This is a rare September 14th, 1903 program (playbill) from the one-week engagement of the Original ROYAL LILLIPUTIANS in the Gorgeous Musical Spectacle "GULLIVER'S TRAVELS" at Ye Park Theatre in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ..... Produced by entertainment entrepreneur GUS HILL, the cast included FRANZ EBERT, LOUIS MERKEL, JAMES E. ROSEN, HERBERT RICE, ELIZE EBERT, AL RICE, A. T. DARCEY, WILLIAM PLATT, SELMA GOERMER, QUEEN MAB, MAMIE CLESTEIN COLLINS, MARTHA WEIS, IRVING NEWHOFF, TOMMY PLATT, B. F. KELLY, GRACE McLEOD, DELLA RANNEY, MAY VALENTINE, GERTIE HAWKINS, BEATRICE MORELYN, RITA LOVE, MONA McCARTHY, PEARL FRANKLYN, HENRIETTA FRANKLYN, LILLIAN JEANETTE, EVELYN ADAMS, FAY STEINER, ARLINE BLISS, BELLE DU BOIS and THE PONIES ..... Biographical note: Producer GUS HILL (born Gustave Metz in New York City; February 22nd, 1858 – April 20th, 1937) began his career as an American vaudeville performer who juggled Indian clubs. He later became a burlesque and vaudeville entrepreneur. Hill was one of the founders of the Columbia Amusement Company, an association of burlesque shows and theaters, and became president of the American Burlesque Association. He also staged drama and musical comedies. He launched a highly popular series of "cartoon theatricals", musical comedies based on comic strips or cartoons. At one time he was running fourteen different shows. In 1876, when Hill was eighteen, he was listed as a club swinger on a bill for a vaudeville show at Tony Pastor's Theater in New York. Gus Hill soon moved into show business management, although he continued to perform for ten years or more. Hill produced Gus Hill's Mammoth Novelty Company in the 1885–86 season, and performed in the show with his Indian clubs. He produced Gus Hill's World of Novelties in the 1886–87 season, featuring the new performers Joe Weber and Lew Fields. Hill produced musical comedies priced low for unsophisticated audiences far from Broadway. The scenery was designed to fold up into specially designed trunks to save space. Hill was known for cost-cutting, using old scenery and costumes, and employing performers who could not demand high wages since they were not yet known, or were past their peak. In 1892 Hill added a second company, Gus Hill's New York Vaudeville Stars. Hill signed up David C. Montgomery and Fred Stone in May of 1896. By this time he was one of the richest of the variety show promoters. For the 1896–97 season Hill added three burlesque companies and the cartoon theatrical McFadden's Row of Flats. Gus Hill's Ideal Minstrels first appeared in 1898. That year he produced a series of melodramas written by Owen Davis. The next year he introduced the Royal Lilliputians, a freak show. Eddie Cantor also played in his vaudeville shows. In the late nineteenth century, Gus Hill began concentrating on "cartoon theatricals", a live theater performance based on a comic strip or cartoon. More than two hundred cartoon theatricals were produced between 1896 and 1927, about fifty of them original and the others derivative. Gus Hill was involved in over half of them. In the 1890's Hill started producing a vaudeville act that was based on New York Sunday World's cartoon, The Yellow Kid. He later added characters from other cartoons such as Mutt and Jeff and the Happy Hooligan. He was also responsible for Alphonse and Gaston and Bringing Up Father among others. Most of the theatricals were musical comedies. Hill produced these "cartoon theatricals", or musicals based on comic strips, into 1920's. The theatricals would first play in legitimate road shows, then move to Hill's burlesque franchises. Hill's Mutt and Jeff, and sequels such as Mutt and Jeff in Panama (1913–14) and Mutt and Jeff in College (1915–16), ran from the 1910–11 season through to the 1927–28 season, and at one time had six companies playing the show in different places. In 1922 Hill staged a version of Mutt and Jeff performed by Connolly's Colored Comedians at the Lafayette Theatre in New York City. Hill first staged Happy Hooligan in the early 1900's, and was still staging a version of that show in the 1923–24 season. Bringing up Father ran from 1913–14 to 1932–33, with up to three companies at one time. Gus Hill died of a heart attack in New York City on April 20th, 1937 at the age of 79. (Wikipedia) ..... CREDITS: Musical Numbers Arranged and Directed by GUS SOHLKE; Music Directed by W. J. ROSTETTER; Produced by GUS HILL ..... DETAILS: The sixteen page program measures approx. 6" X 9" inches and includes partial production credits, cast list, synopsis of scenes and wonderful vintage advertising, but no cast photos or bios ..... CONDITION: (Please Note!) There are torn edges to several pages from not having been properly trimmed at the time of printing, moderate creasing and light soiling. Despite these flaws, this rare program will make a wonderful addition to the collection of any musical theatre aficionado or historian. This item will be carefully packaged in a protective, carded sleeve and backed by stiff cardboard.