The Dramatic Publishing Company

By Elizabeth Prata

It's a slow start to the holiday and I'm just fine with that. Breakfast was a veggie hash, code for 'I gotta use up some stuff', and after the coffee was finished, ginger tea.

I went up to The Special Store Friday when they re-opened and bought a few things with my gift certificate.

I got a rattan planter stand and a wide serving bowl for a bird bath. A teapot, and some ephemera, a saucer, a booklet, and a notepad. Here's the details:

The rattan plant stand was intended to be part of a pedestal for a bird bath. The bowl I bought fit on it but it looked pitiful, crooked, and not high enough once I set it up. So I moved the plant stand to the area where the plants are and put a plant on it. I kept the bowl outside. I'll probably use it in some way for the bird bath. The bowl by the way is a Brock of California. The company produced kitschy looking items from the 1947-1980s. Mine is the Farmhouse Yellow Pattern.

The saucer was a replacement for a same saucer pattern I'd broken. It goes with a teacup from Royal Doulton translucent china in the Pillar Rose pattern, produced between 1961 - 1978. Translucent china is like bone china, minus the bone. It was more affordable for the average housewife back then. I like it because it's creamy and smooth, with depth, though lacking the precise delicacy of the bone china cup. Sometimes it's nice to hold a different kind of cup in my hand.

In looking at my teacup and teapot inventory it seems that I do enjoy floral patterns! Only one of my teapots doesn't have flowers on it, the Hall's from 1930. Its pattern prefigures the geometric patterns prevalent in the Art Deco era. Anyway, I was glad to get the saucer situation fixed. When I broke the saucer I'd glued it together but I was never sure it'd hold.

A teapot in Pillar Rose appeared in the store since last time I was there, and though it was being sold as part of a set, I asked if I could buy just the teapot, and they said yes (a bit reluctantly). Here is the Royal Doulton Pillar Rose teapot. I love the shape.

The handle is also sturdy, strong enough to lift the pot. It's a big pot, 5-cup. My only other large teapot is the Homer Laughlin Eggshell Cavalier in Dianne pattern (1957). The eggshell comes from a line of products HL introduced to combat the type-casting of their Fiesta ware items being heavy and clunky, as trends and fads shifted away from the once popular Depression ceramics. The pottery in the Eggshell line as you might guess is lighter. The pot is big, but the handle isn't strong enough once it's filled. I failed to examine the pot closely enough and didn't see the hairline crack. I still use the pot but when I do I have to remember to hold it from underneath. The Royal Doulton pot's handle is sturdy.

I'm a sucker for notepads. Especially when they're a quarter. Especially when they are pretty. Especially when they have a scripture verse or scripturally inspired caption on it! Here it is-

I'm always on the lookout for ephemera I can tear apart and use in crafting. Collages and the like. I've bought some books in other languages and have torn pages out and used them in crafting. This was a thin little booklet, a play titled, "Borderland: A Play in Three Acts". It was first published in 1889!

I looked up the history of the publishing company and it's still in business! Founded in 1885, It is a fifth generation business still focused on publishing plays! From their About page:

About Dramatic Publishing-

In 1885, Charles Sergel, a journalist and a young man with a lifelong interest in theatre, founded The Dramatic Publishing Company in Chicago, Illinois. For five generations, the company has been committed to developing and serving the authors, artists and educators who comprise the world of theatre.

As a matter of fact, here is a bit of literary history

Fifty years ago, my grandfather, Christopher Sergel, agreed to a deal with Harper Lee and her Agent whereby he would dramatize (and Dramatic Publishing would publish and license his adaptation of) To Kill a Mockingbird. ... My grandfather's adaptation was read and approved by Ms. Lee...

The company has also adapted literary works from Louisa May Alcott, Horatio Alger, Ernest Hemingway, S.E. Hinton, Edgar Allen Poe and many, many others. Gee, I sort of don't want to tear apart the booklet now! History, history, readers, is found in the neatest of places.

My next task today will be to watch a few re-potting succulents videos and then go outside to re-pot the 10 small ones I'd bought at Kroger on Friday for $1 each. I also have two 'leggy' hens and chicks that need trimming.

Have a wonderful holiday and week ahead!