William Elliott, F. Ray Comstock and Morris Gest present Chu Chin Chow. A Musical Tale of the East. Souvenir and Story of the Play; Told by Oscar Asche set to music by Frederic Norton and staged by E. Lyall Swete

New York, 1917. First Edition. Wraps. Very Good. A rare souvenir program of an exotic hit from the teens. 4to. 30.5 by 23 cm. Unpaginated, 36 pp., with numerous color plates of the characters and one double paged plate of a desert dancer scene. The whole plot is laid out, and let's just say the story line would make a Verdi operatic melodrama seem straightforward in comparison. Such convoluted exotica was the rage of the day, however -- David Belasco extravaganzas were still the thing, and Puccini's "Turandot" would follow a few years later. The costuming in the plates shows the strong influence of the period's Secessionist aesthetic -- think Klimt and (truncated) the like. The producers were top Broadway operators of the time. Morris Gest actually married the daughter of Belasco. Light wear to the wrap covers. (Inventory #: 003678)