Charles Schoenfeld

Was assembled in 1886 in the workshop of horologist Preston Stumpmeyer from parts of old clocks and telescopes. Charles was a gift for his creator’s niece, Lucretia, who was too shy to find a husband by conventional means—but she rejected him on the grounds that he tended to whirr and clink when he chewed. So that he might learn to pass more unimpeachably as human, he began a lifelong association with the theater. In 1959, an unfortunate encounter with saltwater taffy left his inner workings immobilized for 20 years, until he was sold to an antiques dealer in New Hampshire and subsequently restored. He was relieved to discover that the ’60s and ’70s weren’t such a bad thing to have missed. Recent roles include Sherlock Holmes in The Strange Case of Alice Faulkner (Town Theater of Rocky Hill) and Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice (Theatre Guild of Simsbury).