African American Entertainment History Bill Cosby Signed Performance Rider for Warwick Musical Theatre, 1988

Bill Cosby

Manuscripts & Autographs

Cosby, Bill. Signed performance rider, 1988, documents the contractual administration of a live appearance by one of the most commercially prominent African American entertainers of the period. Executed while The Cosby Show was in its network run, the document belongs to a stage of Cosby’s career in which television fame and an established stand-up practice supported appearances at large regional venues. The rider records the live-entertainment booking system through which an artist’s company and a theater defined performance requirements, revealing how touring engagements operated beyond the public-facing performance and providing primary-source evidence for the study of African American entertainment, artist management, and regional theatrical production.

Cosby, Bill. March 1988. One-page rider to agreement signed, measuring 8½ by 14 inches. Agreement between SAH Enterprises and Warwick Musical Theatre concerning the provision of Bill Cosby’s services as the designated “Artist.” The document supplements an underlying performance contract by stipulating requirements for Cosby’s appearance at the venue. The specific provisions are not supplied and therefore cannot be characterized further. Cosby signs boldly in black ink, “Bill Cosby.” Warwick Musical Theatre, located in Warwick, Rhode Island, operated as a theater in the round and had become a significant regional venue for nationally known entertainers by the 1970s.

The rider preserves the operational record behind a late-1980s comedy engagement, demonstrating the process by which performance conditions were incorporated into a venue agreement through a separate contractual instrument. Its association with Warwick Musical Theatre also places the document within the history of the northeastern touring circuit that brought Broadway productions, solo entertainers, and comedy acts to regional audiences. Several staple holes; otherwise clean and boldly signed, overall near fine. A substantive signed document connecting Cosby’s live-performance business to one of Rhode Island’s principal twentieth-century entertainment venues.

Item #7677

Price: $150.00