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Visual Materials

Petrie and Fish : comedians Reilly & Wood's JF. Byrne's Comedy & Specialty Co



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  • John F. Byrnes & Miss Helene crayon artists & grotesque comedians : Reilly & Woods J.F. Byrnes Comedy & Specialty Co

    John F. Byrnes & Miss Helene crayon artists & grotesque comedians : Reilly & Woods J.F. Byrnes Comedy & Specialty Co

    Visual Materials

    Image of a caricature of a blackface performer, presumably John Byrnes, jumping in the air before a drawing board while a female performer, presumably Miss Helene, stands to the right and holds a fan; registration marks in margins.

    priJLC_ENT_000497

  • Nashawannuck Mfc. Co. braces

    Nashawannuck Mfc. Co. braces

    Visual Materials

    Image of a man and woman in a dressing room; man is pictured at right facing backwards wearing a white shirt and brown trousers; woman wearing a flounced and ruffled blue dress with wide open neckline and lace underskirt is playing with a small white dog and teasing it with a pair of red stripe suspenders; registration marks visible in all four margins.

    priJLC_FASH_001611

  • Hyde’s Star Specialty Co. : Frank Howard

    Hyde’s Star Specialty Co. : Frank Howard

    Visual Materials

    Image of an older African American man holding a cane and carpetbag, with a rural cabin in the background; the poster presumably advertises the sketch "Way Down South" performed by blackface actor Frank Howard with Hyde's Star Specialty Company under the management of James Hyde.

    priJLC_ENT_000204

  • Petts & Straffin’s : Minstrels Co. burlesque opera troupe

    Petts & Straffin’s : Minstrels Co. burlesque opera troupe

    Visual Materials

    Image of a central image of minstrel musicians in blackface dressed in formal suits sitting on a stage and holding musical instruments and surrounded by top and bottom vignettes of male and female minstrels dancing and performing skits in costumes; with three caricatures of performers at top of image.

    priJLC_ENT_000506

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    Zig zag : W.W. Tillotson's Merry Comedy Co

    Visual Materials

    The Jay T. Last Collection of Entertainment: Performing Arts Prints and Ephemera contains more than 2,600 printed items primarily advertising theatrical and musical entertainment and related performers in the United States from 1839 to the 1940s, with the majority of items dating from the 1870s to the 1890s. The collection consists of advertising and promotional materials, business records, and illustrations pertaining to a wide variety of performance genres that have been grouped broadly as music and theater (including theater, music, dance, burlesque, comedy, pantomime, and variety); minstrel (including minstrel shows, blackface entertainers, and female minstrels); and magic and miscellaneous (including magicians, motion pictures, and Wild West shows). The collection has 442 large-size items comprised mainly of lithographic theatrical and minstrel posters that were intended to advertise specific shows or performers. Small-size items in the collection number approximately 2,130 and are comprised mainly of promotional ephemera and business documents such as trade cards, programs and playbills, souvenir booklets, die-cut cards, and printed billheads and letterheads with manuscript text. The collection provides a resource for studying the history of the American theater and the evolution of advertising strategies for the performing arts in the United States in the late 19th century. As graphic materials, the items offer evidence of developing techniques and trends in printmaking, and of the artists, engravers, lithographers, printers, and publishers involved in the creation of these prints.

    priJLC_ENT_000364

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    The Sherrys Musical Comedy Co. : Mrs. J.F. Sherry

    Visual Materials

    The Jay T. Last Collection of Entertainment: Performing Arts Prints and Ephemera contains more than 2,600 printed items primarily advertising theatrical and musical entertainment and related performers in the United States from 1839 to the 1940s, with the majority of items dating from the 1870s to the 1890s. The collection consists of advertising and promotional materials, business records, and illustrations pertaining to a wide variety of performance genres that have been grouped broadly as music and theater (including theater, music, dance, burlesque, comedy, pantomime, and variety); minstrel (including minstrel shows, blackface entertainers, and female minstrels); and magic and miscellaneous (including magicians, motion pictures, and Wild West shows). The collection has 442 large-size items comprised mainly of lithographic theatrical and minstrel posters that were intended to advertise specific shows or performers. Small-size items in the collection number approximately 2,130 and are comprised mainly of promotional ephemera and business documents such as trade cards, programs and playbills, souvenir booklets, die-cut cards, and printed billheads and letterheads with manuscript text. The collection provides a resource for studying the history of the American theater and the evolution of advertising strategies for the performing arts in the United States in the late 19th century. As graphic materials, the items offer evidence of developing techniques and trends in printmaking, and of the artists, engravers, lithographers, printers, and publishers involved in the creation of these prints.

    priJLC_ENT_000347