ROBERT BARNET PARK THEATRE BOSTON RICE'S SUPRISE PARTY PROP FROM 1892. RARE COLLECTIBLE.
I HAD THE SWORD LOOKED AT BY HERITAGE AUCTIONS. RESPONSE IS BELOW.
“On September 3rd 1892, the Park Theatre in Boston opened with Rice's Surprise Party in a production of Barnet's "1492". A further article in the N York Times on 9th October 1892 states that Rice's Surprise Party (an acting troupe) had been performing the play 1892 for 8 weeks and "the house continues to be packed at every presentation. It seems likely to be a permanent attraction for the Winter." Robert Barnet had already made a name for himself in local amateur theater circles when the First Corps of Cadets, a volunteer militia of young upper-class Boston businessmen who sought money to build an armory as protection against feared immigrant uprisings, hired the middle-aged father of five to stage fundraisers to erect the armory, known today as the Park Plaza Castle. Dubbed the "Extravaganza King" for his ever more elaborate productions, held annually in Boston from 1891 to 1906, Barnet almost single-handedly managed the lavish musical farces and Mother Goose burlesques, acting as librettist, director, stage manager, and costume designer. The male cadets, including several Harvard graduates trained in the Hasty Pudding tradition, played all of the roles in these overblown affairs, and Barnet himself starred as Queen Isabella of Spain in 1492, his most famous work. Donning dresses and wigs for the female parts, the hefty, muscular leading ladies raised laughter rather than eyebrows from the audiences of prominent Bostonians who attended the shows.
It would appear that this sword was a prop for the 1492 play.
It would appear that this prop sword was a rare item from a bygone era and would very well appeal to the Memorabilia collectors of today as a piece of theatrical history.
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