We got an email from longtime friend of what we do here, David B;
“August Wayne Booth sounds similar to John Wilkes Booth (Lincoln’s assassin).
From wikipedia…In August 1855 John Wilkes Booth made his stage debut in
the supporting role of the Earl of Richmond in Richard III at Baltimore’s
Charles Street Theatre. Author Gene Smith wrote that Booth’s acting may
not have been as precise as his brother Edwin’s, but his strikingly
handsome appearance enthralled women.
David B.”
We did mention the initial connection to the name booth in our First Thoughts episode on What Happened to Frederick: Listen here
Sure, this might be a stretch here, but a few things stick out to me;
JWB was an actor. Playing a role.
JWB had a brother. Many people have theorized that August was one of the Grimm brothers.
JWB was an assassin. Some have intimated that the August may have not so good intentions in Storybrooke.
JWB was handsome. My wife does fall into the “enthralled” by August, too.
Thanks David for your cool input.
For more Once Upon a Time fun, you can;
Check out the Once Upon a Time Fan Podcast at http://onceuponatimepodcast.com, and
Ask Regina’s Garden Gnome a question at http://gnome.onceuponatimepodcast.com
I found this interesting… It states that a friend of the Grimm Brothers was named August. Also, this supports the theory that the Grimm’s may have something to do with the Storybrook library…
From Wikipedia: “In 1808, Jacob Grimm was appointed court librarian to the King of Westphalia. In 1812 the brothers published their first volume of fairy tales, Tales of Children and the Home. They had collected the stories from peasants and villagers; they were also aided by their close friend August von Haxthausen. In their collaboration, Jacob did more of the research, while Wilhelm, less sturdy in stature and intellect, put the work into a literary form that would appeal to children and the masses. They were also interested in folklore and primitive literature. In 1816 Jacob became a librarian in Kassel, where Wilhelm was also employed. Between 1816 and 1818, they published two volumes of German legends and a volume of early literary history.”
August Von Haxthausen was the collector of the German Folklore songs thr the Brothers Grimm used in writing their stories. This is why we see OUAT August VARNISHING the parchment in order to preserve the art work and using the sturdiest and most painstaking means of binding the stories in his copy. Stories of the real life August said he took great detail in insuring his stories he collected lasted long after him. OUAT August is documenting the rest of the story, thus his appearance when Emma stays. Th real life August collected stories from soliders, I suspect this one is here to do the same.
A funny little sidebar, if you goggle pictures of the true August Von Haxthausen, his facial hair is even groomed in the same manner as the OUAT August.
That’s great
In 1808, Jacob Grimm was appointed court librarian to the King of Westphalia. In 1812 the brothers published their first volume of fairy tales, Tales of Children and the Home. They had collected the stories from peasants and villagers; they were also aided by their close friend August von Haxthausen.
August is obvious
Haxthausen – house=shelter=booth
Just saw someone else reads wikipedia too. It makes as much sense as anything.
http://sharpelvessociety.blogspot.com/2012/02/august-wayne-booth-in-once-upon-time.html
There is a lot more than meets the eye in this show, even beyond what viewers have come to expect–there is some real literary knowledge hidden in plain sight, and as my above blog post suggests, the character name August Wayne Booth is a clue!
Cheers, ARNIE PERLSTEIN
@JaneAustenCode on Twitter
Wow, that’s great! Thanks for sharing!
LOVE all the research minded people that come here… It save me a lot of time… I would like to do the same but sometimes no time because I chase after a three year old… When he is done of the night so am I.
Love this blog site.
Hello All-
Wow…and I have to agree with Nonnie! (LOL) I’m amazed by the research that people think of and can come up with. Thank you to all the Oncer fans for keeping us in the loop and share a side of stories that some of us might have never remembered or thought of. As well, thank you to all the people involved in this podcast, blog site, and everyplace else. I might not be aware of everyones’ name, but you are not forgotten about!!
Everyone have a great week!
Wow yes all that makes sense. My hubby said one of the strangers tools was a book binding tool so I guess he was right. I also think that he is there to encourage Emma to “believe”. And I am thinking that he did a little more to the book than just put it back together. Like add a few things. NO worry though Henry will notice.
What about those pages Henry ripped out and gave to Emma in an early episode? Were those pages put back by Booth? Does he (AWB) have a master file on his computer and so reprinted the missing pages?
Wayne Booth appears to be our man, and Once Upon A Time seems to be a reworking of the novel “Emma” by Jane Austin.
The plate on the motorcycle was play on Walt Disney history.
KANSAS is where Disney is from….. and the 23 represents the year(1923) in which he came to Hollywood and finally distributed “Alice Comedies”, later Alice in Wonderland……
Interestingly enough, Jane Austin’s “Emma” is Alice….. and awakes to find it was all a dream……Hmm! ” I don’t know how I would feel about that “….”?”
CORRECTION:…..That would be ” Jane Austen ” sorry Jane.
If you browse around in my blog, you will see that in the shadow story of Jane Austen’s _Emma_, everything Emma sees is not so much a dream as it is her own subjective distortion of what is really happening right under her nose that she is unaware of!
This is a post where I explain some of the basis of Jane Austen’s “anamorphism”, which means, her double story structure:
http://sharpelvessociety.blogspot.com/2011/01/jane-austens-anamorphism.html
Feel free to post there or here with comments, questions, etc.
Cheers, ARNIE
@JaneAustenCode on Twitter
Arnie, Thanks for sharing your insights here. Very cool.
Here’s a link to my latest OUAT-Jane Austen analysis:
http://sharpelvessociety.blogspot.com/2012/02/george-augustus-frederick-prince-of.html
“George Augustus Frederick, The Prince of Whales, The Big Bad Wolf, King George & Dr. Whale”
Turns out ALL of these names from OUAT are directly connected to the mysterious charade in Chapter 9 of _Emma_!!!
Hey! Thanks Arnie!! Cool!…
I was looking around for other cool blogs covering OUAT and August W. Booth and came across Megan’s cool Sortacrunchy blog. She has “Once Upon a Time Tuesdays,” and I so was impressed with her great insights on “What Happened to Frederick”, I wanted to link to them here:
http://www.sortacrunchy.net/sortacrunchy/2012/02/once-upon-a-time-tuesday-what-happened-to-frederick.html?cid=6a00e54fb985aa8833016762c28a69970b#comment-6a00e54fb985aa8833016762c28a69970b
Megan rocks. Please visit her blog and show here some OUAT Fan Podcast love!
I knew I had something with Wayne C. Booth! Though I do love the theory about August von Haxthausen.
And why not August Wayne Booth is Henry in other time….? or something like it.
That would be interesting ,but,…………….. kind a creepy! yea?
Henry trying to get with his Mom?……….lol!… I mean Emma IS Drop Dead Gorgeous!, but now we’re getting into Freud!!!! LOL!
I don’t wanna read any Freud right now! LOL! Carl Jung and this story is bad enough!!……..lol!
That’s possible. I also like the theory that he is the kid that found baby Emma.
I like that theory too!….but, it would mean he was somehow linked to FairyTale Land in some way, givin the fact that he knows about the Book, can restore pages in that Book and appearently has residence or knows someone in Storybrooke with access to residency (Gold) in Storybrooke….. then there’s that Kansas ’84 plate thing again?…… But, it’s possible he came to Storybrooke, found and purchased the bike here in Storybrooke!…..”?”BUT!,…. that would mean he also found away to cross over from FiaryTale Land to our world, escaping the Curse and making him a fairytale character! and not just some kid from our world walking along the highway one day…… This was actually my original theory about Pinocchio and what had happened to him!… That he and Geppetto actually did fabricate some sort of vessel with taken or leftover enchanted wood from that massive tree trunk and Geppetto sent Pinocchio (who was about 7 at that time) with Emma to watch out for her till she was found. But THEN what happened to Pinocchio? He’s a 7 year old kid, non-human!, by himself and named Pinocchio! from FairyTale Land!…LOL! We would have locked that kid up in some mental instituion quick, LOL!…for the rest of his life!…… BUT I AM PINOCCHIO!!! AND MY FATHER IS GEPPETTOOoooooooo..lol! *padded door* SLAMM!…
But, it’s still possible that he did cross over with Emma! and we just haven’t seen him yet!….. But, is he the Stranger? Well, he would be about thirtyfive!, but the Stranger?, I don’t think so… The first thing Pinocchio would do would be what??? Right …FIND GEPPETTO!. Pinocchio would have escaped the Curse, so he would remember EVERYTHING!….. I believe the Stranger has been in Storybrooke the whole time and has never been to our world because he’s a fairytale character and can not leave!!.. But, we shall see!!….
AND Thanks Bert and Ray!…and WELCOME!!!
AND keep ’em coming!! We need all the fresh and new ideas we can get!!… JUST THROW THEM OUT THERE!!
’cause I’m out of rope!…. and now I have to go and read Jane Austen’s “Emma” on top of it!!! So HELP!! Keep it comin!!! LOL!
I was googling the name this morning… tried August W. Booth and only got OUAT blog posts. Tried August Booth and still got OUAT blogs. Tried Wayne Booth and found some interesting stuff about the AUTHOR, Wayne Booth, that wrote a book called the Rhetoric of Fiction. Feels like they might be trying to link the ideas behind this book to the plot lines of OUAT somehow… it’s a bit deep, but sounds a bit more plausible than a link to John Wilkes Booth.
You’re on it Laura!… A link to Booth’s book as well as a reworking, somehow, of Jane Austen’s novel “Emma” in which Booth suggests that Emma is “Alice” and lives in a dream world….
There are some very cool links above on the subject!
It’s not an accident, I believe, that August Wayne Booth flirts with Ruby in Granny’s Diner, by encouraging her to get out and see the world—in a way she is like Emma Woodhouse, who has never left Highbury, and he is like Frank Churchill, who flirts with Emma.
But we can also transpose this to Pride & Prejudice, and see him as Wickham, the charming handsome stranger who rides (on a horse, not a motorcycle) into Longbourn.
And there’s also a strong suggestion that Ruby’s channeling her inner “wolf” and learning her own powers, is a veiled motif pointing to a lesbian coming out of the closet.
And the Bible is hidden in there as well, with a veiled allusion to Jesus and the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s Well.
For all of the above, see these posts (in addition to my earlier ones about OUAT) for more details:
http://sharpelvessociety.blogspot.com/2012/03/broad-hints-of-pride-prejudice-hidden.html
http://sharpelvessociety.blogspot.com/2012/03/living-water-in-once-upon-time.html
Cheers, ARNIE
@JaneAustenCode on Twitte