Fifty years ago, the renowned American humorist, Don Marquis, creator of the ‘Archy and Mehitabel’ stories, sat in the dining room of the Players Club and contemplated a playbill: ‘Mr. Bogumil Dawison will appear at the Winter Garden as Othello. Mr. Edwin Booth will play Iago.’ Who was Bogumil Dawison, he wonders? Why did his name appear at the top of the bill above Booth's? Perhaps he had a European reputation like Salvini or Coquelin, but if so why had Marquis never heard of him? He could not have been a Nobody, Marquis concludes, otherwise Booth would never have acted with him. Marquis thinks that perhaps he should find out all he can about Dawison, but then decides that he'll have another brandy instead: ‘Damn Bogumil Dawison! Maybe he was a bad actor, he mooned around and drank himself to death, because the wind was cold and wet … a ridiculous person undoubtedly, and I don't want to know his ghost.’