Hoyt's A Trip to Chinatown
[The Bowery]
Strobridge Lithography Company, Cincinnati and New York: c. 1891
Chromolithograph poster
40 x 30 inches, overall
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Hoyt's A Trip to Chinatown
Theatre Poster of the Song The Bowery, c. 1891
Theatre Poster of the Song The Bowery, c. 1891
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Large color poster advertising the farcical 1891 Broadway musical comedy A Trip to Chinatown written by the prolific American playwright Charles H. Hoyt (1859-1900). Although the play takes place in San Francisco, one of its most popular songs was The Bowery, a comical account of a disastrous night on the town in the Lower East Side of New York City. This poster — essentially about the song The Bowery rather than the entire play — contains illustrated lyrics to the song. The six illustrations to stanzas of the song — three on each side — include the comical lyrics and images of the principal character in the Bowery at an auction, a "dive" bar, a cheap hotel, a concert hall, a gambling den and a barber shop. The first verse and chorus to the song are printed below a portrait of the principal character, dressed in a black suit and top hat under the subtitle "Hoyt’s Great Song ‘The Bowery'":
Oh! The night I struck New York,
I went out for a quite walk,
Folks who were 'on' to the City, say,
Better by far if I took Broadway,
But I was out to enjoy the sights,
There was the Bowery ablaze with lights
I had one of the d---s own nights,
And I’ll never go there any more.
Chorus. --- The Bowery, the Bowery,
They say such things and they do such things,
On the Bowery, the Bowery,
And I’ll never go there any more.
The poster contains the credit "Hoyt & McKee Proprietors" — Charles H. Hoyt and Frank McKee managed the Madison Square Theatre where the play ran on Broadway for almost two years. Although other posters for this play are extant, the only other known example of the version illustrating the song The Bowery, as offered here, is in the collection of Long Island University’s Cedar Swamp Historical Collection at the B. Davis Schwartz Memorial Library. A description of the poster from their scholarly web site describes it as follows:
Opening on November 9, 1891 at Broadway's Madison Square Theater in New York City, A Trip to Chinatown became a huge success and was the longest-running stage show in the nineteenth century. Hoyt wrote the lyrics for the show, while Percy Gaunt wrote the music.
This poster, produced by an unknown artist for the Strobridge Lithograph Company…contains the lyrics from one of its most popular songs, entitled The Bowery. […] The Bowery, with its refrain "I'll never go there anymore," tells the story of a man's experience after being drawn to the lights of this seedy part of town. During the 1880s and 1890s, the Bowery was home to a mix of saloons, dance halls and prostitutes. Hoyt's lyrics tell a tale of the man's unfortunate encounters there, such as his confrontation with thieves, his forcible removal from a concert hall, his unsettling experience at the barber shop, and his involvement in a brawl at a "dive" bar. Thus, the song The Bowery, with its satirical look at New York's sordid nightlife became a huge hit, as did the play in which it was featured.
The New York Public Library also has an online article about the show, putting it in the context of the history of musical theater, and has put the sheet music for The Bowery online. A performance of the song by the New York Light Opera is on YouTube (see References below).
The Strobridge Lithographing Company was a printing firm founded in Cincinnati, Ohio, around 1847 and continued in operation until it was acquired by H.S. Crocker in 1960, where it was listed as a division until 1970. The original founders were joined by Hines Strobridge (d. 1909) in 1854, and the Strobridge name was associated with the firm from 1858. Hines' son Nelson became the company's president upon his father's death in 1909. The company produced poster advertisements for circus and theatrical productions and store displays, and during the first half of the 20th century, added movie posters, outdoor billboards and mass transit cards. A large collection of their advertisements from 1910 to 1954 are in the collection of the Duke University Libraries.
Numbered upper right: 5541.
References:
"1890 Poster, Charles H. Hoyt's A Trip to Chinatown." Long Island University's Cedar Swamp Historical Society Collection. http://www.liucedarswampcollection.org/template1/hoyt.html (26 June 2014).
"A Trip to Chinatown." Wikipedia. 21 April 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Trip_to_Chinatown (26 June 2014).
"Guide to the Strobridge Lithographing Company Advertisements, 1910-1954 and undated." Duke University Libraries. 2002. http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/findingaids/strobridge/#c01_1 (26 June 2014).
Reside, Doug. "Musical of the Month: A Trip to Chinatown." 30 June 2012. New York Public Library. http://www.nypl.org/blog/2012/06/30/musical-month-trip-chinatown (3 July 2014).
"The New York Light Opera, The Bowery, Gaunt and Hoyt." 28 September 2012. YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crh1v3zdCEs (3 July 2014)