Robert M. Lewis has assembled a remarkable collection of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century primary sources that document America's age of theatrical spectacle. In eight parts, Lewis explores dime museums, minstrelsy, circuses, melodramas, burlesque shows, Wild West shows, amusement parks, and vaudeville.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Contents: Introduction: From Celebration to Show BusinessTHE DIME MUSEUM Early Museum Shows Selling and Seeing Curiosities Commentary Dog Days of the Museum MINSTRELSY Routines: Songs, Speeches, Dialogue, and Farce Commentary: Rise and Fall of "Slave" Creativity Reminiscences Musical Comedy: Harrigan's Mulligan Guard Confessions of an African American Minstrel THE CIRCUS The Circus Debated The Early Circus Big Business The Audience MELODRAMA A Plea for an American Drama Classic Melodrama Classic Melodrama's Audiences The Ten-Twenty-Thirty Melodramas"LEG SHOW" BURLESQUE EXTRAVAGANZAS The Black Crook A Burlesque of Burlesque Reactions to the Controversy The Popular-Price CircuitTHE WILD WEST SHOW Origins Extracts from Buffalo Bill's Wild West Programs Exhibiting Indians SUMMER AMUSEMENT PARKS Journalists and the "New" Coney Showmen and the "Amusement Business" Popular Responses Two Critics of Coney's BanalityVAUDEVILLE Vaudeville Defined The Business Routines
