Frank I. Frayne as Si Slocum

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Frank I. Frayne is the actor named here, shown in character as Si Slocum, a role that placed him in the stage world of late nineteenth-century American theater. The lithograph was printed by the Metropolitan Lithographic Studio in New York around 1879, when firms like this one produced inexpensive portrait prints of performers to sell to theatergoers and to promote shows. Its place on the dog shelf reflects a common feature of popular melodrama of the period, where a dog could be a loyal companion or a key sentimental prop. Notice how the print turns a stage persona into a collectible image meant to keep a favorite performer in view after the curtain fell.

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