SOME NORTH AMERICAN THEATRE HISTORY

The Broadway theatre of today, while quite successful and impressive, is but a small remnant of a thriving business that included hundreds upon hundreds of first class theatres in cities of every size throughout the United States and Canada.  Thousands upon thousands of people made their livings as actors, stagehands, theatre managers, and in other capacities that do not include producing, directing, and the writing of plays.  These creative aspects of the field were done, principally (but not exclusively) in New York City, the center of this vast network of stage entertainment.  [A number of successful touring shows, many of which played on Broadway at one time or another, were originally produced in Chicago and Los Angeles.  Oliver Morosco was the greatest producer of plays and musicals in L.A. from 1911 until into the 1920s.]
This did not include the various vaudeville circuits and burlesque wheels, each of which had its own theatres.  It is safe to say that more than a hundred thousand people made their livings through stage entertainment from the 1880s through the 1930s, when the triple blow of radio, sound films, and the Depression left so many jobless--people who had been in the "amusement" field for decades and who knew no other way of life.
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INTRODUCTION

This blog is about information on popular entertainment--primarily the American commercial stage. History of such is the main topic, but information, etc., on the current pop stage will not be out of bounds and is, in fact, quite welcome.
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