Image of a quack doctor's office filled with strange medical instruments, jars, and signs promising cures, with an older man crashing through the glass of a window after being ejected from an exam table as a larger bald man watches on; the signs read "Swollen heads reduced to natural size," "Incurable Diseases a Specialty," "Broken Hearts Repaired," "No pay no cure," "Hair restored," "Lost Affections Restored," and a machine has a gauge with the markings "Rock Rye Cake Pie Tulu Buns"; the poster advertises the farce comedy "We, Us & Co." produced under the management of William Mestayer. Probable date based on newspaper articles for the play in 1884 and 1885, including one describing the scene in the image: "The first act of 'We, Us & Co.' takes place in a quack doctor's office in New York ... An examination chair plays a very important part in this scene, for at the word 'shashay' the horse doctor is elevated in the air by a spring in the chair and at once begins operations on a patient." ("Footlight Flashes," San Francisco Chronicle, 14 June 1885, page 2.) "Great Western Pr. & Eng. Lith. Co. Saint Louis"--text, bottom left. "277"--text, bottom right.
Type
image
Extent
1 : ; overall 74.3 x 107.95 cm (29 1/4 x 42 1/2 in.)
Actors--Pictorial works Comedies Medical offices--Pictorial works Physicians--Pictorial works Quacks and quackery--Pictorial works Theatrical productions Lithographs--Color--1875-1900. (gmgpc) Theatrical posters--American. (gmgpc)
Source
Jay T. Last Collection Entertainment Large Size Music and Theater The Jay T. Last Collection of Graphic Arts and Social History, Huntington Digital Library
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