Yes, I think you are probably right that it is now an Equity rule. And I'm sure it's much easier now to include photos. Indeed, it looks to me like there was a change in the kind of paper used for playbills starting in the around 1955 or 1956, and then I think another change a few years later. Prior to those changes, I think including photos would have been difficult, although sometimes there were photos on the covers for some shows before that.
It wasn't even till around 1945 or so (maybe a year or two later) that understudies were even listed in playbills. I won't say that they were never listed before that, but I'm pretty sure I've never seen a playbill with understudy listings before that time. |
