Skeleton Drummer Playing Cards

Detail of Skeletal drummer from the Poster for the WPA Federal Theatre Project production of Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, New York City (1937). The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, commonly referred to simply as Doctor Faustus, is an Elizabethan tragedy by Christopher Marlowe, based on German stories about the title character Faust. It was probably written in 1592 or 1593, shortly before Marlowe's death. The play is well-known for a famous line: "Was this the face that launched a thousand ships / And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?", said by Faustus upon seeing a demon impersonating Helen.