The Harry Dull Record Book and Scrapbook Documenting His Theatrical and Musical Performance Career is arranged in chronological order.
Accession No. TRI.2013.0105: Purchased, 2013 September
[identification of item], Harry Dull Record Book and Scrapbook Documenting His Theatrical and Musical Performance Career, SPEC.TRI.SCRAPBOOK.0174, Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute, Ohio State University
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Processed by: ADA students, 2020 January; Finding aid written by: ADA students, 2020 January; Beth Crowner, 2020 February; Courtney Bishop, 2021 February
Harry Dull, born approximately 1867 in Pennsylvania, was an American traveling and Broadway actor who performed comedies, musicals, and vaudeville. He started his career in theater in 1891 with a three week engagement. Dull was also a theater manager, he managed "Weary Willie Walker," in which he also played the lead, and "The Four Huntings in The fool House," both of which Dull also authored. He kept a record book and scrapbook of his performances during 1891-1914. Dull was a part of different companies including Harry Dull and His Comedians, The Harry Dull Company, and The Dull Comedians. He became a partner in the traveling theater troupe Woodward Stock Company along with performing in other musical comedies that toured the United States during the 1890s and early 1900s.
The Harry Dull Record Book and Scrapbook Documenting His Theatrical and Musical Performance Career contains handwritten notes about Dull's travels and performances. Also included are newspaper clippings of reviews and advertisements for Dull's performances, as well as performances he attended. Dull recorded dates and locations of performances, and accounting information, which encompasses gross and net pay, expenses, salaries, and share of profits between him and his partner. Dull also pasted in programs and clippings from his performances, other business records, a tintype photograph of Dull, and caricatures of Dull and other performers. The materials in this collection are dated 1891-1914. The record book and scrapbook spans across two bound volumes; the second volume picks up where the first volume ends, as Dull continued to document his career. The record book and scrapbook also contained loose material laid in the back of each bound volume, which was removed and placed in folders now stored in the box behind the corresponding bound volume the material came from.