Research Catalog

Title

The importance of being earnest programs, 1895-1926.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900.
• Alexander, George, Sir, 1858-1918
• Frohman, Charles, 1860-1915
• Jewett, Henry, 1861-1930
• Spaulding, Alice Howard, 1878-1969
• Koch, Frederick H. (Frederick Henry), 1877-1944
• Drinkwater, John, 1882-1937
• Campbell, Patrick, Mrs., 1865-1940
• Gill, Maud

Description

1 bound volume of programs : illustrations, some in color; 28 cm

Donor/Sponsor

In honor of George Freedley

Subjects

• Playbills
• Marginalia
• Birmingham Repertory Theatre
• Little theater movement
• Theater programs
• Carolina Playmakers
• Stage managers > Women
• Amateur theater > United States

Genre/Form

• Marginalia.
• Theater programs.
• Playbills.

Note

• A few dozen programs and playbills programs (1895 - 1926) for The importance of being earnest by Oscar Wilde in England and the United States documenting the play's near-simultaneous original productions, in London under the actor-manager George Alexander who also starred as John Worthing and in New York under the producer Charles Frohman. Includes the first and early revivals, staged again by Alexander and Frohman not long after Wilde's death, which helped to restore the playwright's public reputation. Also of note are a number of productions by amateur dramatic societies (Boston); a few college and university productions, including those by Alice Spaulding (Allegheny College) and Frederick Koch (The Carolina Playmakers); a production by the Henry Jewett Players (Boston); one by Butler Davenport's Bramhall Players (N.Y.); and five productions by the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, most under John Drinkwater's management.
• Item 13, a program for a 1909 revival at St. James's Theatre (London) starring George Alexander, features Mrs. Patrick Campbell as Gwendolyn Fairfax with the billing "Miss Stella Patrick Campbell."
• Maud Gill, reputed to be the first female stage manager in England, is cited in a number of the programs for the Birmingham Repertory Theatre as an actor or stage manager.
• A number of the programs belong to the Stead or Players Collections. There is some marginalia by theatre-goers.
• Compiled and bound by The New York Public Library.

Call Number

MWEZ+ n.c. 5790

OCLC

987620501

Title

The importance of being earnest programs, 1895-1926.

Type of Content

text

still image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Local Note

Two programs from the first production at St. James's Theatre (London) are detached from the library binding and have been placed in a sleeve attached to the back cover of the volume. Other materials within are brittle and in poor condition. Please handle with deliberate care.

Connect to:

Request Access to Theatre Division Special Collections material

Added Author

Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900.

Alexander, George, Sir, 1858-1918, producer, actor.

Frohman, Charles, 1860-1915, producer.

Jewett, Henry, 1861-1930, producer.

Spaulding, Alice Howard, 1878-1969, director, teacher.

Koch, Frederick H. (Frederick Henry), 1877-1944, director, teacher.

Drinkwater, John, 1882-1937, producer.

Campbell, Patrick, Mrs., 1865-1940, actor.

Gill, Maud, actor, stage manager.

Research Call Number

MWEZ+ n.c. 5790