[WWI] Timbertown Follies

(Geïnterneerde Engelsche marine-matrozen uit Groningen). Voorstelling ten bate van het Britsche Roode Kruis. 78 x 108 cm. Drukkerij Kotting, Amsterdam, c. 1917. Framed under glass, frame 85.5 x 115 cm. Corners with a few folds, else good. With: 2 variants of Fred Penley presents "The Timbertown Follies" - Tekstboekje, of which 1 with inlaid programme for the show in Rotterdam on 20 November 1915. Both stapled, 24 x 16 cm + Fred. Penley presents the 1921 Follies a la Carte. Text book, stapled, 15 pp. + picture postcard with photo of The Timbertown Follies (unwritten and uncirculated) - and several photocopied articles.

After the fall of Antwerp in 1914, the English First Royal Naval Brigade accidently ended up in Dutch territory. The soldiers were detained on neutral ground, as far removed from the frontline as possible: Groningen. In order to drive off boredom the soldiers began a theatre company. The Timbertown Follies became very popular with both the soldiers and the local population, even leading to two national tours of the Netherlands. In 1917, a sum of 3414,38 guilders was collected for the British Red Cross. The soldiers were released at the end of the war, thus signalling the end for the original Follies.