Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1909-10-31
HISTORY IN PLAYBILLS
Souvenirs Of Two Generations 70 Be
Found In Little New York
Restaurant.

Anyone waikinB up GrechWlch ave-
nue.. just on Eighth avenue at Jack.
son Square. could not fail to notice
tine extraordinary window display In
Il litde brick building. In the center
OF the window sits wax efiigy OF an
old.time negro twanging away at the
banjo. To the right hand and TO the
left. to the front and TO the back OF
the old darky are framed playbills.
) elbow and discolored and wo-ded In
a manner peculiar 10 the 1909 sense.
for they belong to the period of the
first half OF the last century.
Supporting Sambo ON the left is
tall. narrow oak framed bin announe-
ing benefit for the Davenports way
back IN 1916. with the startling admo-
milton Come rats, from out your
holes" Box seats for this performance
are advertised for 20 cents. while
those in the pit and the gallery go
at l2la cents each: this at the Bow
cry Theater in~the days when it was
the haunt of fashion and Forty-second
street was yet a suburb. On Sambo's
other hand poster announcing the
dramatization OF The Hidden Hand"
enc Of the New York Ledger's most
melodramatc serials. shows that
even nj that time fiction was popu-
lar in the dramati2ed form
The window display is but a hint
OF what Is TO be found within. The
tiny dining room. with its eight little
black walnut tables giving room for
two chairs each and set with the cat
sup. vinegar. salt and pepper service.
has been catering to the theatrical
trade for over so years. and II plain
~ bears its show" earmarks. The
walls CT the dark little room are
crowded with hundreds of playbilis.
some more. discolored than others.
which of themselves tell the history
OF the American stage.
Even this is not ali. More are
stored away down In the cellar below
in the two cellars adjoining In all
this collection there are more than
1900 old American, English. Scotch
and Irish programs and hangers. s.
600 portraits OF stage celebrities and
scenes from plays. hundreds OF books
OF dramatic comments and biography.
thousands Of autograph letters and
personal mementos. such as old min
strel costumes and such gruesome
relics as the skull OF Joseph Jeiser-
sons dog. Schneider and the sword OF
John Wilkes Booth.
For 80 years the collector has been
the proprietor Of this professional
hall Of fame but long before that he
had begun his collection. His father
catered TO the show trade in res
taurant in Newark and the son CON-
menced saving programs and souye-
Mrs. Everyone who came helped him
III Ms iSbDS anu Htut nun biltS li0AA
all over the country and abroad.
No phase OF theatrical life Is more
interesting and more thoroughly set
forth than the blackface ministrelsy.
There are souvenirs OF George Chris
ty. founder OF ministrelsy and OF the
celebrated Christy Minstrels. There
~ Of
OF Jim Crow in whose company
the youthful Joseph jefferson first
made a hit. There are souvenirs OF
Acton Z. Kelley. organizer OF the first
white-faced Hiberians minstrel troupe
which was famous half a century ago.
The clown fraternity is well rep
resented also. In the ranks of those
was Billy Burke. father OF another
Billie who is making equal fame along
quite different lines today Here also
was Tony Pastor. whose Opera
House on the Bowery fioGrished at
a period no; much after the site Of
the present Chinatown was a fashion
able resort.
The playbiils are. in reality theat-
rical files. Edwin Forrest ia 1851 AZ
the Bowery: in 1861 ~Mazpeppa. alias
Cashier, a Page Of Mystery brings
forth ~an ambitious. lowering and as
pirins beg, Mr.. Joseph Jefferson"
Playbills show the one-time suprema-
ey OF the Olympic. between Houston
sud Blocker streets on Broadway.
and who reigned supreme there; OF
the Opera House that was and the
Tammany Hall that Is. % the thea
tiers Of Laura Keen on lower Broad
way snd the famous place on -Four