"Jerry" Program for Billie Burke

Well the item today I want to talk about I have some time as well.  It goes beautifully with the sheet music I spoke about in here yesterday.  What that item is, is an original 1914- 1915 Theatre Program for the production of "Jerry" starring Billie Burke.  Billie Burke was presented by Charles Frohman and "Jerry" was a new comedy in four acts written by Catherine Chisholm Cushing.

Catherine Chisholm Cushing  (1874–1952), playwright. Born in Mt. Perry, Ohio, she scored a modest success with her first comedy, The Real Thing (1911). After writing Widow by Proxy (1913) for May Irwin, she enjoyed a smash hit with Kitty Mackay (1913), the story of a Scottish girl who falls in love with her half-brother. Also successful were Jerry (1914), a vehicle for Billie Burke, and her adaptation of Eleanor Porter's novel Pollyanna (1916). While many of Cushing's subsequent plays never reached New York, she had better luck as a librettist and lyricist. Her musical credits include Glorianna (1918), Lassie (1920), Marjolaine (1922), and Topsy and Eva (1923), a musical version of Uncle Tom's Cabin that was written for the Duncan Sisters and was one of the most profitable musicals of the decade.

"Jerry" from the research I did started at the Lyceum Theatre in New York City and opened on March 28, 1914 and ran only till May 1914 for only 41 performances. How it ended up in the Grand Theatre in Kansas City is anyone's guess but it is nice having such a rare piece of Billie Burke's fame.

The item I found on E-bay around the time I started back to school and if memory serves me right I paid around $13.00 for it which included shipping.  To think this throw away collectible has survived this long is just baffling, what I am thinking is that it belonged to an Oz collector like myself.  Fortunately it has a very good home now and I am so pleased in sharing it with you.

The photographs are of the entire program.  So I hope you enjoy seeing this rare and maybe hard to find item.  What I enjoy seeing in this program is the price for a Kansas City Hotel in 1916.  A mere $1.50 for the most expensive room they have available, if you could only do that today .  Hopefully you can find it for yourself and happy Oz/Judy hunting.

On a personal note, the last few days here have been freezing cold--typical Ohio January weather and for us some light snow.  I am however about over it all ready, and have begun thinking about Spring already!  I placed a call to the Fashion Design Program at Kent today and left a message about enrolling for it and what I have to do, so I am  awaiting her call.  I hope it isn't all that complicated.  And will more than likely enroll for the  program come summer unless I can rush into this semester now?  Who knows.

Think I am coming down with a slight cold as my nose is running all the time and my head just throbs but what is a fellow to do? I think I hear the bed calling my name.  Until next time gang.