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Before Amazon, before the internet, the Sears catalog offered a complete shopping experience in the comfort of the home. A live performance over zoom, performed by the American Historical Theater.
* Use this link to join our virtual program: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85828576703
Sears, Roebuck and Co., the business that would become Chicago's leading company, and America's leading retailer for much of the twentieth century, was founded in 1893 by Richard W. Sears, one hundred and thirty years ago this year.
This is the story of a man who started out selling watches and ended up selling just about everything. The Sears story involves the characters of Richard Sears, Alvah Roebuck, and Julius Rosenwald (who was the man behind the curtain, who really made Sears and Roebuck a success).
Mr. Gleason portrays all three characters changing hats, moustaches and voices to tell a story that most people never knew. Tune in and learn about Mr. Sears (and Mr. Roebuck), and how a small business became what was once one of the biggest businesses in the world.
Performer: Bob Gleason has a degree in Theatre Arts from West Chester University. He has performed on stage, screen, television, radio, and in opera and ballet (Peter and the Wolf). While serving in the U.S. Army, he toured Europe with the 7th Army Soldiers Chorus.
Joining the American Historical Theatre as James Wilson in 1991, the Bicentennial for the Bill of Rights. Mr. Gleason had been portraying this Founding Father for the Freedoms Foundation of Valley Forge since 1985. Gleason terms his meeting with American Historical Theater's William and Pamela Sommerfield as a turning point in his personal and professional life. In-depth historical research and audience interactivity have become hallmarks of Mr. Gleason’s historical portrayals. Bob has presented programs featuring nearly one hundred and fifty historical figures, stretching over two thousand years of history. These programs have taken him from Washington D.C. to San Diego, California, and from El Paso, Texas to Milwaukee, Wisconsin (twenty one states, so far). He has performed at the White House Visitors Center, The Smithsonian Institution, Constitution Hall, George Washington’s Mount Vernon, Ford’s Theatre, Independence Hall, The National Constitution Center, The Union League of Philadelphia, Valley Forge National Park, Federal Hall in New York City, numerous historic sites, and a long list of schools, libraries and other venues public and private. He lives near Lansdale, in Pennsylvania with his wife of thirty five plus years, and a large stock of costumes, props, and books.
Bob's character portrayals (in no particular order) include but not limited to: Abraham Lincoln, Baron Von Steuben, John Witherspoon, James Wilson, Gilbert Stuart, Charles Willson Peale,Thomas Edison, Frank Lloyd Wright, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Francis Scott Key, Benjamin Rush, Samuel Morse, John Wanamaker, John Bartram, Edgar Allan Poe, Sam Spade and the Maltese Falcon, Robert E. Lee, Galileo, Patrick Henry, General Sir William Howe, Thomas Paine, and more.
At the conclusion of the program please feel free to take a brief online survey here:
https://www.projectoutcome.org/responses/68669
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