Keeping up appearances

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Marlis Schweitzer

"When Broadway Was the Runway explores the central and largely unacknowledged role of commercial Broadway theater in the birth of modern American fashion and consumer culture. Long before Hollywood's red carpet spectacles, Broadway theater introduced American women to the latest styles. At the beginning of the twentieth century, theater impresarios captured the imagination of their largely female patrons by transforming the stage into a glorious site of consumer spectacle. Theater historian Marlis Schweitzer examines how these impresarios presented the dresses actresses wore onstage, as well as the jewelry and hairstyles they chose, as commodities that were available for purchase in nearby department stores and salons. The Merry Widow Hat, designed for the hit operetta of the same name, sparked an international craze, and the dancer Irene Castle became a fashion celebrity when she anticipated the flapper look of the 1920s by nearly a decade. Not only were the latest styles onstage, but advertisements appeared throughout theaters, in programs, and on the curtains, while magazines such as Vogue vied for the rights to publish theatrical costume sketches and Harper's Bazar enticed readers with photo spreads of actresses in couture. This combination of spectatorship and consumption was a crucial step in the formation of a mass market for consumer goods and the rise of the cult of celebrity. Through historical analysis and dozens of early photographs and illustrations, Schweitzer aims a spotlight at the cultural and economic convergence of the theater and fashion industries in the United States."--Jacket.

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John Russell Brown

Reaching back in time and across the world, this authoritative and wide-ranging new history draws on the latest scholarly research to describe and celebrate theatre's greatest achievements over 4,500 years, from festival performances in ancient Egypt to international multi-cultural theatre in the late twentieth century. Beginning with the origins of theatre in Greece and Rome, and in the early civilizations of Africa and the Americas, the book then guides the reader through the full spectrum of dramatic representation in Europe - from medieval mystery cycles and miracle plays to the Renaissance in Italy, Spain, England, and France; from Lope de Vega and Calderon to Shakespeare, Corneille, Moliere, and Racine; the Golden Age in Spain to Restoration London. In Part Three the focus widens in four period surveys: the Eighteenth Century, the Nineteenth Century, Modern Theatre 1890-1920, and Theatre After Two World Wars. Finally, there are three stimulating essays on the main theatres of Asia and a concluding account of theatre since 1970. . Throughout the book, the chronological record is related to a number of general themes, including theatre's changing role within society, the reasons for popularity or failure, varieties of form and means of production, interactions with other art forms and with contemporary currents of thought. In addition, the text gives due weight to technical, practical, and organizational issues - backstage personnel and equipment; musicians; light and sound technicians; set designers; and financiers - and to the role of audiences and critics.

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Nicholas A. Lambert

For most of the twentieth century, historians thought that British naval policy was driven by the Anglo-German arms race. After examining a prodigious quantity of primary sources, Nicholas A. Lambert concludes that Admiralty decision-making was in fact driven by factors totally unrelated to the German building program. Sir John Fisher's Naval Revolution explores the intrigue and negotiations between the Admiralty and leading domestic reformers of the day, such as Herbert H. Asquith, David Lloyd George, and Winston Churchill, and shows how the politicians regarded the issues of naval strategy and finance as central to the success of their proposed social reforms. Lambert also explains how Great Britain's naval leaders responded to these challenges under the direction of Admiral Sir John Fisher, the service head of the Admiralty from 1904 to 1910.

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Phillip Rock

The final installment of the saga of the Grevilles of Abingdon Pryory begins in the early 1930s, as the Jazz Age comes to a shattering end. What follows is a decade of change and uncertainty, as the younger generation comes of age.