[Maxfield Parrish Cover] 1889 to 1898 Decennial Anniversary of the Mask and Wig Club, University of Pennsylvania.

Unrecorded theater program with special anniversary cover art by Maxfield Parrish

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Outstanding copy of the program for tenth anniversary production of the Mask and Wig Club, with specially commissioned cover art by Maxfield Parrish (1870–1966).

Based at the University of Pennsylvania, the theatrical and dramatic club is the oldest all-male collegiate musical comedy troupe in the United States. Parrish’s cover art appropriately depicts the commedia dell’arte character Pierrot seated on the ground in front of a cake with ten candles, one for each year of the club’s existence 1889–1898.

The Mask and Wig’s tenth anniversary production was the two-act play The House that Jack Built by club president, Clayton Fotterall McMichael. The play was preceded a one-scene sketch by First Vice President Albert Bartram Kelley entitled The Investigating Committee. This latter sketch was set in the Grill [sic] Room of the Mask and Wig Club, which room in real-life was decorated with caricatures by Maxfield Parrish and by his mural Old King Cole. Parrish’s work for the club, executing caricatures and creating program covers, were some of his earliest professional commissions.

Rare; unrecorded in OCLC and in stunning condition.

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