The Entertainment Machine: American Show Business in the Twentieth Century

by Robert C. Toll

Libro usado en buenas condiciones, por su antiguedad podria contener señales normales de uso

284 pages, Hardcover

First published October 21, 1982

Reviews

[Kathy KS · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although my original interest in this book was to find out more about the vaudeville world in which some of my husband's family worked, I found the book interesting on other levels, too. Since the book was copyrighted in the early 1980s, the technology discussed pretty much stops at VHS and audiocassettes. But for those of us that are baby boomers, the technologies and genres discussed have a wonderful feel of nostalgia. We know who most of those early performers in the 20th century were and watched, listened, etc., many of the movies, stage shows, radio programs, and music mentioned. I also kept thinking, "oh, I need to watch that!", either again or first the first time. Of course, now that's probably going to be on DVD or streaming!

I did come away with a much better sense of the differences in performing in each type of entertainment and the why some performers could transition from one to the others, while some couldn't. Some chapters also deal with specific genres or subjects (westerns, crime, sex, comedy, etc.)