(THEATER.) Folder of marionette theater ephemera from Jay Chambers, Remo Bufano, and others. 40 items in one folder, various sizes, condition mostly strong. Various places, bulk circa 1912-1923
Jay Chambers (1877-1929) was a New York graphic designer and advertising artist who in his free time gave puppet performances as the Playtheatre Company. He is best known to history as the estranged father of Communist spy-turned-superpatriot Whittaker Chambers (1901-1961). A letter to the editor in the Hackensack Record of 9 June 1952 recalled that "much of his spare time was devoted to fashioning marionettes or staging amateur dramatics."
Offered here are 5 programs and invitations to his performances (plus duplicates) staged from 1912 to 1923; a 1924 letter to Chambers from Alex Cameron, a Chicago manufacturer of ventriloquist figures, explaining the prices for "Punch figures," with Cameron's price list; 2 postcards addressed to Chambers for marionette performances, 1918 and 1922; printed English scripts for two puppet plays, "James Flaunty" (which Chambers performed) and "The Scourge of the Gulph" (inscribed to Chambers by the Irish artist Jack Butler Yeats, brother of the poet); and a 2-page typed script of the puppet play Kismurun (which Chambers also performed).
Also included are 3 pieces of undated promotional ephemera of the Marionette Theatre operated by Remo Bufano and Florence Koehler, plus 8 promotional photographs of the same. 7 additional pieces of miscellaneous ephemera include a sketch of Chinese marionettes at the Museum of Natural History; a bookplate of film editor Hettie Gray Baker; and a possibly unrelated 1893 Autograph Letter Signed by vaudeville impresario Tony Pastor.
With--Set of 22 unbound colored plates titled "Redington's Characters & Scenes in Paul Clifford," for use in marionette theater, sleeved in one binder. London, published by J. Redington / B. Pollock, late 19th century.
Provenance: acquired from bookseller John Criscione.
