Two-Sided Sideshow Banner, Signed Sigler

This was an estate find and part of a beautiful collection of rare excellent turn of the century posters. They were hidden away for over 100 years. This is a rare and impressive 3 sheet poster that is 7 foot tall. It make quite a statement. About the poster: You'd think that a play called "The New Baby" might feature said child in its promotional material. But here's the thing - there really isn't a baby at the centre of the comedy, and that's the crux of this entertainment. The plot concerns a husband who is so bored with country life that he dreams up the idea of having an illegitimate son in London as a way to get into town for an occasional 'night off'. When his wife decides that the child should be adopted, the expected comic tissue of falsehoods and misunderstandings frays and hilarity ensues. Adapted from German by A. Bourchier, the farce opened in London in 1896 to what a local critic termed 'much mirth'. Several years later, when the play had crossed the Atlantic and entered the repertory of David de Wolf cleverly called the Baby's chaperone on the poster and his troupe of traveling players, that understated review was translated into the more American howling success. The cast and director would've been totally unfamiliar with the British hinterlands, so this splendid design concentrates on the hi-jinks of the characters and their situation. At the start of the 20th century, America was in the full glory of its cultural adolescence, bursting with energy and optimism. In 1900 in New York there were 33 legitimate Broadway theaters...

This five foot plus papier mâché pig was used as a fund raiser or trade stimulator. The brass stomach plaque has a coin slot and reads in French... Pu...