I love old playbills. They're a wonderful snapshot in time, not only of the actor's career, but of a NY theater scene which is now only a ghost of what it once was.

Years ago, when I first got into Trek fandom, I used to prowl the Lincoln Center library sales for playbills. Fertile ground, as folks like Shatner and Nimoy, as well as Mark Lenard spent many years in the NY Theater. Another wonderful source, and I don't know whether its even still there, was a small store the Actor's Fund had, a tiny storefront hidden somewhere in the West 40s, where all manner of theater ephemera (not to mention used books!) were sold to benefit the Actors Fund.

Unfortunately, its been a long time since I've been able to indulge in the sheer joy of rooting through those boxes for hidden treasures. However, due to the wonders of Ebay, I recently stumbled over someone selling a collection of playbills for plays David Selby was in. So I swooped :-) And a little research told me that, if not carried to extreme, this could be shared via the website without violating any legalities, since it constitutes both fair use and a valid use of the material to illustrate an actor's career.



This first one,"The Heiress", is one of the plays he did with Jane Alexander. Dark Shadows fans will also notice a similarity in plot between this play and the Judith Collins and Gregory Trask plotline in 1897. It's never said outright of course, but I think that part of the storyline was based on the source material for "The Heiress", the novel "Washington Square" by Henry James.



I've included more of the playbill than is strictly necessary, and this is for a reason. Please note the piece on favorite restaurants, and note the familiar name of one actress interviewed for it.

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