Very Rare Early 1900s Peck’s Bad Boy Lithographed Poster

Description: After George Peck returned from the Civil War, he went to work at various publications, usually writing humorous pieces. In 1884, he launched his own paper in Milwaukee and began writing stories about a kid named Henry always playing pranks on his dad and others, like the grocer shown in this poster. The stories become very popular. In 1883, Charles Pidgin adapted Peck’s Bad Boy for the theater. He wrote several three or four act comedy musicals featuring the Bad Boy. In the 1890s, Atkinson’s Comedy Company got permission from Peck to start producing its own performances throughout the East and Midwest. At first, only the Atkinson troupe was authorized to produce Bad Boy musical comedies, but a lot of unauthorized rip-off artists began producing their own plays in the 1920s. I believe the poster pictured is advertising a production from one of those rip off artists. While Atkinson posters are supposedly quite rare, this unauthorized one by J.L Harvey is much more rare, according to an online George Peck expert. The performance (“Not a Moving Picture” ) was entitled “Bad Boy’s Fourth.” The subject matter is definitely politically incorrect by today’s standards.: an innocent owner’s general store being vandalized by a spoiled wealthy kid just getting his kicks “borrowing” the store owner’s fireworks to blow up a cat. Not cool. I wonder if J.L. Harvey included this scene in his performance. As you can see from the photos, the poster has some discoloration and a few minor nicks, but not too bad for being approximately a hundred years old. Also it looks like there are remnants of some kind of adhesive, but—luckily—it didn’t peel away any of the artwork. This poster came from a long-closed General Store in Waterloo, MI, about 25 miles west of Ann Arbor. I’m pretty sure that Harvey was advertising his unauthorized for a local performance. As you can see from the photos, the poster has some discoloration, but not much for being approximately a hundred years old. The store owner must have affixed the poster to some particle board for durability and movable display. The poster measures 27 1/4 inches high by 20 1/2 inches wide. If you like advertising posters from the early 1900s, this one might work for you. I’m fairly certain you would never find another one, at least one that’s original. NOTE: Because UPS seems to be better at shipping posters like these, I will ship it via UPS tracking number with insurance.

Price: 375 USD

Location: Grass Lake, Michigan

End Time: 2024-10-11T01:26:29.000Z

Shipping Cost: 19.95 USD