History of Theatre Merchandise

[emo_geek]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 12:22am

I have also been very interested in this.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 12:49am

Well, I would assume one of the reasons it began was because someone noticed the opportunity for profit.

[theaterdude87]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 12:53am

I used to remember the answer, I want to say Phantom.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 12:53am

I have theater merchandise from the 1900s (Ziegfeld had all sorts of stuff for sale at The Follies. One of the biggest sellers were fans - during the summer) There has been some sort of souvenirage as long as they have been selling tickets.

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 1:38am

I love the line in the Forbidden Broadway Les Mis sequence. "Rich folks pay twenty bucks a shirt..."

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 1:40am

I know they go back as far as the 1902 Wizard of Oz. They made promotional cups for it's 2,000th performance (I think?? Maybe it was 200...)

[thatgirl712]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 4:01am

This is an interesting question.

[OtherDaryl]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 9:41am

This isn't definitive, by any means, but I would guess that Joe Papp had a hand in the great advancement of collateral marketing and merchandising. Those gorgeous Public Theatre posters by Davis in the 70's were all available for purchase (Streamers, the Waterston Chinese Communist Hamlet, Measure for Measure, Threepenny, Cherry Orchard)and I had a beautiful t-shirt from For Colored Girls. A Chorus Line was the first I recall to go the whole route with the big gold ticket keychain and other items featuring The Line, plus they had a variety of colors/editions of t-shirts in the early years - once a color was gone, it was gone, though the original designs weren't traditional t-shirts - much more fitted (suitable for Disco bodies!)and better fabric. My favorite from those years was the A Chorus Line - A Time Line Poster.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 12:22pm

CATS

[sondhead]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 1:26pm

Ya, Cats is the one that is historically remembered for piling on the merchandise in the lobby. Obviously, lots of shows have sold merchandise over the years, but I think Cats was the first to sell piles and piles of crap.

I, for one, am more than a little bit suspicious that "Wicked" as a musical is merely a commercial for people to buy merchandise. Sure, the $117 ticket helps bring in some money, but anybody who's sat by the merchandise table in the lobby can attest to the thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars they must take in at each and every show in crappy over-priced merch.

[uncageg]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 2:00pm

I forgot about the big gold ticket keychain. I have the one from Evita.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 2:08pm

Why do most of you assume it started with THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA?! Or CATS?

I've been seeing shows on Broadway since I was 7 years old -- first show PIPPIN; year was 1972... and they had t-shirts, souvenir programs, window cards and buttons. I even had t-shirts and window cards for CHICAGO and A CHORUS LINE when those two shows opened in 1975. ANNIE had a s**t-load when that show opened in 1977.

Though t-shirts didn't start happening until the t-shirt craze began in the early 70's, other merchandise has been available for decades, especially souvenir programs and window cards.

An original 1975 A CHORUS LINE t-shirt:

[uncageg]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 2:17pm

My original Chorus Line T-Shirt is long gone. Even if I still had it, It wouldn't fit me now!

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 2:54pm

I wasn't assuming anything, I just like saying CATS!

[Dollypop]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 4:44pm

The didn't sell merchandise in the 60's. I never bought anything from DOLLY! or FIDDLER or FUNNY GIRL. I do remember having an ANNIE t-shirt and one from BARNUM, so that was the era when it started big-time.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 5/26/08 at 5:19pm

The first show to go big with merchandising was THE MERRY WIDOW (1905): They sold items not only in the theatre but through catalogues and in stores. There were Merry Widow Hats, Merry Widow gowns, Merry Widow corsetts, Merry Widow cigars, in addition to sheet music and "recordings" (not original cast but Vocal gems on one side of a 12-inch 78 RPM disc.)

The suggestion that WIZARD OF OZ played 2,000 performances was (I hope) just a joke. No musical played more than 2,000 until OKLAHOMA! in 1943. (At that time the longest running musical was the 1919 production of IRENE at 670.)

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 5/31/08 at 12:10am

Looks like someone e-mailed the question to Playbill.com:
ASK PLAYBILL.COM: Merchandise