Showbill for "Sons and Fathers of Sons": Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A black-and-white paper showbill printed by Playbill. for “Sons and Fathers of Sons”.

On the front of the playbill in large black type is [SHOWBILL ® / THEATRE FOUR] printed inside a blue block. Below it is the very large round Negro Ensemble Company logo inside a black print block.

On the inside of the playbill, a left page features an edge to edge Marlboro Lights cigarette ad photograph depicting a man on horseback rounding up horses.

The right page announces the play. From the top in black type is: [THEATRE FOUR / 424 West 55th Street / (Near Ninth Avenue) / 246-8545] and the Negro Ensemble Company circular logo. The page continues: [DOUGLASS TURNER WARD / Artistic Director / LEON B. DENMARK / Managing Director / presents / SONS AND FATHERS OF SONS / by / RAY ARANHA / with / PHYLICIA AYERS-ALLEN / HOWARD BAINES / ROBERT GOSSETT / EUGENE LEE / ETHEL AYLER / GRAHAM BROWN / OLIVIA VIRGIL HARPER / SARALLEN / Directed by / WALTER DALLAS / Scenery by / WYNN THOMAS / Lighting by / WILLIAM H. GRANT III / Costumes by / VICKI JONES / Sound by / GARY HARRIS / Costume Supervisor / JUDY DEARING / Production Stage Manager / HORACENA J. TAYLOR / Premiére Performance—January 11, 1983]. A small ad for Dewar’s White Label Scotch Whiskey is printed below the play information.

On the back of the showbill is an edge to edge ad for the Nissan Datsun. At the top is a picture of a person’s hand on the gear shift of the car. A man and woman are pictured driving in the Datsun with the car angled and surrounded by streams of red, orange, and black extended camera shutter effect.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1983
• Published by: Playbill, American, founded 1884
• Subject of: Negro Ensemble Company, American, founded 1967
• Subject of: Ray Aranha, American, 1939 - 2011
• Subject of: Graham Brown, American, 1924 - 2011
• Subject of: Ethel Ayler, American, 1934 - 2018
• Subject of: Eugene Lee, American, born 1953
• Subject of: Phylicia Rashad, American, born 1948
• Subject of: Robert Gossett, American
• Type: playbills
• Medium: ink on paper with metal
• Dimensions: H x W x D: 8 1/2 × 5 5/8 × 1/8 in. (21.6 × 14.3 × 0.3 cm)
• Place used: New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Actors
• Topic: Advertising
• Topic: Drama (Theatre)
• Topic: Entertainers
• Topic: Theatre
• Topic: Theatre companies
• Object number: 2014.196.8
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Dr. Sandra Austin
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: © Playbill Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.