| Entertaining Women: Actresses, Dancers, and Singers in the Old West Contributor(s): Enss, Chris (Author) |
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ISBN: 1442247339 ISBN-13: 9781442247338 Publisher: Two Dot Books OUR PRICE: $16.10 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: October 2015 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Biography & Autobiography | Women - Biography & Autobiography | Historical - Biography & Autobiography | Entertainment & Performing Arts |
| Dewey: B |
| LCCN: 2015021851 |
| Physical Information: 0.5" H x 6" W x 9" (0.90 lbs) 224 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 19th Century - Sex & Gender - Feminine |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: The Gold Rush West was dotted with mining boomtowns and bustling new cities that sprang up overnight around strikes. Fortunes were made and lost daily, lawlessness was commonplace, and gambling dens, saloons, brothels, and dance halls thrived, but after a while the miners and merchants began to long for more polished amusements. Soon, theatres popped up in tents and then auditoriums and playhouses were built where operas, arias, and Shakespeare were performed by brave actors, dancers, singers, and daredevils who were lured by the call of the West. Many of the most popular women entertainers of the mid-and late-1800s performed in the boomtowns that dotted the West, drawn by the same desire for riches that took miners and merchants there, and bringing a variety of talents and programs. Though they were sometimes literally showered with gold, their personal lives were often marked by tragedy and unhappiness. These stories reveal the entertaining side, but also some of the hardship of the American West. |