The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1898-07-10

collectors who make speciality Of matters
dealing with Hamlet" was collection of
programs Of the tragedy extending from
lit to 1893. A collection of 10 programs of
plays taken from Dickens novels sold for
IS, and 131 playbills Of performances given
by Edwin Forrest brought only 1926 A
scrap book of playbills and other data con-
corning Ellen Terry and Henry Irving, on
the other hand, brought $1O.5O, which might
be taken to indicate. that there is more cur
iosity about living actors than about dead
ones, or at least that there are more COL
lectors engaged with the accumulation of
souvenirs relating to them. Two hundred
and sixty playbills that included one OF his
first appearances and covered many years
of Edwin Booths career sold for only 80,
although at least one OF these is almost i'm
possible to duplicate. A Charles Kean col
lection OF memorabilia went for $3.50, and
another referring to Lawrence Barrett sold
for only 1925. Only $3.50 was paid for pro-
grams and other "reminiscences of Char
lotte Cushman. For 1879 OF John McCul-
lough's programs $3.50 was paid.
More interesting to Bostonians were two
lots that excited more bidding than any
other objects put up. One of these was a
file of programs of the Boston theater
from the first performance on September
II, 1854, until May 25, 1891 There were
more than 5000 programs in the collection,
which was bound In thirty-seven volumes
The present owners of the theater and
the Boston public library bid for 1t. The
library ultimately got the collection for
S1S5 Even more interesting was collec-
ton Of programs from the Boston museum,
a theater with much greater historic inter-
est for the city. There were 5000 programs.
in twenty-five volumes, running from 1913
to 1873. These sold, curiously enough, for
only SD %, and more than 1000 bills, In
lwenty-three volumes, brought only $SO5.
Among the pictures sold were a water
color portrait of Junius Brutus Booth, for
So; photograph with the name of John
Wilkes Booth brought only $275; water
color of the old Barnum museum went for
$3.50, and for playful of Garrick per-
Torrance at the Drury Lane theater dated
May Z, 1885, only $3.50 was paid.
The sale Of these programs has awakened
interest in the forged programs of Ford's
theater Of the night Of the assassination of
President Lincoln. These are frequently
sold in the street, and are reproductions
which might deceive anybody but an ex-
pert Experienced booksellers have been
deceived by them. They have been sold for
one cent. Theatrical collectors have talked
of another program used on that night, and
although this contention was vague. 1t has
always survived. ]. B. Clapp, the Boston
critic, set himself to clearing up the mat
ter and his Investigations showed that there
were two programs published for that
night. one from which the forged bill was
copied and another distributed later in the
evening. On the morning of the fateful day
of the assassination the stage manager of
Ford's theater, John B. Wright. ordered
the printer to insert in the program the
words of patriotic song, Honor to Our
Soldiers" The printing of the program was
Immediately interrupted and work Of add
ing the song begun. Before this new order
was received certain number of the pro-
grams had been printed. Both sets of pro-
grams were sent to the theater that night,
and both the programs with the song and
those without 1t are genuine. The spurious
bill does not contain the words Of the song.
That fact gives additional value to those
They at least, are not reprints of the forged
bill.
The ringing down of the curtain on the
end of the dramatic season Of 1898 is
marked by the closing Of the Herald-square
theater in New York. Every theater of
any consequence in that city, we are told,
is now closed. except the Casino where
"The Telephone Grip continues to defy
the hot weather But, then, there is moth
ing dramatic about her.
Miss Lillian Buckingham is in Los An
geles, spending her vacation with friends
Miss Buckingham few years ago was
prominent as an elocutionist and amateur
actress in social circles here. She has since
achieved quite reputation as leading wo-
man with Oliver Doud Byron in series of
melodramatic plays, and has received very
nattering press notices. She goes east to
fill fall engagement at the end of this
month. G. A. DOBINSON