1928 SHOWBOAT ZIEGFELD THEATER PROGRAM NELL BRINKLEY NR

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ITEM: You are bidding on an original Florence Ziegfeld program for SHOWBOAT This program is for the week of October 15, 1928. This is a wonderful and exceptionally rare original piece of theater memorabilia from the scandalous, historic & theatrically renowned Ziegfeld Follies. Florence Ziegfeld productions were known for their unparalleled degree of multiculturalism, staging productions with white and black performers at work together, and for employing the highest talents of modernism, including Joseph Urban, Alfred Cheney Johnston, Henri Bendel, Raphael Kirchner and of course Alberto Vargas. The Ziegfeld productions, with their veneration of female sexuality and promotion of new forms of pop culture, helped turn the early 20th century into an era of profound cultural change. Employing the talents of such artist's as NEll Brinkley, whose empowered and enlivened flappers were a truly new representation of women, this program shows the great insight of the company. Brinkley also contributes a synopsis of the production, as well as pages of photographs of the beauties who graced it, and wonderful seductive art deco advertising. Program measures 9" x 12" 28 pages. 100% Guaranteed Authentic and Vintage. CONDITION: This original vintage program is in fine condition. It is complete with no cuts, t is some minor wear and soiling and the production flaw w one page has an uneven edge. This incredibly hard to find program with incredible collectible appeal is as well preserved as you're likely to come across, and the whole presentation is amazing and suitable for framing or display. Good luck. 100% guaranteed vintage and original. This program comes from an estate collection belonging to a former employee of Florence Ziegfeld's. Included in the collection were some of these amazing programs and the highlight, A SUITE OF FOUR CENTURY GIRLS original pastels. Please take a moment to check these out. The Century Girls at Grapefruit Moon Gallery. "Show Boat" was a testament to the courage of composer Jerome Kern, lyricist and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II, and producer Florenz Ziegfeld. In an era of "willful nonsense," they attempted a complicated musical narrative epic with challenging themes and many storylines. It was the first time that serious black and white characters held the stage together as equals. Cap'n Andy's show boat, the COTTON BLOSSOM, travels up and down the Mississippi for decades, folding in its wake his brittle wife and glowing daughter, Magnolia, and her doomed romance with a gambler husband, along with a troupe of complicated supporting characters. Among them is Julie, a performer on the boat whose mulatto roots are revealed; because marrying a white man is against the law, she is forced to leave the COTTON BLOSSOM and spirals downward in an alcoholic fog. Her story intertwines with the romance of Magnolia and her ne'er-do-well husband as they are separated and united over several decades. Yet the most important character of all wasn't even on stage. "Ol' Man River" was a serious song, about the destiny of the mighty Mississippi and the people it encompasses. When it docked at the stunning new Ziegfeld Theater, the show gave audiences the same values Ziegfeld had offered for two decades: a huge cast, comic songs and dances, black actors performing with white actors, breathtaking design, soaring music, overwhelming spectacle, all burnished to a golden sheen. But this time, it had a story, an American story, a story with heart. "Show Boat" was an out-and-out hit, running 572 performances and proved so beloved by audiences and so lucrative for Ziegfeld that he revived it as early as 1932. It has been revived half a dozen times since and filmed three times. Selected Original Cast: Norma Terris (Magnolia Hawks Ravenal), Howard Marsh (Gaylord Ravenal), Charles Winninger (Cap'n Andy), Helen Morgan (Julie La Verne), Jules Bledsoe (Joe), Edna May Oliver (Parthy Ann Hawks) PLEASE SEE MY OTHER AUCTIONS, ALWAYS SURE TO BE A TREASURE HUNT, 'S A PREVIEW OF THIS WEEKS' GEMS: read more

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