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| Playbills | |
| Posted by: tohshoo 03:42 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
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| Hello - I have several dozen Playbills, mostly from Boston theater but some from NYC, ranging in dates from 1978 - 2015ish. Mixed in are some Boston Ballet programs. I have a few questions: 1. Has anyone successfully sold their Playbills and if so, what did you charge? 2. Has anyone regretted getting rid of their Playbills? I always thought I'd put them in binders and look through them from time-to-time but, sadly, they've sat in my closet all these years. But I do worry I'll regret getting rid of them. 3. If your in the metro-west Boston area, were you able to donate them to a good cause? I thought Emerson had some sort of archive department and accepted Playbills but I can't find any information on it. Thank you for your time :o) |
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| re: Playbills | |
| Posted by: PlayStu 06:50 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
| In reply to: Playbills - tohshoo 03:42 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
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| I have collected playbills from the late 60s till a few years ago. Used to run to the other theaters during intermission and get playbills. A girl from all that chat was having a Broadway flea mkt in Virginia for her brother's charity who passed away from a brain anarizim. I contacted her and donated all my playbills including signed ones. She sent me a letter and a sweat shirt and said they all sold and the biggest hit at the flea mkt---in Virginia! Made me feel so 👍 |
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| Thanks, everyone! | |
| Posted by: tohshoo 06:49 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
| In reply to: Playbills - tohshoo 03:42 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
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| You all had great ideas and I appreciate it. I only have about 80 Playbills so while they aren't taking up a huge amount of space, it's the first step in an overall purge of my belongings to make more space. I decided to keep about 20 of them, at least for now, that have more sentimental value (most from when I was a kid). I like the idea of digitizing them and I might do that with the remaining ones. If I can't give the others away to another theater fan, they will go into the recycle bin. I agree that it's probably not worth selling them - not unless a fairy god mother comes along and makes a lump-sum offer for all of them and picks them up 😋 Thanks again. I knew I could count on ATC for help (I haven't posted here in...10-15 years?)😬 |
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| re: Thanks, everyone! | |
| Posted by: raydan 10:21 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
| In reply to: Thanks, everyone! - tohshoo 06:49 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
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| Don’t toss them! Call your local high school and ask if they have a drama/chorus teacher who would like to have them to use as teaching material. They would also be great prize give always to those students who could have correct answers in TV theater games. Wheel of Fortune Theater? Theater Jeopardy? | |
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| I'm a local high school teacher who would use them! | |
| Posted by: andPeggy 12:46 pm EST 01/05/22 | |
| In reply to: re: Thanks, everyone! - raydan 10:21 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
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| I had the same problem - they were weighing down a shelf in a closet. I never looked at them. I took them off the shelf, tore the covers off and glued them to my classroom wall. It's been a blast adding them. When we have time at the end of a class, I'll say point to a Playbill and I'll tell you a story about that show. TKTS even featured them once. The building is being torn down and with it, the playbills. I'd be happy to take them off your hands and share them with students. |
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| Link | https://www.facebook.com/OfficialTKTS/posts/1481705178649324 |
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| re: Playbills | |
| Posted by: PurpleMoney 06:01 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
| In reply to: Playbills - tohshoo 03:42 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
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| I have all 2000 programs next to me on a custom made bookcase. When I was unemployed 4 years ago for a time, I went through each of them and created a database. I refer to my database all the time. |
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| re: Playbills | |
| Posted by: Guillaume 05:21 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
| In reply to: Playbills - tohshoo 03:42 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
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| They are really not worth your time and effort to try and find a buyer or a place to donate them. I had thousands of them I finally just recycled years ago. My only regret is I wish before they went I had either scanned or taken photos of the covers, just to have a fun digital archive of everything I had seen in my lifetime. I'd suggest doing that and enjoying your ample newfound shelf space instead of expending a lot of time looking for a place to donate -- no one wants to take them, unfortunately. | |
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| For broadway playbills | |
| Posted by: dramedy 06:25 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
| In reply to: re: Playbills - Guillaume 05:21 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
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| They are all in the playbill vault. You can actually copy the image if you wanted to create a file of the shows you saw in broadway. For more recent offbroadway, there are some of the playbills or at least the logo on iobdb.com. On the right side of the screen. |
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| Link | https://www.playbill.com/seasons?year=2002 |
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| re: For broadway playbills | |
| Posted by: schauspieler 08:32 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
| In reply to: For broadway playbills - dramedy 06:25 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
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| Thanks for that heads up. I didn't know about The Vault. Just picked an early show I saw in high school: THE ROYAL HUNT OF THE SUN to see what trivia I might discover and discovered this amusing bit. Plummer's Who's Who blurb mentions INSIDE DAISY CLOVER but omits any mention of THE SOUND OF MUSIC which was selling out three blocks away. | |
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| The Playbill Vault does NOT have every playbill, but certainly has a lot of them (nmi) | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 07:49 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
| In reply to: For broadway playbills - dramedy 06:25 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
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| re: The Playbill Vault does NOT have every playbill, but certainly has a lot of them (nmi) | |
| Posted by: mikem 11:06 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
| In reply to: The Playbill Vault does NOT have every playbill, but certainly has a lot of them (nmi) - BroadwayTonyJ 07:49 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
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| The Playbill Vault is a fantastic resource, but it doesn't include every cast. Unless you saw the original cast, you probably need to keep the cast list from the Playbill you received at the show. | |
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| re: The Playbill Vault does NOT have every playbill, but certainly has a lot of them | |
| Last Edit: BroadwayTonyJ 02:30 am EST 01/04/22 | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 02:15 am EST 01/04/22 | |
| In reply to: re: The Playbill Vault does NOT have every playbill, but certainly has a lot of them (nmi) - mikem 11:06 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
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| I agree. It's an incredible source. When I first heard about it, I started searching on it for playbills of various classic musicals. It had most of the ones I searched for, but not every one. I thought it only fair to alert the OP. I began saving my playbills in '89 when I met my (future) partner. He was shocked that I was throwing my playbills away after seeing a show. As a true theatre enthusiast, he chastised me severely. My only excuse was that my parents were poorly educated and didn't save their playbills, despite having seen Forrest Tucker in Music Man, Mimi Hines in Bells Are Ringing, Eve Arden in Dolly, Celeste Holm in Mame, a great cast in Funny Girl -- my dad said she was better than Streisand -- whoever was in the Fiorello! tour that came to Chicago, and all those former headliners who starred in the Melody Top and Drury Lane Chicago shows in the 50's and early 60's. Eventually my folks gave up theatre for square dancing. I have about 2000 playbills in my collection, mostly from Chicago, New York, and London shows, but also a few from Wisconsin, Indiana, and Toronto theatre. I have plenty of room. I go through them frequently -- what memories they bring back to me. |
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| re: For broadway playbills | |
| Posted by: Guillaume 06:30 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
| In reply to: For broadway playbills - dramedy 06:25 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
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| wow! I never knew that existed! Thanks so much for the tip! | |
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| re: Playbills | |
| Posted by: LoisP 05:02 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
| In reply to: Playbills - tohshoo 03:42 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
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| I regretted getting rid of mine. There are times I’ve wanted to look for info - and online just isn’t the same. Not sure I know how to put it into words. Maybe the “souvenir of a special evening” aspect? I thought I gave them away to someone here on the board, and would have willingly paid to get some back, but couldn’t track down whoever it was. Live and learn. |
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| re: Playbills | |
| Posted by: couldbnwouldbn (frankangieliza@aol.com) 07:45 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
| In reply to: re: Playbills - LoisP 05:02 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
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| Hi LoisP, I believe I am the person you gave your Playbills to along with a few other things. I still have all of them along with that wonderful Lauren Bacall framed print. If there is any specific playbills you want or information from them, I am more than happy to get them to you. Just let me know. | |
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| Look on eBay | |
| Posted by: dramedy 04:27 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
| In reply to: Playbills - tohshoo 03:42 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
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| To see what people are charging for your specific playbills. Of course, that doesn’t mean they sell them at those prices. If it’s a space issue, I’ve pulled out most of the innards of mine. Leaving front cover and page with show info and cast page. That will shrink them down for space. But broadway shows are all in playbill archives with all that info and front cover art. |
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| re: eBay fees | |
| Posted by: SQ 05:12 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
| In reply to: Look on eBay - dramedy 04:27 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
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| The fees for eBay and Paypal can easily negate any "profit". | |
| Link | eBay fees page |
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| re: Look on eBay | |
| Posted by: tohshoo 04:55 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
| In reply to: Look on eBay - dramedy 04:27 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
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| Hi Dramedy, I did happen to check Ebay and it seems the prices vary from $2 to $10 per Playbill and much more if it's opening night or autographed. if I could make a little $, that'd be great. Otherwise, I'll donate or recycle them. I was going to try our local FB page to sell them and if that doesn't work, I could try Ebay. Though, the thought of mailing out one Playbill at a time for who knows how long, sort of fills me with dread ;o) Yes, it's a space issue. Thanks for the "gutting" idea, I'll consider that! |
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| Ebay experience | |
| Posted by: aleck 10:08 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
| In reply to: re: Look on eBay - tohshoo 04:55 pm EST 01/03/22 | |
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| I tried selling them. There was mostly no interest except with rarities -- like the OB Chess. My biggest sale was for a program -- with ticket -- for the second preview performance of Rent at New York Theatre Workshop. I got $450. I thumb through them from time to time. I like seeing not only the show information but also the accompanying articles and ads. It's also fun to look through to see names that later became famous. I have one from the mid-70s from an OOB production that featured Bruce Willis. Also, Calista Flockhart in a version of La Ronde written my Warren Leight. Or the original New York production of Killer Joe at 50-seat space at 29th Street Rep, written, of course, by Tracy Letts. Or an early performance by Adam Driver at Rattlestick. He was bigger than the stage. Or Jude Law in Indiscretions which featured him giving a full nude frontal. The most interesting aspects of some of those old programs is to remember seeing some spectacular performances from people you never heard from again. Perhaps they were too fragile to deal with the realities of show business. Or they went into TV and I never saw them. Like once, a few years after that On the Town production that featured the oversized performance by Lea DeLaria ended asking someone: "Whatever happened to that skinny red-haired kid who had to wrestle with Lea DeLaria?" only to find out he became a TV star. Go know! |
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