickens comments on, and goes up to the original Operating Theater on the top floor where operations could only be done from about 11 am to about 3 pm, since they depended on natural light. She comments on how Dickens had to have a rectal fistula operated on without anesthetics.

In the Rare Book Department of the Philadelphia Free Library, librarian William Lang shows Margolyes Dickens’ pet raven, Grip, stuffed and mounted, and a small gravestone that memorialized Dick, the best of birds, that was once at Gad’s Hill. The Rare Book Department has a huge collection of Dickensiana.

Margolyes attends a meeting of the Philadelphia Pickwick Club, a dining and drinking men’s society and is inducted in as the only woman member.

The show finishes with a visit to Eastern State Penitentiary, a prison that Dickens talked about at length in American Notes.

Dickens wrote how the prisoners had to wear a hood when arriving that prevented them seeing the path from the front gate to their cell, so they had no concept of where in the building they were. Margolyes attempts to do the same but can't go far before she gets too uncomfortable to go on.

The prisoners were kept in solitary confinement, with only a bible to read. Naturally many went insane. Dickens was quick to see the inhumanity of this supposedly "humane" treatment.

Dickens was allowed to talk with a few of the inmates.

The prison was closed in 1971 and is now a tourist attraction. It is in a deteriorating state, and is only maintained well enough for safety issues. They say they are keeping it in a state of “suspended ruin.”

Part Six - Washington DC and Richmond

Dickens traveled south by steamboat to Washington and Margolyes travels along the Potomac in a pleasure boat.

The two things that Dickens detested the most about America were slavery and tobacco spitting, which he saw more and more of, as he traveled further south.

Dickens praised his first view of Washington and the capitol. (The capitol today is a much expanded building with a dome three times the height of the dome that Dickens saw.)

He stayed at the Willard House. Margolyes also stays at the hotel, which was rebuilt in 1901 and now called the Willard InterContinental Washington.

Washington is known as the City of Magnificent Distances. Dickens also called it the “City of Magnificent Intentions.” Miriam comments that "Everywhere I look, I see a building demanding my attention.”

Juan Williams, a modern commentator says that Washington in 1842 was a very small, unhealthy backwater in a swamp. It was in a compromised location. Philadelphia, which had been the capital, was in the north, and the south wanted the capital to be much further south. When Dickens visited, there were few buildings, with lots of streets going nowhere.

Margolyes takes a canal boat ride with Dr John Glavin from Georgetown University. He points out that Washington has no industry. It exists only for government. Dickens didn't think Washington would survive as the capital of the USA.

Dickens' description of Congress today, if he could observe the current Congress, would no doubt be the same.

Margolyes comments that she thinks the architecture is Fascist. There is security everywhere. There is a high level of fear. It is almost as if there is a fear industry. Fear is now part of the political process.

She then tours the grand Library of Congress which has an exhibition of “ Treasures of America at the Library.” In the exhibit are Dickens’ walking stick (from his second American tour), a cutlery set he owned, and part of Martin Chuzzlewit.

It takes Margolyes three hours to travel by train to Richmond, Virginia. She meets a Dickens fan on the train.

Richmond is the real south. Tobacco is the heart of Richmond’s industry.

There are over 300 tobacco companies in Richmond. Margolyes is offered some “Oliver Twist Chewing Tobacco.” She tries it and hates it.

She then goes to Bailey’s Tobacco Farm, where the owner, Michael Bailey shows her around. They go to a Curing Barn where it takes tobacco eight days to cure. Margaret smells the fresh tobacco and declares it smells beautiful and fresh. It is only when it is burning that it smells foul and emits noxious chemicals.

Bailey’s is a small tobacco company and only makes about 2.7 billion cigarettes a year. Margolyes thinks that Michael Bailey is a lovely person, though she hates his business.

America puts more people in prison per capita than any other country in the world. Four times than the amount in Britain. Margolyes goes to yet another prison. This is Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women. She thinks the classroom setting she is taken to is rather nice. But she is warned the wings where the cells are, are not at all nice. Dickens compared prison labor with paid labor. Margolyes finds that the prison has humanity. There is no evidence of cruelty or despair.

Margolyes meets Bill Schneider, a broadcaster and political analyst in the conservative Bible Belt. He points out how Dickens believed in character and that good people could save the world. He says “It’s individualism run rampant.” Mr. Schneider points out that Americans understand themselves very well, but they don't understand others well at all. And they don't want to.

And she meets Reverend Kenneth Blanchard, who is proud to be a “Black Man with a Gun.” He even wears a hat proclaiming that is who he is. He takes Margolyes to a shooting range. She doesn't like it. But she respects his opinions. She finds the South confusing.

Part Seven - Middle America: Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Louisville

As she heads towards Pittsburgh, Margolyes comments that most Americans live in “Middle America.”

Pittsburgh in Dickens’ time was noted for its ironworks and smoke. The steel mills are now gone, and so is the smoke. Dickens said it reminds people of Birmingham.

One of Dickens’ interests was magnetism or mesmerism. Margolyes visits the New Society for Universal Harmony, which is a society for mesmerists. It was used for pain management and entertainment. She subjects herself to be mesmerized. She says it is a remarkable experience but she can't tell if the mesmerists were serious or not.

Margolyes comments that she is becoming obsessive about prisons, just as Dickens was. She meets Jere Krakoff, a Civil Rights Attorney who specializes in prisoners’ rights. He gets over thirty letters a week from prisoners. She visits a prison in Pittsburgh, just as Dickens did. Margolyes finds the cells in the modern day prison worse than any other she had seen. On top of that, there would be two prisoners in a cell built for one.

Dickens took a paddleboat steamer down the Ohio River to Cincinnati. For miles Dickens saw nothing of human habitation. Margolyes drives.

When she gets to Cincinnati she observes that the trees and flowers and well kept gardens that Dickens wrote about are still very much in abundance. It is, he said, a beautiful city.

Margolyes visits the Mercantile Library where they have many literary treasures including a first edition of Dombey and Son.

The librarian Albert Pyle tells of belonging to a reading group and crying out loud as he read to the group about the death of little Paul Dombey. They discuss how Dickens did the same when doing the public readings. They agree that if Dickens were alive today, he would probably be a screenwriter.

Dickens commented on the bad manners of Americans, so Margolyes attends an Etiquette Dinner where young Americans learn the proper etiquette for dining. She has her own ideas on proper dining that don't necessarily agree with the instructor’s.

In Louisville, Kentucky, Margolyes stays at the Galt House Hotel. Dickens also stayed at the Galt House, but it was a far smaller building that he stayed in. Dickens was unimpressed with Louisville but she finds it rather attractive.

Margolyes meets Martha Banette, a linguist, who tells her that the Ohio River is the dividing line between Southern American Speech and Northern American Speech. Louisville, being right on the river is considered by linguists to be the major place to study American English. Dickens, of was interested in accents and speech patterns.

Margolyes comments on how people from Louisville can't agree on how to pronounce the name of their city.

Part Eight - The Delta Queen - Cairo, Illinois - St. Louis

Margolyes takes a steam-powered paddleboat, the Delta Queen, down the Ohio River, which turns into the Mississippi River. Dickens also took a steamboat.

Dickens did not like the journey at all. By this time in his journey he was disillusioned, tired and cross. His traveling companions were uncommunicative and he thought Mississippi River like an “enormous ditch.”

The Midwest in general was not to his liking.

Margolyes on the other hand, has a wonderful time and we see her partying with her co-travelers, learning about paddleboat history from Master Buddy Muirhed, and entertaining the guests with Dickensian stories.

She notes that Dickens and his wife, Catherine, celebrated their 6th wedding anniversary while on the Mississippi and comments on Dickens’ shabby treatment of Catherine. She closes the segment with the plea, “Let’s remember Catherine.”

Margolyes stops off in Cairo, Illinois. Jerome Meckier, Professor of English at the University of Kentucky, explains that Cairo was not at all what Dickens had expected. It had been advertised to him as “up and coming, with a great future.” It was anything but that and Dickens used Cairo as a model for the disastrous development of Eden in Martin Chuzzlewitt.

Margolyes discusses Cairo’s history with Preston Ewing, Jr., a local historian. He tells her that Cairo’s population reached its zenith in the 1920s when it was 15,000. Now it is 3,000. There is a local belief that Dickens cursed Cairo. But Cairo in many ways cursed itself. It dragged its heels when desegregating. When desegregation finally came in 1976 there was a massive white flight. Today the streets are empty. One can rent a store on the main street for a dollar a year. It is still, “dismal Cairo.” Margolyes sees no hope for the town.

Ranger Bob Moore of the US National Park Service tells her that many today think Dickens was rather snobby when describing St. Louis of 1842, but he thinks Dickens was just being honest about what he saw and experienced.

Dickens visited an American Free School in St. Louis and Miriam visits a 9th grade class at the Duchesne High School (Missouri). They are reading Great Expectations and some think the novel is too long. She explains to them how the book originally came out in installments. She then does a short performance of Miss Havisham talking about love.

Dickens had a chance encounter with Chief Pitchlynn of the Choctaw tribe and discussed American Indian conditions with him. Margolyes meets two Native American, from separate nations, Dana Klar and Noel Frazer, both from the Buder Center for American Indian Studies. They meet at a burial mound and compare conditions now and what they were like in 1842.

Dickens wanted to see a prairie and a day was arranged for him to do so. Margolyes and a companion take a picnic basket, similar to Dickens’ and visit the Looking Glass Prairie. Although Dickens found the scenery somewhat disappointing, he enjoyed the company and devoted a whole chapter of American Notes to the trip.

Part Nine - Canada

Originally Dickens was not going to write much about Canada, but he liked it so much that he gave it the full treatment. He spent five weeks in Canada.

There were two things that Dickens particularly wanted to see on his trip. Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia and Niagara Falls.

Dickens took his flowery pen to the falls and wrote about them eloquently.

Dickens said that he heard many voices in the roar of the falls and that one of the voices was of his deceased sister-in-law, Mary Hogarth.

Margolyes is not at a loss for words when she turns her back to the falls and looks at the town of Niagara. “It’s really ghastly,” she says.

Dickens visited the Niagara Falls Museum, which was founded in 1827. Margolyes sees many of the same items Dickens saw. There are about 1,700 pieces of taxidermy.

Dickens also visited Old Fort Niagara which was a British garrison with a rich history. Ron Dale from the National Historic Sites of Canada gives her a tour and explains how the fort helped prevent Canada from falling to the marauding American army thirty years before Dickens visited.

Margolyes visits the monument to General Isaac Brock who died in 1812 at the Battle of Queenston Heights. The first monument was severely damaged by explosives in 1840. The monument she sees was built in the 1850s. Margolyes thinks Dickens would have been pleased to see the rebuilt monument.

Ron Dale tells Margolyes that Upper Canadians make it very clear that they distinguish themselves from Americans.

Margolyes travels to Toronto where she meets Dickens collector Dan Calinescu of Boz and Friends Rare Books. His collection of over 5,000 items includes two original letters written by Dickens, a drawing of Nicholas Nickleby drawn by Catherine Dickens that looks a lot like her husband, first editions and playbills, including one from The Frozen Deep at Tavistock House. Margolyes admits she is envious.

In Montreal, she tours the city in a horse-drawn carriage, which is possibly the nicest way to see the city.

Margolyes takes lessons on how to be a lady’s maid. She does this to honor Anne Brown, Catherine’s lady’s maid who traveled throughout America with the Dickenses. When Dickens told her he wanted her to take medicine to combat seasickness, she replied she wouldn't unless her “wages were ris.” She had her own mind. The family was fond of her and she remained with them until she was an old lady.

When he was in Montreal, Dickens and Catherine became involved with some amateur theatrics. Margolyes also becomes involved with a show put on by the Concordia University Theatre Department. They do a production of the Victorian farce, Deaf as a Post. Margolyes plays the landlady.

Part Ten - Back to New York

Dickens had five days in New York before his ship sailed and he used it to see more of the state. He went up the Hudson River to West Point. Margolyes goes to visit the military academy and meets the cadets. Perhaps the major difference is that now there are also female cadets. About 16% of the 4,000 cadets are female. Margolyes meets a few of them. She is there when they get word that a recent graduate was killed in Iraq.

Margolyes is given a tour of the Shaker Museum and Library in Old Chatham by Jerry Grant.

On 7 June, Dickens, Catherine and Anne Brown sailed from New York for Liverpool. Dickens booked passage on the packet ship, “George Washington.” After his unpleasant experience on the Britannia he wanted to return via sailing vessel.

Dickens returned to America in 1867-68 for a reading tour. One of the venues was the Mechanics Hall in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Margolyes finishes her tour of America with a special meeting at the Bruno Walter Auditorium at the New York Public Library on Saturday 18 December 2004. Everyone who appears in the series, from Boston to St. Louis to Montreal, was invited and many of them made the journey to be with Margolyes for this once in a lifetime event. She is alone on stage, and gives a riveting account of her travels.

Bert Hornback is an emeritus professor from the University of Michigan who has spent a lifetime studying Dickens and has strong view with what Dickens expected to find in America. He hoped to find a society that took care of its poor and he saw the country taking care of poor people and homeless people...so long as they were white. Hornback says that Dickens was changed by going to America. The novels after the first American trip became much more serious. And her journey changed Margolyes too. She says she is more careful now when she meets people; not quick to write people off “because they are republicans, or Christians or fundamentalists or farmers, or smokers.” She will remember this journey the rest of her life.

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