Deacon Crankett/ Wait For His Coming
date: label: Date made
content: n.d.
name: label: maker
content: Strobridge Lithographing Company
notes: label: Description
content: This colored print depicts a man sitting in a two-wheeled buggy pulled by a horse. He is whittling a stick. Another man in a racing sulky is pulling up on his right. A lake appears in the background. The title “Deacon Crankett /by John Habberton / Author of “Helen’s Babies” appears at the top of the print and at the bottom are the words “Wait for His Coming. Printed at the lower border of the poster are the location and date of the performance: Park Theatre / Two Nights only / Tuesday & Wednesday Nov. 1 & 2.”
label: Description
content: Deacon Crankett was a successful play described as both a “domestic drama” and “comic amusement.” The reviews in the New York Times mentioned it was a simplistic presentation “of weak morality and absurd situations.” The original name of the play was Joe Thatcher’s Revenge and Joe, the main character was first played at Haverly’s Fourteenth Steet Theater in the fall of 1880 by James O’Neill with Harry Lee as the understudy. It supposedly was performed over 500 times between 1880-1892.
label: Description
content: The play was a creation of American dramatist, novelist, and literary critic John Habberton (1842-1921). Habberton published his critical writings in the New York Herald for twenty years, but he became best known for his 1876 novel Helen's Babies, which was part of the Ruby Books series for boys and girls. The book's humorous account of a bachelor salesman babysitting two small children was a hit with readers of all ages, including Rudyard Kipling. A silent film version of <i>Helen's Babies<i/> was released in 1924. John Habberton also wrote a series of stories about early California life, many of which were collected in his 1880 book, <i>Romance of California Life: Illustrated by Pacific Slope Stories, Thrilling, Pathetic and Humorous.</i>
label: Description
content: The Park Theater was built in 1798 on Park Row in Manhattan and was New York City’s premiere performance space in the early 19th Century. It attracted a diverse audience with each class sitting in its preferred section. Working class men sat in the pit; members of the upper class and women in the boxes; while the less affluent including immigrants, people of color, and prostitutes sat in the balcony.
label: Description
content: This chromolithograph was produced by Strobridge Lithographing Company. The Strobridge firm was founded in Cincinnati, Ohio ca 1847 by lithographer Elijah J. Middleton (cited in some sources as Elijah C. Middleton). Middleton was known as one of the pioneers of chromolithography in the United States. By 1854 another lithographer, W. R. Wallace, along with the bookseller Hines Strobridge (1823-1909) had joined the firm as partners. After the Civil War, Strobridge acquired sole ownership of the company and renamed it after himself. Strobridge and Company became especially well known for circus, theater, and movie posters. After leaving the company, Elijah Middleton established a reputation as a portrait publisher, producing prints of George and Martha Washington, Daniel Webster, and other American historical figures.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Ohio, Cincinnati
topic: label: Subject
content: Horses
label: Subject
content: Theater
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
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content: Advertising
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content: Art
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content: Peters Prints
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content: Domestic Furnishings
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Harry T. Peters "America on Stone" Lithography Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: DL.60.3031
label: catalog number
content: 60.3031
label: accession number
content: 228146
objectType: label: Object Name
content: chromolithograph
label: Object Type
content: Chromolithograph
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: image: 16 in x 27 in; 40.64 cm x 68.58 cm