‘Honest Abe’ Weaves Tales About War Between States

When the tall, gaunt figure in black walked slowly into the auditorium, the hubbub of 250 El Monte schoolchildren turned silent.

He wore a top hat and a tail coat and he limped. But he bowed before sixth-grade teacher Cindy Flores with an old-fashioned flourish and asked her name and profession.

“I’ve never met a lady schoolteacher before; all mine were men,” the apparition with the jutting black beard exclaimed. “You wouldn’t fool old Abe Lincoln now, would you?”

On Monday, a week before America’s celebration of Lincoln’s birthday students at Cherrylee Elementary School got a glimpse of history.

Their host was educator and actor Charles Brame, a 65-year-old retired teacher from Rancho Cucamonga who resembles Abraham Lincoln and has performed his historical Lincoln monologue more than 2,000 times over 15 years.

For half an hour, Brame regaled students with the country humor, compassion and depth of vision of the assassinated President. Weaving in biographical details, historical fact and philosophical musing, the living Lincoln drew a rounded portrait of the man who governed America during the Civil War.

“I’ve always believed that people should do whatever they want, to develop the best they can to make this a better country,” the faux Lincoln told students by way of introduction. “Now, if you’re a slave, you’ve got nothing.”

Cherrylee Principal Mike Raymond said Brame’s monologue was pegged to school history lessons examining the Civil War. The school’s PTA provided the $425 that Brame charges for two shows during the month of February, when he is in greatest demand.

Pamala Barbosa, who teaches a combination fourth- and fifth-grade class, said the performance reinforced her history lessons. She plans to have students write short essays about what they learned from the day and list questions they would have liked to have asked Lincoln.

“Maybe they only picked up one or two ideas, but they saw a historical figure in action,” Barbosa said. “We’re trying to get the idea across that Lincoln wasn’t just a storybook character; he was a man of emotion, and Mr. Brame brought that to life.”

Brame, a longtime scholar of the 16th President, has a master’s degree in American history from the University of Missouri and taught high school in the San Bernardino Unified School District for many years. He is a member of the Screen Actor’s Guild and has appeared, as Lincoln, on stage and in movies and television, most recently on the television show “Growing Pains.”

But his greatest gift may be his ability to link the long-dead past with the living present. At one point, Brame mopped his brow with a red kerchief and sighed heavily.

“The Southern slave states left the Union and established the Confederacy, and now we have the bloodiest war in man’s history,” he said. “The boys in blue and the boys in gray, they are all ours, and the war sits so heavy on my heart.”

The students sat on the auditorium floor, staring at the stranger whose image had for so long stared out at them from history books. They wanted to touch him to see if was real or a Disneyland creation. They peppered him with questions.

“Who was your favorite President before yourself?” one child asked.

“George Washington,” came the response. “I’ve been fighting to keep what he made as one of the Founding Fathers.”

“How did you become President?” another asked.

“I was elected; I ran for office and got the most votes.”

“Where do you live?”

“In a house with a lot of white.”

Jessica LaSoya, 10, who shook hands with Brame during his talk, was amazed. “He really acted like Abe Lincoln. He told us how he tried to help people.”

“It was great,” added Isaac Lopez, 10. “He taught us stuff about the Civil War.”

As Brame wound up his talk, he informed the students that he was sorry to leave but that he had promised to take his wife to the Ford Theater that night.

“I’ve already seen the play; it’s called ‘My American Cousin,’ ” the Lincoln character said, alluding to the night of his assassination in the theater.

“But she’s got her heart set on seeing it and I’ve been working so hard, I could use some laughs.”