Original production notes from the web series The Guild. Felicia Day is the star and creator of this comedic series about avid gamers and their obsession with fantasy MMORPG video games. The Guild premiered on YouTube on July 27, 2007 and ran until 2013. Throughout these years, the web series won six Streamy Awards, four IAWTV Awards, and was named one of “The Net’s Best Serial Shows” by Rolling Stone in 2009.
The Guild is reflective of the popularity of web series and the burgeoning internet community of the early 2000s. Felicia Day’s success as a female web series creator, gamer, and writer is also notable because video game culture is predominated by men.
This A-line metallic yellow, brown, and silver dress was worn with yellow gloves, yellow and gold shoe boots, and a cigarette holder with a wooden cigarette by comedian Phyllis Diller. While Diller’s signature prop was a cigarette holder, it only ever held a wooden prop cigarette; she was a lifelong non-smoker.
Phyllis Diller is wearing this costume in an image featured on postcards that she gave out to fans when she was traveling. Diller did not sign these postcards, but on the postcards was printed, in her handwriting, “Best Wishes Phyllis Diller.”
This oversized Miss Piggy doll is wearing a hot pink, lime green, yellow, and orange sheer floral print nylon covered floppy hat and matching sarong skirt partially covering a one-piece orange nylon bathing suit, elbow-length hot pink nylon satin gloves, a white plastic pearl choker necklace, and bright orange twill fabric shoes, each decorated with a large hot-pink centered white daisy. This doll was won as a prize in a raffle.
Miss Piggy is a diva pig who believes she is a superstar. She is madly in love with Kermit the Frog and is an expert in karate. Miss Piggy began as “Piggy Lee” on The Tonight Show in 1974 and eventually the “Lee” was dropped so as not to upset Peggy Lee. Miss Piggy then became a major character on The Muppet Show.
Phyllis Diller wore this head band with a white pompom at the end of a rod as part of an outfit also including a red and white Santa dress with belt, pair of red panties, red pantyhose, and white gloves when she joined Bob Hope’s USO tour of the Persian Gulf in 1987. Other members of the 1987 tour included I Dream of Jeannie actress Barbara Eden, Connie Stevens and her daughters Joely and Tricia Leigh Fisher, “God Bless the USA” singer Lee Greenwood, and Miss USA Michelle Royer.
Diller was lifelong friends with Bob Hope, co-starring with him in 3 films and many TV specials. In 1978, the USO of Philadelphia, Inc. awarded Diller the USO Liberty Bell Award “for demonstrating concern for the welfare and morale of America’s armed forces.” The award is also at NMAH (Catalog Number 2003.0289.42).
This wig was part of a costume worn by actors portraying the character Mr. Mistoffelees in the original Broadway production of Cats. The black synthetic fiber wig is styled to suggest the appearance of cat's ears. A black-and-white tuxedo cat, Mr. Mistoffelees possesses magical powers celebrated in the song “Magical Mr. Mistoffelees.” While Mistoffelees sometimes sings depending on the production, Mistoffelees is primarily a featured dancing role. The character has some of the most challenging choreography in the show, including his signature move the “Conjuring Turn,” which is twenty-four consecutive fouettés en tournant. Wayne Sleep originated the role on the West End in 1981 and Timothy Scott later took on the role on Broadway in 1982. On the screen, Jacob Brent portrayed the character in the 1998 film and Laurie Davidson portrayed him in the 2019 film adaptation.
Cats broke Broadway records with its run of 7,485 performances from 1982 until 2000 at New York’s Winter Garden Theatre. The play, written and composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber based on stories and characters from T. S. Eliot's 1939 Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, and first premiered in London’s West End in 1981. The expensive and spectacular production has been called the first “megamusical,” inaugurating a new period of Broadway theater history when big-budget shows with elaborate special effects, spectacular costumes, and rock music revived the theater district’s sagging fortunes. Cats earned multiple Tony awards in its original run and has since been revived on Broadway and in numerous national and international tours.
Simba, a young lion and heir to the throne of the region of the African jungle known as the Pridelands, is the leading character in the 1998 stage adaptation of the Disney film The Lion King. The actor playing Simba wears this distinctive mask, co-designed by Julie Taymor and Michael Curry, which is made of lightweight carbon graphite and the mane consists of polyester fibers. Julie Taymor’s career is hallmarked by a her blend of ancient theatrical ritual and modern show business savvy, with masks and puppets are integral to her theatrical art.
Between 1936 and 1955, Elizabeth L. Haines' puppet play, "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court," went through many revisions, dependent on whether she and her husband, Frank D. Haines, were performing before adult audiences or school groups in the Philadelphia area.
The adult version focused on a love triangle between Bob, a wealthy antique gun and armour collector, and two women, Sandy and Fay, set in a New York City hotel lobby. Fay accidentally shoots Bob with one of his antique guns after demanding him to get rid of his antique armour collection before their marriage. He falls in a concussion-induced dream state into deep sleep and finds himself transported back to the 6th-century world of Camelot.
In both the adult and children's version, Bob faces being burned at the stake for being seen as a foreigner but ultimately manages to outwit his rival, Merlin the Magician, escaping back to the 20th century. In the adult version, Bob ends up proposing to old friend, Sandy, and following her to Europe, likely a reference to a recently produced 1927 Broadway musical written by Richard Rodgers and Lorentz Hart.
The puppet play called for an elaborate set of 20 stage props, many collapsible for portability, a backdrop, and 9 marionettes. It bore little resemblance to the original 1889 novel published by humorist, Mark Twain, - a satire of 19th century romance of medieval heraldry and class divisions, causes he believed led to the Civil War.
Twain's time travel story - which spawned the work of many 20th century science fiction writers and movie producers - focused on the adventures of a wealthy Connecticut gun manufacturer, Hank Morgan, who falls into a dream state after suffering a concussion when beaten by a disgruntled laborer. On becoming a the trusted advisor to King Arthur after spurning Merlin's magical tricks, Hank introduces late 19th century technology and social structure in order to solve problems he witnesses in medieval England, including slavery, lack of sanitation, overbearance of the Catholic church, and popular superstition.
Between 1936 and 1955, Elizabeth L. Haines' puppet play, "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court," went through many revisions, dependent on whether she and her husband, Frank D. Haines, were performing before adult audiences or school groups in the Philadelphia area.
The adult version focused on a love triangle between Bob, a wealthy antique gun and armour collector, and two women, Sandy and Fay, set in a New York City hotel lobby. Fay accidentally shoots Bob with one of his antique guns after demanding him to get rid of his antique armour collection before their marriage. He falls in a concussion-induced dream state into deep sleep and finds himself transported back to the 6th-century world of Camelot.
In both the adult and children's version, Bob faces being burned at the stake for being seen as a foreigner but ultimately manages to outwit his rival, Merlin the Magician, escaping back to the 20th century. In the adult version, Bob ends up proposing to old friend, Sandy, and following her to Europe, likely a reference to a recently produced 1927 Broadway musical written by Richard Rodgers and Lorentz Hart.
The puppet play called for an elaborate set of 20 stage props, many collapsible for portability, a backdrop, and 9 marionettes. It bore little resemblance to the original 1889 novel published by humorist, Mark Twain, - a satire of 19th century romance of medieval heraldry and class divisions, causes he believed led to the Civil War.
Twain's time travel story - which spawned the work of many 20th century science fiction writers and movie producers - focused on the adventures of a wealthy Connecticut gun manufacturer, Hank Morgan, who falls into a dream state after suffering a concussion when beaten by a disgruntled laborer. On becoming a the trusted advisor to King Arthur after spurning Merlin's magical tricks, Hank introduces late 19th century technology and social structure in order to solve problems he witnesses in medieval England, including slavery, lack of sanitation, overbearance of the Catholic church, and popular superstition.