Mr. Gus Williams the American Star Comique by Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company
date: label: Date made
content: n.d.
name: label: depicted
content: Williams, Gus
label: maker
content: Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company
notes: label: Description
content: This black and white print is a three-quarter length portrait of Gus Williams wearing a dress coat and hat and carrying a walking stick. Beneath the portrait are the words “American Star Comique.” The left side of the poster appears to have been cut off. A portion of the title (the letter "S") and the edge of another image are still visible. The Opera House performance dates are advertised on an affixed datebill that is pasted on the bottom margin. A torn fragment of a small oval portrait of Williams is affixed to the upper right corner.
label: Description
content: Gus Williams (1848-1915) was an American comedian and songwriter. He was born Gustave Wilhelm Leweck, Jr., in New York City, the son of a German American furrier. Leweck set out for the American West in his early teens but got only as far as Indiana, where he went to work as a farmhand. In 1862, Leweck joined Union troops fighting the Civil War as part of the 48th Indiana Infantry. He apparently got his start as an entertainer putting on shows as a drummer boy for his fellow soldiers. He first appeared on stage in 1864 during the Union Army’s occupation of Huntsville, Alabama, where he performed in <i> The Pirate’s Legacy: The Wrecker’s Fate </i> by Charles H. Saunders. After the war, Leweck toured with Tony Pastor's vaudeville group and became known for singing and performing comic skits with a German accent. He appeared in a number of German farce comedies, including <i> Our German Senator </i> and <i> One of the Finest </i> . He was known for writing his own songs, both comic and sentimental. In 1885 Leweck took the stage name Gus Williams. He also worked to secure better wages for vaudeville performers and was said to have been the first to earn 500 dollars a week for doing stage monologues. Williams committed suicide in his sixties, possibly because of health concerns and his declining career.
label: Description
content: This lithograph was produced by Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company. The Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company was founded by William H. Forbes (ca 1836-1915), who immigrated to the United States from Liverpool, England in 1848. Forbes became an apprentice in the lithography business while still a boy and established William H. Forbes and Company in Boston in 1861. The firm expanded to become Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company in 1875 with hundreds of employees and offices in Boston, New York, Chicago, and London. During World War II, the company became a major printer of allied military currency but went out of business later in the 20th Century.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Massachusetts, Boston
topic: label: Subject
content: Theater
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
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content: Clothing & Accessories
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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.60.3059
label: catalog number
content: 60.3059
label: accession number
content: 228146
objectType: label: Object Name
content: lithograph
label: Object Type
content: Lithograph
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: image: 31 1/4 in x 11 1/2 in; 79.375 cm x 29.21 cm