Original color 14 x 22 window card for Bowie's appearance in the play The Elephant Man at the Booth Theatre in New York City in 1980, billing it as a limited engagement. The Broadway play, written by Bernard Pomerance, starred David Bowie, Donal Donnelly, Patricia Elliott, Richard Clarke, Jeffrey Jones, Judith Jones, Dennis Creaghan, and I. B. Hobson. In very good condition, with heavy horizontal folds and light overall scuffing.
Bowie’s opening night in Denver was reported in Variety (August 6, 1980): 'The acting debut on the American stage of rock singer David Bowie was greeted by a standing ovation in Denver when the singer, noted for his flamboyant musical style, took on the role of physically misshapen John Merrick, the human monster with a liking for culture. Drawing on an early mime background and the resourceful staging of his rock shows, Bowie displays the ability to project a complex character.' On casting Bowie, director Jack Hofsiss reported: 'I was familiar with his music, and I had seen him in concert. But the piece of work he did that was most helpful in making the decision was The Man Who Fell to Earth, in which I thought he was wonderful, and in which the character he played had an isolation similar to the Elephant Man’s. His perceptions about the part and his interest were all so good that we decided to investigate the possibility of doing it.'
Bowie researched the role: 'My immediate reaction was to go to the London Hospital museum, which is still retained in a sort of 1840s brick building. And there, among all the other debris of mankind, was the plaster cast of the bits and pieces of Merrick, and also the church that he made [a wooden model of St. Phillip’s Church, which was visible from Merrick’s hospital room] and his hat and cloak. It made me aware for the first time how grotesque he was—the plaster sculptures are quite stunningly grotesque. And the cap itself is so sad, with this little mask down the front. It must have been a dreadful burden.' Bowie took over the role of Merrick in July 1980, in Denver, Chicago and New York, where the run ended in January 1981. In a highly acclaimed performance, Bowie's mime training assisted greatly in conveying Merrick's deformities through bodily contortion (the production eschewed prosthetics of any kind).
