THE LAST STROKE - A STORY OF CUBA'S STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE- RARE 1896 POSTER

Description

We are offering a
VERY RARE
(maybe the only one known to exist)
Original Theater Poster
for the play
" THE LAST STROKE - A STORY OF CUBA'S STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE ".
Play by J.N. MORRIS.
Poster by
THE STROBRIDGE LITHO CO. Copyright 1896.
This three-sheet poster measures 81" x 38" plus a 1" margin all around.  It has been professionally restored and linen backed and SHOWS BEAUTIFULLY!
Here is a little history of the p
lay:
The Last Stroke
,
set in the fields of insurgent Cuba, opened in St. Paul, Minnesota in February 1896 and was later produced in New York and Philadelphia.  A New York Times theatre critic was in the audience on the opening night of
The Last Stroke.
The critic wrote: "Cuban patriots and liberty-loving Americans cheered for Cuba Libre at the Star Theatre last night during the performance for the first time in this city of "
The Last Stroke",
a melodrama founded on the events in the war for independence now being waged in the island dependency of Spain.....  The house was draped with American and Cuban flags [and] American sympathy for the struggling Cubans gave vent in a mighty shout when the American Consul of the play said: 'No.  We don't want diplomacy! Where would American have been if we had had diplomacy instead of Bunker Hill?' " The critic continued: "When a little Cuban flag was tossed on the stage by a pretty girl at the close of the second act, a gray-haired gentleman in the second row jumped up and proposed three cheers for Cuba.  They were given with a will, and twice three more, the audience rising.  The applause was kept up until the author of the play, Mr. Morris, was disclosed by the curtain to bow his thanks."