In his time theatre actor and manager Jack Langrishe (1825-1895) could claim to be as well known in the American frontier West as General Grant was in the East. He gained his fame providing welcome entertainment to prospectors and miners pursing gold and silver bonanzas in Colorado, Montana, South Dakota and Idaho. He led a life as thrilling as any drama he presented. He participated in the tumultuous life of mining camps as he followed the expanding American frontier from the old Northwest Territory to early Denver, Deadwood and Idaho's Coeur D'Alene. He survived the Chicago Fire of 1872 and crossed the same Indian territory at the time when Custer made his last stand. While best known as a gifted comic actor and producer of fine dramas, Langrishe also edited western newspapers, won election as an Idaho state senator and served as a justice of the peace. Here for the first time is the complete tale of Jack Langrishe, a major figure in the epic of the American frontier, how he gained and lost fortunes, left audiences weak with laughter and became recognized as the father of theatre in Colorado and Montana.

The story of American repertory theatre actress Jolly Della Pringle is best described as an odyssey filled with travel, adventure, dramatic events, romance and many changes in fortune. She lived an extraordinary life in interesting times on the closing frontier of the American West. In the days before radio, motion pictures and television, traveling repertory companies used wagons, stagecoaches and railroads to bring entertainment to cities and towns across America. No history of this movement would be complete without the tale of Jolly Della Pringle who was a major star to the people in the gold fields, cow towns, logging camps, military forts rural communities in the West and Midwest during the decades before and after the turn of the twentieth century. Here for the first time is Della Pringle's saga including her rise from teenage hotel maid to a magnificently gowned star of her own theatrical company, her amassing of a fortune, her coast to coast fame and her appearances in Mack Sennett's Keystone Kops comedies. She knew most of the performers in the show business of her time including Buffalo Bill Cody, Charlie Chaplin, John Gilbert and Gloria Swanson. Her personal life was equally eventful: she married and divorced a “sinful” five times.

Story of how in four decades an isolated mining camp supply town, Boise, Idaho, overcame major obstacles to earn recognition as a Pacific Northwest "show town" with a fine theatre and large audiences to support frequent performances by national touring companies. Illustrated with over forty historical photographs. Brief biographies of many nineteenth century performers. Covers a wide range of theatrical events: comedies, dramas, minstrel shows, circuses, magicians, musicians and variety shows.