Accession No. TRI.2019.0021: Purchase, 2015 December.
[identification of item], Brooklyn Publishing House Lithography Proof Printed on Unique Theatre Program, SPEC.TRI.0059, Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute, Ohio State University
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Processed by: Courtney Bishop, 2019 March; finding aid written by: Courtney Bishop, 2019 March.
A Brooklyn Publishing House printer, Otto Sohofer, printed a large lithograph and to check his progress, he decided to print the proofs. He ended up printing on a Unique Theatre program that is dated August 27, 1900. The proof is an illustration of a Renaissance lute player sitting in a chair with a dog at his feet. The proof shows two layers of color, pale yellow and brown. There is a tankard in the air next to the lute player's hand, which suggests the finished lithograph was to have at least one more color. The Unique Theatre program features a variety of comic and burlesque acts such as "Chandler and Robinson's Kings and Queens Burlesquers" and "In the Catskills." It is a four page program with the proofs printed upside down to the program text.
The Unique Theatre was a vaudeville theatre that opened on August 18, 1894, in Brooklyn, New York. William Fox took over the theatre to become the Comedy Theatre. The building was demolished in 1923.
When printing multi-color lithographs, each layer of color is applied in a specific order, lighter colors are typically done first because they can be masked more easily than darker ones on subsequent layering. Printing stones need to be placed in proper alignment to produce a clear image and each layer of color is printed on a separate printing stone.
The Brooklyn Publishing House Lithography Proof Printed on Unique Theatre Program contains a proof printed by Otto Sohefer on a Unique Theatre program dated after 1900 August 27.