Lexington, Kentucky, has been called the cradle of the legitimate theatre west of the Appalachians since the opening of its first theatre in 1808. Not long after that opening, a fledgling resident acting company presented Macbeth, the town's first professional production of a Shakespearean play. Since then, the local and traveling stars committed to drama drove Lexington's live theatrical glamour to thrive impressively into the twentieth century. Many of the actors who performed in Lexington in the plays of Shakespeare have been forgotten, but their vivid personalities and devotion to their art were once an integral part of American popular culture. The history of their careers and their lives is an important part of theatre history, of Kentucky history, and of American history. This study presents detailed accounts of individual actors in the order of their first appearances in Lexington. Early chapters explore the range of exposure to Shakespeare's plays and players experienced by the town of Lexington and investigate the cultural climate that affected and was affected by that experience. Because Lexington's theatrical history provides a template for what so many mid-American towns experienced in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a section of the book explores how hundreds of American cities connected by the early turnpikes and railroads constituted a community of theatre towns that cherished Shakespeare as a keystone of American culture. Remaining chapters are devoted to the lives and careers of the inspiring performers who brought Shakespeare's words to life over the centuries. Reviews published in Lexington, supplemented with details from newspapers of New York and other cities, have provided source material. In addition, theatrical biographies, histories, historical photographs, programs, advertisements, theatrical journals, scrapbooks, film, and even primitive sound recordings are examined in an attempt to reconstruct something of what Lexington saw and heard of Shakespeare on its local stages.

Clyde Fitch (1865-1909) was the most successful and prolific dramatist of his time, producing nearly sixty plays in a twenty-year career. He wrote witty comedies, chaotic farces, homespun dramas, star vehicles, historical works, stark melodramas, and adaptations of European successes, but he was best known for his society plays, mirroring themes found in the novels of Henry James and Edith Wharton. In fact, Fitch collaborated with Wharton on a stage adaptation of her House of Mirth. He was also a gay man, although that gentler adjective was not the term of his time. He was bullied in school and baited by critics throughout his career for what they supposed of his private life. He responded with impressive strength and integrity. He was, at least for a short time, Oscar Wilde's lover, and Wilde influenced his early plays, but Fitch's study of Ibsen and other European dramatists inspired him to pursue the course of naturalism. As he became more successful, he took greater control of the staging and design of his plays. He was a complete man of the theatre and among the first names enrolled in New York's theatrical hall of fame.

When Mrs. August Belmont died in 1979, just before her 100th birthday, she was remembered as a philanthropist and advocate for the arts, especially the Metropolitan Opera, but before her triumphs as Mrs. Belmont, she had dignified the American stage for 13 glorious years as Eleanor Robson, actress. Her splendid voice, understated style, and always-evident intelligence thrilled legions of theatregoers and enthralled the best playwrights of her time, including Israel Zangwill, Clyde Fitch, and George Bernard Shaw. Despite the brevity of her career, Eleanor Robson stands as a prototype for many actresses who followed her--women who sought to control their own careers and lives, demanded artistic respect and freedom, and who, by the twenty-first century, would confidently call themselves not actresses, but actors. This is her first book-length biography, focusing particularly on her theatrical career.

A reflection on one of Broadway's most iconic flops, this memoir follows a musical that featured one of the silver screen's most powerful personalities. Bette Davis was nominated for twelve Academy Awards and twice won the Best Actress award, starring in classics like Jezebel, The Letter, The Little Foxes, All About Eve and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, among many more. In 1974, the living legend agreed to star in Miss Moffat, a musical adaptation of Emlyn Williams' The Corn in Green. Expectations were high, but Miss Moffat opened and then abruptly closed, leading theatre gossips to speculate on what went wrong. Early in his career, Kevin Lane Dearinger, a young actor who had recently relocated to New York, landed a minor role in Miss Moffat. Inexperienced and unsure of himself, he kept a journal of his observations and experiences throughout production. He observed the older and more seasoned Miss Davis, who seemed determined to remain clear-headed despite the unfolding calamity. In this book, Dearinger revisits his journal to reflect on his own life, a fated stage production, his experience with an entertainment legend and a bygone era of Broadway.