In going through my accumulated treasures, selecting items for our annual town-wide yard sale, I came across a stash of theater programs that I’d purchased at another yard sale many years ago. The ads in the programs were wonderful, with illustrations and headlines for products from the 1930s and ‘40s. But the plays themselves, astonishing. The premiere performances of ‘Porgy & Bess,’ of Eugene O’Neill’s ‘Ah, Wilderness!’ (with George M. Cohan) and ‘Mourning Becomes Electra’ (with Alla Nazimova.) A young Brando was featured in ‘I Remember Mama.’ And there’s a ballet program for an American tour by Anna Pavlova. How can you put a price on things like this? Easy.
