The years just prior to World War II and the three decades following represent the golden age of American theatre on Broadway. The names of stars such as Katharine Hepburn, Marlon Brando and Ethel Merman were writ large on theatres everywhere and writers like Eugene O'Neill, Thornton Wilder, Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller offered a new play every season. Photographer Eileen Darby came onto the scene in 1939, eschewing the stiff portraits and fixed tableaux that were then in vogue. Her style of both onstage and offstage rehearsal photography allowed an intimate look at the creative process of theatre and appeared in numerous publications such as Cue, Playbill and the New York Times. With an overview of the period by John Lahr and a biographical portrait of Darby and her work by Mary Henderson, STARS ON STAGE is one of the most dynamic books ever published on this most fascinating period of American culture.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
This treasure chest of 255 classic b&w theater photographs features Ethel Merman in Annie Get Your Gun and Call Me Madam, Zero Mostel in Fiddler on the Roof, Audrey Hepburn in Gigi, Julie Harris and Ethel Waters in Member of the Wedding, John Raitt in Carousel, Ruth Gordon in The Matchmaker and Carol Channing in its musical version, Hello, Dolly! There are too many shows and show people to list, but this handsome package also provides an index, a selected portfolio of shows covered (to read it is to appreciate that Darby was chronicling an important part of American history), a stunning collection of portraits, some wonderful unposed, backstage shots and photos of writers and directors. New Yorker critic Lahr provides a celebratory introduction, but more interesting is theater historian Henderson's brief biography of Darby, who came to New York from Oregon in 1939 and conquered Broadway with her Leica. A few shots of her, slim and boyish in the tailored pant suits she worked in, turn up, as does a Christmas card by her longtime friend Al Hirschfeld, showing her popping out of Santa's bag (she died last year at 87). But the stars take center stage, still dazzling after all these years. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
About the Author
John Lahr is senior theatre critic for The New Yorker and the author of seventeen books on culture and theater.
Mary C. Henderson is an internationally known scholar and expert on American theater and the author of Theater in America.
Mary C. Henderson is an internationally known scholar and expert on American theater and the author of Theater in America.
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Stars on Stage: Eileen Darbz and Broadway's Golden Age: Photographs 1940 - 1964,
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This review is from: Stars on Stage: Eileen Darby and Broadway's Golden Age: Photographs 1940-1964 (Hardcover)
A wonderful book and the perfect gift for an actor. The iamges are really excellent.
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