Three special theatre playbills printed on satin for performances to raise money for the Carvers’ and Gilders’ Society Asylum Fund which helped to support members of the trade who were elderly, infirm or unable to work.
1. Tuesday March 21st 1843. Performed at the Princess’ Theatre, Oxford Street. Performances include Donizetti’s Lucia de Lammermoor (first performed in 1835, and later in London in 1838), a comedy called Black & White, a ballet called Venetian Pastimes as well as an English Hornpipe by a Miss Fanny Green and a “Pas Galop” by Melanie Duval.
2. Monday 17th February 1845. Performed at Theatre Royal, Haymarket. Performances include the comedy Clandestine Marriage (by George Colman and David Garrick, first performed 1766), J. R. Planchie’s Somebody Else and a fare called The Thimble Rig.
3. Tuesday March 19th 1844. Performed at Princess’ Theatre. Performances include Bellini’s La Somnambula and a farce called Gone to Texas (in which a young man pretends he has fled to Texas in order to escape his debts). There is also a ballet called Leola; or, the May-Day Bride.
Each of the broadsides has a note at the foot of the sheet:
“The Committee in returning thanks to their numerous Patrons. Friends and the Public in general, for the kind support they have received in furthering the object of the Institution; they hope on this and all other occasions to merit the approbation of those who may be inclined to encourage them with their support, to carry into effect the laudable intention of providing for the Aged and Infirm”
These fragile playbills are a remarkable survival and important evidence of the use of the theatres to support philanthropic ventures.
