The Footlights, Fore and Aft

A glittering, waspish collection of theater essays from the golden age of Broadway. Channing Pollock, who knew everyone worth knowing in early 20th-century American theater, turns his sharp eye on the characters who populate it: the egomaniacal actors, the long-suffering playwrights, the desperate press agents, the managers who somehow keep the whole precarious enterprise afloat. These are not formal critiques or dry histories. Instead, Pollock serves up delicious anecdotes about what really happens at rehearsals (chaos), what occurs on first nights (terror masked by sequins), and how plays actually get written (rarely through any process anyone would admit to). Whether he's dissecting the peculiar madness of vaudeville, the strange rituals of stock companies, or the ancient grudges between critics and creators, Pollock writes with the insider's knowledge and the essayist's wit. The title itself, 'The Footlights, Fore and Aft', captures his mission: illuminating both what audiences see and what happens in the shadowy machinery behind the stage.