1870 Era French’s Minor Drama Play Bombastes Furioso by Thomas Barnes Rhodes

Description: 1870 Era French’s Minor Drama Play Bombastes Furioso by Thomas Barnes Rhodes. Good complete condition - see detailed photos. Bombastes Furioso, subtitled A Burlesque Tragic Opera, was written in 1810 by William Barnes Rhodes (sometimes credited as Thomas Barnes Rhodes). The first authorized printed edition was published in 1822. It is a drama with comic songs, that satirizes the bombastic style of other tragedies that were in fashion at the time.It was very popular throughout the 19th century—its popularity was sufficient for two quotations to appear in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, and for Lewis Carroll to refer to it in his poem "Melancholetta".The part of Bombastes was first played by Richard John Smith. From estate of William Sully was a theatre actor from Boston Mass. who had several Broadway NY credits in the early 1920's. We acquired several boxes of ephemera from descendants of his estate. Samuel French was born in Massachusetts shortly after the turn of the 19th century and began publishing French’s American Drama in the mid-1800s in New York. It soon became the most widely distributed catalogue of dramatic prose in the US. French soon acquired a London dramatic publishing company founded by Thomas Hailes Lacy, and continued to expand his business on both sides of the Atlantic – Samuel French managing the London business while his son, Thomas Henry, took control of the New York operations.In the late 1800s, Samuel French began publishing contemporary American dramas, and helped the amateur theatre movement by making more plays available to Little Theatres – a rewarding concept that had never before been done in the industry. By the turn of the century, amateur interest in acting had increased enormously. As the quality and quantity of available plays improved, so the number of amateur groups increased. The seeds of the Little Theatre movement were sown. By the time of World War I, such groups along with the high school societies were the firm’s best customers. Although father and son had long since died, the New York and London entities continued under the capable hands of their managing partners.From the mid-1940s to the early 1990s, the company witnessed significant growth in its catalogue and business. During this time, stock companies, including the League of Resident Theatres, were flourishing; so too were the Little Theatres, and the development of the dinner theater, which was proving increasingly popular. Since the mid-1990s, the Samuel French catalogue has grown substantially with a focus on emerging playwrights carefully balanced by additional acquisitions of the most prominent American and British playwrights such as Neil Simon, Tom Stoppard, Edward Albee, August Wilson and David Mamet.

Price: 19.95 USD

Location: Weymouth, Massachusetts

End Time: 2024-08-27T01:30:01.000Z

Shipping Cost: 4.63 USD