Religion

One hallmark of the American experience captured in the Museum's collections is the nation's broad diversity of religious faiths. Artifacts range from Thomas Jefferson's Bible to a huge "Sunstone" sculpture carved for a Mormon temple in Illinois in 1844 to a household shrine from the home of a Pueblo Indian in the 1990s. Furniture, musical instruments, clothing, cooking ware, and thousands of prints and figures in the collections have all played roles in the religious lives of Americans. The most comprehensive collections include artifacts from Jewish and Christian European Americans, Catholic Latinos, Protestant Arab Americans, Buddhist and Christian Asian Pacific Americans, and Protestant African Americans. One notable group is the Vidal Collection of carved figures known as santos and other folk religious material from the practice of Santeria in Puerto Rico.

This fan-style mechanical trade card advertises the original Broadway production of the comedic play Abie’s Irish Rose, one of the most successful and important plays of the 20th century.
Description (Brief)
This fan-style mechanical trade card advertises the original Broadway production of the comedic play Abie’s Irish Rose, one of the most successful and important plays of the 20th century. The card is comprised of three leaf-shaped die cut cardboard sections joined with a metal grommet at the bottom, allowing the user to fan out each of the three pieces. The card is printed in green and pink ink on the front with images of a rose and the title of the play, as well as the name of its author, Anne Nichols. The back is printed with information about the production: “Now Playing at / Republic Theatre / NEW YORK / West 42nd St. / Evenings 8:30 – Mats. Wed. and Sat. 2:30 / THIRD YEAR”.
Abie’s Irish Rose was an enormously popular mixed marriage farce that spoke to contemporary cultural anxieties about immigration, assimilation, and ethnic identity. Written by Anne Nichols, the play tells the story of a couple comprised of a Jewish man and Irish woman navigating familial and societal prejudice while marrying and raising a family in contemporary New York City. The lead characters’ audacious and escalating lies to hide their relationship from their bigoted fathers culminates in an absurd climax of multiple marriages and religious reconciliation. The show premiered May 23, 1922 at the Fulton Theatre and ran for 2,327 performances before closing at The Republic in 1927, making it the longest running play in Broadway history until surpassed by Hello, Dolly in the 1960s. The sentimental comedy was seen by an estimated 11 million audience members in its Broadway and national touring productions.
Abie’s Irish Rose was adapted for film in 1928 and again in 1946, a weekly radio show in the 1940s, and revived on Broadway in 1937 and 1954. Nichols sued Universal Studios for plagiarism for making the 1926 film The Cohens and Kellys, a film with a similar plot premise. In the landmark 1930 US Court of Appeals case Nichols v. Universal Pictures Corp., Judge Learned Hand wrote the opinion for the court, holding that copyright protection cannot be extended to stock characters in a story in the case of non-literal copying of a dramatic work.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1925
ID Number
2023.0082.01
accession number
2023.0082
catalog number
2023.0082.01

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