c1909 Cowboys and Track Runners....Show your sports related theatrical posters

[CarltonHendricks]

I picked up this c1909 theatrical poster a few weeks ago at the Old West Show in Grass Valley CA...I first saw this poster at the Hillsborough Antiques Show about five...maybe even seven years ago...The idea of sports and cowboys together was unique and I was taken with it...I asked the price and he goes $900.00 but I could do $800.00...way out of the stratosphere...so I walked...but I got his card...had a big antiques store in L.A...One day I was in L.A. and went there...still had the poster...still wanted a million dollars...I didn't even make an offer we seemed so far apart...and I left without it...



So a few weeks ago I went to the Old West Show..I had prearranged to meet a dealer there to buy a high powered piece...I had a little money left so shopped the show...and what do I see...there's this poster again...same dealer...Only this time he was asking $500.00...still too much and I walked...So finished the show and was getting ready to leave and figured I'd give it a shot...I pointed out the wear and tear and told him I'd go $300.00...he said he could do $400.00....I said I was good for $300...he said...cash?...I said yeah and I owned it...

This is my second theatrical poster in 30 years...You have to remember the theater was huge back then...Although silent movies were just taking off when this play was running around 1909...people flocked to theaters to watch live shows...As I understand it theater posters of this era were often over the top hyperbowl to hook you into seeing the play...I learned "Going Some" was also a book...So either the book was based on the play or the play was based on the book...



I was able to find the plot on line and string together a few things about the production...From what it says at the top: "THE NEW YORK BELASCO THEATER SUCCESS"...this poster was probably from when the show went on the road...and I did find a reference to it being performed in Chicago and San Francisco and Oakland CA...At the bottom there appears to be the remnants of an attachment that may have advertised the details of a given performance...which would have been different in each city...

The play was a comedy and the plot seems to have revolved around two guys that go to a ranch in New Mexico that was expecting a runner and his trainer that would run a race to win back a phonograph that the ranch hands had lost in a bet to a neighboring ranch...The two falsely make themselves out to be the the runner they were expecting and I guess mischief and hilarity follow...best I can make out anyways...I guess phonographs on ranches then were a big deal...I suppose because there was no radio....

I found one reference that there was a musical version that played somewhere that included Joe. E. Brown in one of the principle parts...He went on to be a big movie star in the 20's and 30's...but would have probably been unkown in 1909...Joe E. Brown apparently played semi-pro baseball and it's reported he turned down an offer to play for the Yankees...and later he did three baseball movies...

[Huysmans]

Hey there Carlton,

That's another great item! Great acquisition!!
I hope all is well with you.

Brent

[btcarfagno]

About 15 years ago I had a Gentleman Jim Corbett theatrical poster. Long gone though.



Tom C

[Exhibitman]

Wrestling is fake; does this count?