Entertainment

Scarce flyer for the Progressive Citizens of America, featuring Lena Horne & Edward G. Robinson: “Yes We’re Actors, but We’re Citizens too!”

(Progressive Citizens of America) Scarce broadside advertising a “Mass Meeting” of the Progressive Citizens of America, 10 July [c. 1948[?]] at Park View Manor in Los Angeles, 303 x 230 mm. (12 x 9 in.), featuring images of Hollywood party advocates John Garfield, Lena Horne, Edward G. Robinson, Anne Revere, George Coulouris, Richard Conte, Gene Kelly, Paul Henreid, Betty Garrett and Larry Parks, proclaiming “YES! We’re Actors… but we’re citizens too! That’s why we joined P.C.A[,] to fight for a prosperous and free country in a peaceful world! Join your neighbors in this ‘Stop Depression’ MASS MEETING!” The verso explores the issues at hand: “Are you worried? No wonder! Last Year! the N.A.M. spent millions of dollars for ads which promised you ‘if OPA is permanently discontinued… prices will quickly adjust themselves to levels that consumers are willing to pay.’ Today! YOU check your budget and find that expenses have gone up 30% since Congress killed O.P.A. (meanwhile corporation profits are 33% higher, although small business failures and unemployment are increasing.) Tomorrow! DESPRESSION. But… you CAN do something about it! Join the P.C.A. ‘Stop Depression’ Drive!” Speakers and entertainers were Albert Dekker, Marie Bryant, Sam Levine, Stanley Prager, Raphael Konigsberg, chaired by Edward Mosk with “Skits & Songs by Actors Division PCA“.

The Progressive Citizens of America, spearheaded by an outspoken Gene Kelly, was extremely active in the campaign to end Hollywood blacklisting and ideological persecution by abolishing the House of unAmerican Activities Committee.

Toning, creasing, usual folds with some separation at folds, edge wear and some marginal tearing, else very good condition.

(EXA 5913) $300

A scarce 1862 broadside for the Holliday Street Theater, owned by John T. Ford, also the proprietor of Ford’s Theater, the site of Lincoln’s assassination in 1865

(John T. FORD) Broadside, 403 x 142 mm. (15 3/4 x 4 1/2 in.), for the Holliday Street Theater, (Baltimore: “‘The Printing Office,’ Sun Iron Building,” [1862^*]). A nice example promoting a run of performances by Annette Ince in Lady of Lyons, and the farce, Crimson Crimes.

The Holliday Theater was the first house managed by Ford. He leased the Hollday only a few years after entering the theatrical business as a tour manager of George Kunkel’s Nightingale Minstrels at age 22.

Light toning and faint dampstain at bottom, marginal wear including some minor chips not affecting text, folds, else very good.

(EXA 4551) $175

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^* See Baltimore Sun, 5 September 1862., 2., “Holliday Street Theatre”.

Living Curiosities! Two Native HOTTENTOTS OR, WILD WANDERERS, BROUGHT FROM UPPER EGYPT

(Circus) Broadside, 14 3/4 x 5 3/8 in., “Living Curiosities! Two Native HOTTENTOTS OR, WILD WANDERERS, BROUGHT FROM UPPER EGYPT.” (Boston: J.E. Fa[r]well & Co., 32 Congress St., [c. 1850-1875*].)

A terrific broadside featuring amazingly inaccurate information with the gall to quote “Dr. Livingston[e], the great traveller… They are the smallest of the wandering tribes in the world, and pronounced by the Egyptians as Hottentots, and not connected with either the Kaffirs, Gupseys, Tartars, Berbers or Arabs, and unlike any race of the Human species, yet known to exist only on Barks, Roots, Bums, &c.’ They have been leased to the present proprietors of the Exhibition, by Capt. Bibbers of the River Nile, and by him obtained through the assistance of Hon. Edwin Delcon, the American Consul at Alexandria. They have no idea of labor or learning; after eating hey are content till they get hungry again, when they commence to travel till again satisfied.”

The Khoikhoi (or Hottentots as Europeans were inclined to call them) were not natives of Upper Egypt, but rather present-day Namibia in South West Africa. Despite gross misrepresentation, the proprietor’s wanted the general public to be assured that “this Exhibition embraces nothing offensive, while every care and attention will be shown to visitors.”

Small loss at center right margin, light toning and other minor pinholes, light creases, else very good.

(EXA 4489) $975

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^* An examination of records in Worldcat and related sources reveals that the firm of J. E. Farwell issued imprints bearing the 32 Congress St. Address between 1846 and 1876. This broadside also references David Livingstone whose first work on Africa did not appear before 1850. In Boston, during the winter of 1861, the Boston Aquarial and Zoological Gardens featured an exhibit including “the KAFFIRS and HOTTENTOTS (back on a visit, prior to returning to their native land).” (Boston Herald, 4 Feb. 1861, 2).

Original one-sheet poster for Scorsese’s Taxi Driver

(Cinema) An original one sheet poster, 28 x 41 in. for Martin Scorsese’s 1975 film, Taxi Driver printed to promote its American theatrical release.

Linen backed, some creasing and other minor surface abrasions and marginal wear.

(EXA 4063) $950

Fine Australian day bill for Lawrence of Arabia, 1962

(Cinema) An excellent Australian day bill (30 x 13 in.) for the 1962 Columbia film, Lawrence of Arabia. Printer’s credit at bottom: “ROBERT BURTON BTY LTD SYDNEY.”

Usual folds, just a hint of toning, else very fine condition.

(EXA 4058) $350

Cyrano de Bergerac  Plagiarism Case

Samuel Eberly GROSS (1843 – 1913) Signed book: In the Circuit Court of the United States, Northern District of Illinois, Northern Division. No. 23,030. – Present, Honorable Christian C. Kohlsaat, District Judge. – Samuel Eberly Gross vs. A. M. Palmer, Richard Mansfield, and Richard Mansfield company. – MASTER’S REPORT AND DECREE. – Wednesday, 21 May 1902. (Chicago: Bernard & Miller, [1902]), 68pp. with several blank leaves at end bearing newspaper reports on the case. In original titled wraps bound in three-quarter leather marbled boards. Signed and inscribed by Gross on the original titled paper wrap, “To Hon. Samuel W. Pennypacker with the compliments of Samuel E. Gross Nov. 22, 1910.”¹

On 28 December 1897 Edmond Rostrand premiered his new play, Cyrano de Bergerac in Paris to mass critical acclaim. Clayton Hamilton, the American drama critic declared, “No other play in history, before or since, has ever attained the popular success so instantaneous and so enormous.” Meanwhile in Chicago, Samuel Eberly Gross, a successful real estate developer cried foul. Asserting that Rostrand’s hit play bore a strong resemblance to his own published drama, The Merchant Prince of Cornville and specifically, the climatic balcony scene where Cyrano woos his love secretly feeding lines to another man while hidden in the bushes.

Gross claimed he had submitted his own play to the same Paris theater where Rostrand first presented Cyrano, but it had been rejected. Noting that Rostrand had the “run of the theater reading room” at the time, Gross concluded that the prolific French playwright had lifted the scene for inclusion in his own work. Although in reality, Gross’ claim was almost completely spurious, he managed to halt a Chicago production of Cyrano through a court injunction. Federal Judge Christian C. Kohlsaat ordered a special master, E. B. Sherman to sift through the evidence and submitting a report with recommendations for review by the court. Sherman concluded in his report that Gross had indeed been plagiarized by Rostrand, not only due to the signature balcony scene but in thirty other instances. Judge Kohlsaat upheld Sherman’ opinion and awarded Gross a token one dollar in damages – together with an order prohibiting the staging of Cyrano de Bergerac in the United States.

The case became a sensation in the press. In the wake of the verdict, New York Times published an excerpt from The Merchant Prince balcony scene ostensibly for “the reader to decide,” yet the snide tone of the article betrayed their true belief that the ruling was completely ludicrous. When asked about the verdict, Rostrand quipped: “I am ready to admit I took … all our 17th century history from Eberle Gross of Chicago, and, in order to end the matter once and for all, I confess I stole Les Romanesques from Smithson of Jefferson City, Mo.; La Princesse Lointaine, from Giles Trumbull of Columbus, Ohio; L’Aiglon from Tom Sambo of Springfield, Illinois; and that I drew the idea of La Samarataine from the apocryphal gospel of the Rev. Hon. Augustus Wonnacott of Hartford, Conn. I add that I am negotiating, at the present moment, with a Virginia planter for the purchase of a manuscript, and that I have just purloined from the house of a Louisiana shipowner a great piece on Joan of Arc, the Maid of New Orleans.”

Ironically, Gross should have asked for more than a token $1 in damages as he nearly bankrupted himself in his long quest for recognition. Although he made over $3,000,000 building suburban homes in the 1890s, at the time of his death in 1913, he was worth a mere $150,000.

In 1920 a federal judge in New York ruled against Gross’ widow and declared Rostand the true author of Cyrano. This is a rare memento from Gross’ quixotic quest for vindication.

Pages overall quite clean, outer boards rubbed and scratched, else very good.

(EXA 4320) $2,000

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¹ (1843 – 1916) Pennypacker, the 23rd Governor of Pennsylvania, was also a voracious collector.

Billie Burke poster for the comedy Jerry

(Theatrical History: Billie BURKE) A very bright and clean poster, 26 1/2 x 17 in. (on a 30 x 20 in. sheet), for Billie Burke’s appearance in Charles Frohman’s 1914 production of Catherine Chisholm Cushing’s comedy, Jerry. The poster features a lovely profile image of Burke after a photograph by Harold Genthe. A wonderful Burke piece printed the same year she married Florenz Ziegfeld. Print by Strobridge Litho. Co., (Cincinnati & New York).

Very minor wear in blank margins, else very fine condition.

(EXA 4141) $400

Francis Wilson and De Wolff Hopper color lithograph

(Theatrical History) [Francis Wilson & De Wolff Hopper] A 11 1/2 x 10 in. color lithograph by Alfred J. Frueh (1880 – 1968) and dates to the early 1920s. Hopper (1858 – 1935), who was briefly married to gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, was best known for his recitations of “Casey at the Bat” and for his Gilbert and Sullivan roles. Wilson (1854 – 1935) was the first president of the Actor’s Equity Association. The only known joint appearance of Hopper and Wilson was in the 1921 revival of Erminie, in which Wilson had been featured in the original 1886 production. This appears to be an image inspired from that production.

Matted and framed, some light dampstains to bottom of mat, else very good to fine condition overall.

(EXA 3913) $500

Richmond Hill Theatre relic

(Theatrical History) A 5 x 4 1/2 x 3 in. fragment of the proscenium decoration for the long-lost Richmond Hill Theatre that from 1831 to 1849 was located at the corner of Varick and Charlton Streets in Greenwich Village. The fragment was likely recovered during or prior to the 1849 demolition and preserved for posterity. It was part of the collection of the Player’s Club until the 1980s when it was sold at auction. It is housed in a simple but elegant wooden box with a glass top.

However the structure was much more than a theater. Major Abraham Mortimer built the original structure in 1760 as a country estate he named Richmond Hill, built upon an elevated, wooded spot known as Zandt Berg (or Sand Hill). The mansion was an imposing structure on with an elaborate garden which was the site of lavish parties among the New York elite. In the spring of 1776, George Washington briefly used the house as his headquarters as did the British during their subsequent seven-year occupation of the city. After the war, the house stood vacant until Vice President John Adams used the home while New York served as the nation’s capital from 1789 to 1790. Later in the decade, Aaron Burr made it his home from 1797 until his duel with Hamilton forced him to flee in 1804. Soon afterwards, John Jacob Astor took over the property around 1813. As the neighborhood developed, Astor moved the house about 100 feet to the corner of Varick and Charlton Streets in order to make way for more homes.

In 1819 the mansion and gardens became home to a circus and soon afterwards it operated as a pleasure garden. In 1831 an addition was made to the structure and it was converted into a theater operating under a variety of names including the Richmond Hill Theatre, Miss Nelson’s, Tivoli Gardens, National Theatre and the New Greenwich Theatre. For most of this period, the house struggled – when theatrical productions failed, the management tried opera. It finally closed as a theater in 1847 and prior to its demolition two years later, operated as a saloon and road house. It was replaced by a row of townhouses which in turn were demolished in 1913 when the City of New York extended Seventh Avenue from 14th Street which required a widening of Varick Street. The New York Times remarked in 1913 during the street-widening project: “Within a few months the Seventh Avenue subway diggers will be at work beneath the grounds which Mrs. John Adams admired for their attractive garden and handsome trees.”

The fragment bears the expected wear but is intact and makes for a great conversation piece.

(EXA 4345) $1,000

Brass ‘ticket’ to the opening performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music

(Theatrical History: Brooklyn Academy of Music) A terrific relic of the opening of this venerable Brooklyn institution, a 1 1/2 x 2 3/4 in. brass ‘ticket’ with a 1/4 in. hole at left, being an unusual invitation to the opening performance and gala for the Brooklyn Academy of Music in January 1861:

“Brooklyn Academy of Music Brooklyn, Jan 5th, 1861. You are respectfully invited to attend the Opening Entertainment of the Brooklyn Academy of Music. On Tuesday Evening, January 15th And Thursday [January] 17th” The reverse describes the opening entertainment: “On the first Evening, grand Vocal and Instrumental Concert, commencing at 8 o’clock. On the Second Evening, Grand Promenade and Ball, at the same hour. Respectfully Yours, Committee of Arrangements.”

The Brooklyn Commercial Advertiser described the opening night on 16 January: “For an opening night the attendance was not large but the unpleasant state of the weather probably tended to prevent many form availing themselves of the opportunity … The full orchestra of the Philharmonic society under the direction of Mr. Theodore Eisfield, opened the entertainment with the overture from der Freischutz which was well performed and elicited well merited applause. Mr. S. B. Chittenden, one of the committee of arrangements, then came forward and, in a brief address, detailed the difficulties with which the committee had to contend in inaugurating this enterprise.He stated that it was not the intention of the directors to allow any theatrical performance within its walls.The want, he said of a fitting hall in which concerts, operas, and musical entertainments could be given, had long been felt in Brooklyn.The citizens also wanted some place where their charitable institutions could hold their anniversaries; where citizens, irrespective of politics or parties, could assemble and devise or consult upon those schemes of charity and benevolence in which they so much delighted; where their musical societies could have their rehearsals and entertainments; in short where the elegant and refined citizens could assemble for any benevolent or artistic purpose. This want is now supplied by the Academy of Music.”

Offered together with Adraian van SINDEREN (1887 – 1963) Document Signed “Adrian Van Sinderen” as President of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, 7 1/2 x 11 in., Brooklyn, 20 May 1925, an engraved stock certificate for twenty shares of stock in The Brooklyn Academy of Music, numbered “2240.” Van Sinderen was a successful banker, Brooklyn civic leader and philanthropist.

Brass ticket bears Some minor scratches and small bend at lower right, very minor tarnish, else fine.The stock certificate is very fine.

(EXA 4312) $750