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. |
