The Texas Ranger, the Play that Pleases

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texas ranger.jpg
The Texas Ranger [broadside] (Milwaukee: Greve Show Print Co., no date [ca. 1895]). Western Americana collection.

This broadside advertises “one of the best and most realistic Western dramas ever written,” entitled The Texas Ranger. One side of the poster points out that this is “not an untried play, but one which has had long runs in New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago —now being presented with the same strong cast.” According to the promotion, it is “a story of today!”

It certifies that this play has been “endorsed and commended by the most conservative critics in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Buffalo and Providence who unite in pronouncing Texas Ranger one of the best and most realistic Western dramas ever written.”

At the end of the nineteenth century, The Greve Show Printing Company was a theatrical printing business, specializing in commercial posters and moving picture window displays. In 1901, the local Wisconsin business was purchased by Rudolph Pfeil, Jr. (1860-1911), who renamed it the American Show Print Company of Milwaukee. This firm covered the entire United States with their business along with an extensive patronage in Canada, England, and Australia. At its height, the company employed about seventy people, including a dedicated team of artists and master printers.

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I also have a print from the Greve Show print co. #3090 Joseph DeGrasse in Richelieu in color but no date on this piece. Any idea's on how to research this further. I also have a print from the Gillin Print Co. in New York the #41 is on this. It reads Mr. Josheph DeGrasse in Hamlet also in color..