Vintage Philadelphia Print - The Troc - Burlesque House - Vaudeville - Spicy - Peppy - Leggy

Treasures from THE PHILADELPHIA / DELAWARE VALLEY COLLECTION at The Willing Mind. By exclusive arrangement with The Grand Review.

Print size 24 x 10 and consciously formatted to work with a 24 x 10 frame, or custom framed as you see fit. For further easy, inexpensive framing options, please feel free to contact us.


There is a special place in the hearts and minds of Philadelphians for the Troc that is difficult to imagine its like anywhere else in the world. Built as the Arch Street Opera House in 1870 and maintaining a number of original details inside and out, the National Historic Landmark had been a frightening yet comical eyesore in the 50s, 60s and 70s as a ragged old burlesque house, and photos from the era show a grand old building desperate to be restored.

When it closed in the late 70s for renovation, Philadelphia's WPEN held a last burlesque show there, bringing in 'seasoned' strippers from Ann Corio's THIS WAS BURLESQUE Broadway show, including a baggy pants comic, a three piece band, and delightfully awful comedy routines. My folks got tickets for us and no, I did not sit next to them during the show but the audience was full of regular Philadelphians who had come to celebrate the mind boggling kookiness of this beloved, shabby relic.

Now for over 20 years a remarkably successful music venue, the Troc holds a different place in the hearts of younger Philadelphians. I've seen George Clinton's P-Funk All Stars there. I've screamed out all the high notes during The Sweet's reunion tour. I've watched LOTS of friends play there, and I have performed on that stage twice with the Big Mess Orchestra.

This lively print started life as a 1940s matchcover which we disassembled digitally, rebuilt it as you see here, and cleaned it up considerably. That said, we consciously stopped the restoration process to leave a little bit of raggedy edge to it... itself a tip of the hat to our beloved Troc!

• Handmade item
• Materials: Art stock enhanced matte paper, archival ink
• Made to order
• Only ships within United States.

SHIPPING

All prints are shipped in a sturdy mailing tube for $8, which covers postage, tube and S & H.

BUYING MORE THAN ONE PRINT? Add a second print or any number thereafter of this or any other prints in our catalog and shipping is still just $8, total!!!

International shipping is available and reasonable. Please contact us for details.

A NOTE ON OUR PROCESS, OUR CHOICES AND THE QUALITY OF THE GRAPHIC CRAFTSMANSHIP THAT GOES INTO OUR PRINTS.

Every print we deem exciting enough to present to the public via our Etsy store or available here at our studio has gone through a number of steps. The first of those is always discovering and falling in love with an obscure image, always an original that we can hold in our hands. That image is speaking to us, sometime screaming “Don’t leave me here. See what I am, what I was, what I can be, what I SHOULD be!”

There is a real sense of excitement involved, and a great many smiles and knowing grins when we make that deal and bring that ancient print, that battered photo, that scrap of ephemera that contains some scrap of genius from an unknown commercial artist home with us, knowing already how we mean to approach its restoration.

There is the heady promise of a further hunt just as real as what drags a weekend fisherman out of bed at 3AM to work a favorite brook as we start our research, looking for that great backstory, and both ready and willing to tumble down as many rabbit holes as are revealed to us to get that story.

Then there is a meticulous digital restoration that is as often as much fun as riding a vintage Moto Guzzi on a winding coastal road. I don’t care if that sounds crazy, it really is like jumping in the saddle! So many choices, so many chances to take to subtly or spectacularly give new life to otherwise permanently obscure images.

This dedication and the ongoing rush of joy in the accomplishment of it, and the opportunity to share the results in our studio and here on Etsy, is the fire of passion that keeps these engines roaring. We make every effort to ensure our customers are not just satisfied but thrilled, and we happily stand 100% behind our work.