Marry me or pay the mortgage!

A nice collection of rare theater posters from AMERICAN HERITAGE MAGAZINE December 1963. These illustrate what are commonly known today as "melodramas," produced nowadays for laughs, but very popular in the time just before and after the turn of the 20th Century.

The plays were full of special effects, including stunts and hairbreadth escapes. Many of the stage props used to produce these plays are ingenious even by today's standards. They were the precursors to the action movies that came later, and gave their audiences lots of thrills for the price of admission.

The two women who have their own posters, Julia Arthur and Sylvia Thorne, were popular actresses and considered great beauties in their time.

©1963 American Heritage Publishing Company, Inc.