Opinion: Lincoln was the life of this Obama inaugural party

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What would Lincoln think?

I got a chance to ask Jim Getty, who was the president of the moment Saturday night at the Lincoln 2.0 Inaugural Ball at the American Art Museum.

‘Oh it’s fantastic being him tonight,’ said Getty, who has been playing Lincoln since 1977.

And he says it all started with the beard. The crowds thronged him on the courtyard as he and members of the Victorian Dance Ensemble and Susquehanna Tracellers joined him in an official greeting line. It was that whole North-South thing as folks in period dress danced quadrilles with Union and Confederate soldiers.

‘There will be a big battle later tonight,’ joked a Union soldier, who was a bugler. But up on the third floor, the exquisite ballroom where the real Abraham Lincoln inaugural ball was held in 1865, a saxophonist with SoulFood Jazz danced and boogied with partiers -- all the while playing madly. We think Lincoln would have approved.

Speaking of Lincoln, we’ve added below a copy of the actual menu for Lincoln’s Second inaugural on March 6, 1865, just weeks before his assassination. Plus a drawing of what the ball looked like on that evening. Scroll down or click on the ‘Read more’ line below. But first: What do you think ‘Beef a la mode’ would have been in the Great One’s day? Check out the menu.

-- Mary Forgione

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Photo credits: Mary Forgione / Los Angeles Times

Above, an illustration of what the Second Lincoln Inauguration Ball looked like. In those days presidents needed only one, not 10 balls. Below, a copy of the actual menu for the evening’s celebratory meal. Lincoln was particularly fond of fowl.

Illustrations from the Smithsonian Institution.