Veteran actor who built the first theater in St. Louis in partnership with actor Noah Ludlow. Smith was well-known throughout the Mississippi Valley and was one of the several great Shakespearean actors in St. Louis in the mid-19th century. Along with actor Noah Ludlow, Smith unloaded scenery and costumes at a hundred landings, bringing state comedy and drama to river towns. He built the St. Louis Theater in 1835. Besides being a great comedian, Smith was also at times a printer, editor, lawyer and preacher. In 1847 he bought the Chapman family's boat the Floating Palace, the first steam showboat. When his boat collided with a steamer between Louisville and Cincinnati, Old Sol and his company got ashore and watched the Floating Palace sink. The memory of it was so painful that Smith didn't mention the incident in his memoirs. He prepared his own epitaph to be engraved on his tombstone which reads as follows: "Sol Smith, retired actor, 1801-1869. Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and is heard no more. All the world's a stage, and all the men and women are merely players." Exit Sol.
Veteran actor who built the first theater in St. Louis in partnership with actor Noah Ludlow. Smith was well-known throughout the Mississippi Valley and was one of the several great Shakespearean actors in St. Louis in the mid-19th century. Along with actor Noah Ludlow, Smith unloaded scenery and costumes at a hundred landings, bringing state comedy and drama to river towns. He built the St. Louis Theater in 1835. Besides being a great comedian, Smith was also at times a printer, editor, lawyer and preacher. In 1847 he bought the Chapman family's boat the Floating Palace, the first steam showboat. When his boat collided with a steamer between Louisville and Cincinnati, Old Sol and his company got ashore and watched the Floating Palace sink. The memory of it was so painful that Smith didn't mention the incident in his memoirs. He prepared his own epitaph to be engraved on his tombstone which reads as follows: "Sol Smith, retired actor, 1801-1869. Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and is heard no more. All the world's a stage, and all the men and women are merely players." Exit Sol.
Bio by: Connie Nisinger
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