In advance of Joe Wiegand's visit for the Teddy Roosevelt Show and special screening of "National Parks Adventure 3D" at the Imax Theater, Thom Benson of the Tennessee Aquarium talked with Wiegand about his alter ego and his and the 26th president's connections to Chattanooga.
Q: Tell me about your connections to the Chattanooga area.
A: Two answers. Theodore Roosevelt visited Chattanooga and spoke there to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, their grand master, Governor McMillan and the mayor. On the previous day, Sept. 7, 1902, he visited nearby Chickamauga National Battlefield. Myself, Joe Wiegand, am a 1987 political science graduate of nearby Sewanee, the University of the South. In a Venn diagram place where TR, Sewanee and I have shared intersection, TR's military aide was Archie Butt, Sewanee Class of 1888, and the important medical officer who eliminated yellow fever from the Panama Canal was Dr. William Crawford Gorgas, another Sewanee alumni.
Q: How did you get started portraying Teddy Roosevelt?
A: I was an elected public servant and professionally a political campaign consultant in my native state of Illinois, and I was a Land of Lincoln Republican. We would have Lincoln Day dinners, make generous contributions, be served a bad piece of chicken and then invariably hear a speech by a politician that made the chicken look good by comparison. I decided these audiences needed more entertainment and inspiration, even more comedy. I am the son of the late hippie comedian Jim Wiggins, aka the Last Hippie in America, and the apple didn't fall too far from the tree. Eventually, greatly influenced by Edmund Morris' "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt" and David McCulloch's "Mornings on Horseback," I decided to begin portraying Theodore Roosevelt in these and other settings. In 2008, my family and I toured the 50 states in honor of Theodore Roosevelt's 150th birthday and the final centennial year of his presidency. I performed at the White House, we moved to our alma mater hometown of Sewanee, Tenn., where my wife Jenny's mother, Marcia Mary Cook, is now a recently retired theater professor at Sewanee. Now, we live in Manitou Springs, Colo., and I tour the world performing as TR.
Q: Do people recognize you as TR when you are traveling out of costume?
A: Yes, people in airports and on the streets have fun with how much I look like TR, even when I'm wearing modern street clothes. Sometimes, my schedule is such that I must travel in costume, or I'll spend the better part of a few days performing in a community, and in the come and go I have a good deal of fun with people. I have some funny stories.
Q: Why do you think people love TR?
A: TR stands for the vigorous life or in his own words the strenuous life. He stands for virtue and courage and duty. His Square Deal was for the working man and the working woman, the urban and the rural poor, and it was also for the men of capital and enterprise. Every citizen deserved a Square Deal and was entitled to nothing more and should expect nothing less. Theodore Roosevelt was a lead member of the fellowship of the doers and left a broad and mostly popular legacy across multiple domestic and foreign policy realms. His Panama Canal he thought his greatest accomplishment. Most citizens probably remember and most closely associate him with his conservation record, across a broad range of policies, institutions and public lands. His well-known experiences as a Dakota Territory and as the regimental commander of the 1st United States Cavalry qualify him as our first cowboy president. He was both hunter and conservationist. I do believe the American people had greater enthusiasm for life and for common causes and social improvement because of the model citizenship displayed by President Theodore Roosevelt, and that legacy left him a much admired and appreciated man.
Q: How did you get involved with "National Parks Adventure 3D"?
A: I owe a debt of thanks to my good friend Lee Stetson, who appears in the role of John Muir in the film. Lee has portrayed Muir and written brilliant original plays for Muir and, in the case of "The Tramp & the Rough Rider," a wonderful two-man featuring Muir and TR at Yosemite in 1903. Lee recommended me to the good people at MacGillivray Freeman Films, and we had a grand time filming in Yosemite.
Q: What was it like working on the film?
A: The team work at play with the film crew was a joy to watch. Greg and Barbara MacGillivray are a great team and gifted storytellers. I'm still blown away that I got to work up close for two or three days with the great Lee Stetson, not only a gifted actor and expert on Muir and more, but a great director and writer in his own right, and to do so while clambering atop Glacier Point or camping among the great sequoias of Mariposa Grove was just a transportational sort of experience for me as an actor and an historian.
Q: What is it like for you to see "National Parks Adventure 3D"?
A: The thing I have most enjoyed has been to see National Parks Adventure with family and friends and to see them enjoy the film. The natural beauty captured in the film is awe-inspiring, the story is delightful, and I'm glad to play a small part in a great work.
Q: What do you think Teddy Roosevelt would say about the film? About the centennial of the National Parks system?
A: I do believe Theodore Roosevelt would laud the film as a worthy piece of art and documentary. He would use the film as a catalyst to remind his audiences that they, as individuals and in cooperation with their fellow citizens, had a duty to protect, preserve and improve the national parks and the national parks experience. TR would salute those public servants, throughout the National Park Service and in a dozen additional agencies and departments that work closely with our national parks for the capable performance of their public duties. My TR will have some similar things to say in Chattanooga.
Q: What can people expect from your performance here?
A: I'll tell stories appropriate for families and children about my own (TR's) childhood in New York City, an asthmatic boy with a passion for nature and all its creatures and critters. I'll relate a youth spent in outdoor adventure and natural science, and a young adulthood overcoming great personal tragedy. I'll tell stories from the North Woods of Maine to the Badlands of the Dakota Territory. I'll answer any questions and be happy to pose for questions. My remarks wouldn't be complete without weighing in and celebrating national parks and national monuments and so much more that should be remarked upon during this worthy celebration. Finally, the children will surely enjoy the stories about Mrs. Roosevelt and me rearing six children at the White House. Mrs. Roosevelt said she reared seven children there, and that I was her worstest and most terrible child.
Q: What was your most cherished moment performing as TR? The White House?
A: Performing at the White House, and near the end of his second term as President, to be able to say thank you to President and Mrs. George W. Bush for their years of service to the American people, was certainly a highlight. My most cherished moments are when my TR stories encourage a young person who is struggling to overcome ill health, hardship, tragedy and loss and to go on and live a life of duty and service to one's self, one's family and, to the greatest extent possible, one's community and the nation.