Playbill for “The Jewel of Asia” a Comic Opera in Honor of the Seventeenth Council of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.

(AMERICAN-JUDAICA)

Cincinnati

1901

English text composed in faux-Japanese fonts and printed in green on thin Japanese paper; descending lettering accompanying illustrations.

This finely produced playbill executed in Japanese-style. A review of the opera appeared in the ‘American Israelite’ in its coverage of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations Biennial Council: “The entertainment that surprised and delighted the visitors most was the manner in which the operetta ‘The Jewel of Asia’ was presented and staged at the Cincinnati Club. The technical work was above that of the average professional stage, while the ensemble of fresh, young, well-trained voices, of beautiful girls in the early dawn of womanhood and handsome young men was such as to rouse the envy of the most successful impresario” (American Israelite, January 24, 1901, p. 1).