This book shows eminent actors performing under stringent conditions in vaudeville. It was a strange notion in 1900 that leading lights of the legitimate stage would ever join a bill of 'turns', with everything from song-and-dance to criminals regaling crowds with their exploits. It chronicles renowned actors showing rough fare in rough times.

Acknowledgements Introduction Patronizing, 1890-1901 Precious Brits, 1904-1912 Growing Pains, 1910-1913 Suffer the Women, 1910-1914 War and Peace, 1914-1918 Parting, 1921-1934 Afterthoughts Notes Bibliography Index

LEIGH WOODS is Professor of Theatre and Drama and Head of Theatre Studies at the University of Michigan, USA.