[Scrapbook of Theater Programs and Handbills]
![[Scrapbook of Theater Programs and Handbills]](https://d3525k1ryd2155.cloudfront.net/h/763/170/1734170763.0.x.jpg)
- Syracuse and New York, NY; Chicago; Boston , 1917
Syracuse and New York, NY; Chicago; Boston, 1917. Very good. 9¼” x 7¼”. Marbled paper over boards, cloth-taped spine. 140 blank lined pages with 80 programs, broadsides and clippings, a few pasted down, most laid in. Very good: book a bit overstuffed; frequent offsetting, light edgewear and creasing (in a few cases moderate); a few penciled dates to items and inked notations to pages.
This is a collection of opera and theater ephemera from the 1860s into the 1910s, revealing noted stars and directors, many of whom were women, as well as famous institutions in New York, Boston and Chicago.
Most of the items are programs for “this evening's entertainment” at such notable venues as the Grand Opera House of New York City, McVicker's and Hooley's Theaters in Chicago, the Boston Music Hall and many more. Lovely illustrated clippings and handbills announce the “important engagement” of Ellen Terry and the London Lyceum Company, “Clara Louise Kellogg in One Grand Concert Only” and the “Third Appearance of Miss Maggie Mitchell, The Pearl of the American Stage.” Clippings from the Chicago Opera Association's journal provide the “Story of the Opera” for Aida, Pagliacci and others, and there is a complete program for Margaret Mather's role as Julia in The Hunchback. A few items note engagements of Richings' Grand English Opera, “Mrs. C. Richings Bernard, Directress.” Caroline Richings sang in, composed for and managed the opera after her adoptive father retired. She later taught voice and piano, founded the Caroline Richings Old Folks Opera Company and the Richings-Bernard Conservatory of Music in Richmond, where she was also a principal singer for the Mozart Association.
A few J.H. Haverly minstrels are shown in the collection, one with a handwritten note: “First Minstrels I ever heard where I laughed until the tears fall down my cheeks!! 1864 Syracuse N.Y.” Haverly created an entertainment empire with his minstrel troupes from the 1860s to 1880s, touring the United States and England. There are handbills for the Boston Ideal Comic Opera Company, the “Last Night of the Great Actress” Charlotte Cushman as Lady Macbeth before she died, “Eminent Tragedian” Lawrence Barrett as Hamlet and a magic show by “The Great and Only Herrmann” and his wife Adelaide, who later performed alone and earned the moniker “the Queen of Magic.” One clipping has a sketched portrait of “Ilma De Murska, The Celebrated Hungarian Nightingale” and there is a great photographic handbill for “The Celebrated Lineff Russian Choir,” led by “Mme.” Eugenie Lineff. The choir made a splash at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 – “30 Artists in Native Costumes Will Perform DAILY the Enchanting Dramatic Representation of the Russian Peasant Wedding – First Time in United States.”
A wonderful collection of illustrated and important theater and opera ephemera.
This is a collection of opera and theater ephemera from the 1860s into the 1910s, revealing noted stars and directors, many of whom were women, as well as famous institutions in New York, Boston and Chicago.
Most of the items are programs for “this evening's entertainment” at such notable venues as the Grand Opera House of New York City, McVicker's and Hooley's Theaters in Chicago, the Boston Music Hall and many more. Lovely illustrated clippings and handbills announce the “important engagement” of Ellen Terry and the London Lyceum Company, “Clara Louise Kellogg in One Grand Concert Only” and the “Third Appearance of Miss Maggie Mitchell, The Pearl of the American Stage.” Clippings from the Chicago Opera Association's journal provide the “Story of the Opera” for Aida, Pagliacci and others, and there is a complete program for Margaret Mather's role as Julia in The Hunchback. A few items note engagements of Richings' Grand English Opera, “Mrs. C. Richings Bernard, Directress.” Caroline Richings sang in, composed for and managed the opera after her adoptive father retired. She later taught voice and piano, founded the Caroline Richings Old Folks Opera Company and the Richings-Bernard Conservatory of Music in Richmond, where she was also a principal singer for the Mozart Association.
A few J.H. Haverly minstrels are shown in the collection, one with a handwritten note: “First Minstrels I ever heard where I laughed until the tears fall down my cheeks!! 1864 Syracuse N.Y.” Haverly created an entertainment empire with his minstrel troupes from the 1860s to 1880s, touring the United States and England. There are handbills for the Boston Ideal Comic Opera Company, the “Last Night of the Great Actress” Charlotte Cushman as Lady Macbeth before she died, “Eminent Tragedian” Lawrence Barrett as Hamlet and a magic show by “The Great and Only Herrmann” and his wife Adelaide, who later performed alone and earned the moniker “the Queen of Magic.” One clipping has a sketched portrait of “Ilma De Murska, The Celebrated Hungarian Nightingale” and there is a great photographic handbill for “The Celebrated Lineff Russian Choir,” led by “Mme.” Eugenie Lineff. The choir made a splash at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 – “30 Artists in Native Costumes Will Perform DAILY the Enchanting Dramatic Representation of the Russian Peasant Wedding – First Time in United States.”
A wonderful collection of illustrated and important theater and opera ephemera.
Details
Title
[Scrapbook of Theater Programs and Handbills]
Condition
Very Good
Publisher
Syracuse and New York, NY; Chicago; Boston
Date
1917