Silk Programme
1912 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Silk and satin theatre playbills and programmes were produced from the 18th century onwards, to commemorate special evenings at the theatre. This silk programme was produced in honour of the attendance of Edward, The Prince of Wales at an evening performance at the New York Hippodrome on 21st November 1919. This was the Prince’s last night in the USA, after a long post-war tour of Canada which ended with a visit to New York.
This show, produced by Charles Dillingham, was probably one of the most spectacular on offer anywhere in the world. Built in 1905, the Hippodrome was the largest and most successful theatre in New York with a seating capacity of 5,200, a tank containing 8,000 gallons of water that could be raised and lowered from the stage which could hold 1,000 performers or be transformed into a circus ring. The Hippodrome specialised in lavish spectacles complete with circus animals, diving horses, opulent sets, and 500-member choruses. Happy Days featured sixteen spectacular scenes, performing elephants, bareback riding, ‘Disappearing Divers’, ‘the Wonderful Water Girls’ and a Grand Finale with the entire Hippodrome Company.
This show, produced by Charles Dillingham, was probably one of the most spectacular on offer anywhere in the world. Built in 1905, the Hippodrome was the largest and most successful theatre in New York with a seating capacity of 5,200, a tank containing 8,000 gallons of water that could be raised and lowered from the stage which could hold 1,000 performers or be transformed into a circus ring. The Hippodrome specialised in lavish spectacles complete with circus animals, diving horses, opulent sets, and 500-member choruses. Happy Days featured sixteen spectacular scenes, performing elephants, bareback riding, ‘Disappearing Divers’, ‘the Wonderful Water Girls’ and a Grand Finale with the entire Hippodrome Company.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Printed silk |
| Brief description | Silk programme for a performance of Happy Days, a mammoth musical spectacle by R.H. Burnside with music by Raymond Hubbell, New York Hippodrome 21 November 1919, in the presence of Edward, the Prince of Wales. |
| Physical description | Silk programme on cream silk printed in blue typography within a blue-lined text box, with slight fringing from the raw edges at each side. A small red white and blue bow is attached to the programme showing unity between the United States and Great Britain, its right side printed with a Union Jack, the left with stars and stripes. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Object history | The programme was printed for a visit to the New York Hippodrome by The Prince of Wales to see Charles Dillingham's production of Happy Days by R.H. Burnside with music by Raymond Hubbell. The enormous company included Alice and Edna Nash and the Pyjama Girls, Belle Story, Jack Lambert, The Four Amaranths, Clyde Cook and Maude Mallia, Lalla Selbini, Minnie Kaufman. May Gerald, Powers' Performing Elephants, William Williams, Bert Levy, Arthur Geary, Joseph Parsons, Valodia Vestoff, Cissie Hayden, Daisy Smith, Elizabeth Coyle, Frances Mann, Sylvia Stone, Inez Bauer, The Pezeroffs, Dane Claudius and Lillian Scarlet, The Agousts, and the Great Hanneford Family of bareback riders including Edwin Hanneford.. |
| Historical context | Edward, the Prince of Wales went to see this performance on the last night of his visit to New York, which followed a tour of Canada which had taken several months. His visit was the first visit of a Prince of Wales to the United States since that of his grandfather, Edward VII, fifty years earlier. During the day, Nov. 21, 1919, the Prince made a semi-private journey to Oyster Bay where he placed a laurel wreath on the grave of Theodore Roosevelt. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | Silk and satin theatre playbills and programmes were produced from the 18th century onwards, to commemorate special evenings at the theatre. This silk programme was produced in honour of the attendance of Edward, The Prince of Wales at an evening performance at the New York Hippodrome on 21st November 1919. This was the Prince’s last night in the USA, after a long post-war tour of Canada which ended with a visit to New York. This show, produced by Charles Dillingham, was probably one of the most spectacular on offer anywhere in the world. Built in 1905, the Hippodrome was the largest and most successful theatre in New York with a seating capacity of 5,200, a tank containing 8,000 gallons of water that could be raised and lowered from the stage which could hold 1,000 performers or be transformed into a circus ring. The Hippodrome specialised in lavish spectacles complete with circus animals, diving horses, opulent sets, and 500-member choruses. Happy Days featured sixteen spectacular scenes, performing elephants, bareback riding, ‘Disappearing Divers’, ‘the Wonderful Water Girls’ and a Grand Finale with the entire Hippodrome Company. |
| Bibliographic reference | Ward, Harriet: Recollections of an old soldier : a biographical sketch of the
late Colonel Tidy ... with anecdotes of his cotemporaries [sic], published London: Richard Bentley, 1849.
SUBJECT Tidy Colonel Francais Skelly 1776 - 1835
Waterloo Batle of 1815
Canada -- History -- Rebellion -- 1837-1838 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | S.412-2006 |
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| Record created | November 21, 2006 |
| Record URL |
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