Artist: ANONYMOUS
Size: 27 3/4 x 41 5/8 in./70.5 x 105.7 cm
Condition: Cond B+/Slight tears at folds.
Printer: W.J. Morgan Lith., Cleveland
Reference:

Mayo as Nordeck. ca. 1894.
He cuts quite the dashing figure, n’est-ce pas? And though “Mayo as Nordeck” was all that needed to be said to potential theatergoers at the time of this poster’s production, it’s quite possible that “Mayo” may draw little more than puzzled glances from today’s theater crowd. So permit me this brief refresher. Actor, playwright and manager Frank Mayo (1839-1896) was one of the few native-born American actors who rose to fame in the last half of the nineteenth century, best-known across America for his portrayal of Davy Crockett in a drama that helped to perpetuate the nation's myth about the frontier spirit. And he didn’t come to the theater by way of any other profession–he began acting at age sixteen and pursued theatrical ventures until his death at fifty-seven, suffering a heart attack while aboard a train in Nebraska on his way to a final engagement for the season in Omaha. During his life-spanning career, Mayo served as a manager for a number of theatrical venues, as well as being a resident and touring actor. While he starred in popular melodramas such as “The Streets of New York,” he also endeavored to bring Shakespeare to the public, as well as presenting self-penned pieces, such as “Nordeck,” a nationally well-received melodrama set in the Baltic provinces of Prussian Poland and based on the novel, Veneta. Though the plot of the play is somewhat thorny, essentially it follows the coming of age of Waldemar Nordeck as his reunion with his mother–a Polish princess–transforms him from provincial adventurer to learned gentleman and he finds true love. Frank Mayo's success was a result of performing dramas that expressed sentiments and ideals that were at once considered to be universal and American–romantic love, chivalry, bravery, compassion, justice, strength and a firm resolve "to do what is right."