From time to time I look for interesting rabbit holes at Duke University's Library, the Resource of Outdoor Advertising Descriptions (ROAD). Last night, I saw a photograph of the illuminated billboards at Broadway and 37th Street in New York City.
Inexplicably, its date is given as 1898, considering that one of the billboards promotes a production that claims it has been seen by President Taft, Vice-President Sherman, and Speaker Cannon. It took a few seconds to confirm William Howard Taft was President from 1909-1913 and that the play, "Tillie's Nightmare", ran from May 5, 1910 - July 09, 1910 for 77 performances, and again for 8 more in December 1911.
It should come as no surprise that a popular Broadway show was turned into a moving picture, although under an altered title. The female lead remained Marie Dressler, while the male lead role went to a rising star who had already appeared in dozens of short films for producer/director Mack Sennett.
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