More Finds at the Local Antique Shop - Easter Merchandising

And now for a little spring fun...

In February I posted about a Majestic Theater Playbill I found. At the time I purchased that item, I also purchased this little gem from the Hollis Theater.  It is dated April 9, 1900. The one-hundred-eleven year old paper is brittle, but in otherwise good condition.  I have admired the gorgeous cover art sitting on my desk and it is time to put it away. A quick thumb through the booklet reveals some timely, just in time for Easter, information. Theater-goers were coaxed by Early spring ads to purchase hats and gloves for the upcoming holiday. They were also thrust into Easter merchandising with ads for confections and "fancy neckwear."

Boston's beloved Filene's ad caught my eye, marketing style and economy for "The correctly gowned woman." According to a Study Report I found online dated 2006, the first building on Washington Street at the Filene's complex in which I once shopped was erected in 1905, post-dating my playbill. This is an interesting history to explore further. Within the report, photos from the Boston Public Library's Filene's archives have images from the earlier building. The report states that, "By 1890, Filene had consolidated the Winter Street stores in a five story building at 445-447 Washington Street."   According to the report, Filene's included 445-463 Washington Street soon thereafter. I wonder about the 447-449 address in my ad, but I'll leave this little mystery to someone else.... Check out the Filene's display windows pictured in the report too. They are fascinating.

I purchased my Easter dress for this year at a vintage shop last week. The owner gave me a new found appreciation for clothing history. What a fun find these ads and the Filene's report were today! I hope that I will make the mark of a "correctly gowned woman" -- minus the gloves and hat.

More Finds at the Local Antique Shop - Majestic Theatre Playbill

I was about to leave the shop empty handed, when a looseleaf stuffed with ephemera caught my eye. I asked the proprietor to open the glass case and she took it up to the counter for me to browse. This lovely early playbill from the early history of Boston's Majestic Theatre stood out from the other contents for its lovely cover artistry, indicative of the Beaux-Arts / Art Nouveau period.

This item called to me. Perhaps after teaching local second graders about Louis Comfort Tiffany last week as part of their monthly artist enrichment series, this period is on my mind. The turn of the twentieth century was a time for many artists to seek a more modern aesthetic, seeking to offer a new language for a new century.  These particular style(s) of the period were characterized by strong lines and natural elements. The effect was a sort of fancy simplicity of strong curvelinear design used to heighten beauty. This style matched the vision of Tiffany and other artists aiming to make beauty and beautiful decorative things accessible to anyone. Tiffany intended his designs to be affordable. Many artists were hoping that the twentieth century was to be a place of greater equality and greater social understanding.

My little playbill, steeped in the tradition and artistic sensibilities of the time is a perfect fit for the dramatic theater arts. The artist of this image is unknown to me, but his 1907 work matches the design of the 1903 Majestic Theatre building itself.

But within the booklet is a strange combination of advertisements, many relying on old-fashioned design despite the new artistic sensibility. 

This old-fashioned ad with a corseted woman leaning on her husband seems to directly contrast with the modern  woman drawn on the cover of the playbill who lets it all hang out (so to speak)

There is also a strange array of products for the wealthy, such as pianos, furs, white gloves, turkish baths, and chocolates, with few items that would suit a lower class, despite what the nouveau artists believed or wanted for their generation.

We also get a look at some popular culture of the day with an advertisement for Harvard-Yale football and the almost full page portrait of the popular actress Frances Starr.

From a simple piece of ephemera, we can explore the past, learn about the development of culture, try to decipher the sensibilities of a time, and explore community ideals trying to take flight.

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Interesting Internet read related to the subject: A Crisis of Tradition and Birth of Contemporary Art