Book Review: The Theatres of Boston: A Stage and Screen History by Donald C. King

Author: Donald C. King
Title: The Theatres of Boston: A Stage and Screen History
Publication Info: Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland & Co., c2005.
Summary/Review:

The Theatres of Boston is a history of Boston’s playhouses, vaudeville, burlesque, and movie theaters from Colonial times to the 21st century.  It’s full of fascinating tidbits about theater architecture, performances, and hidden quirks.  Unfortunately, this book is poorly written, sticking to a strict chronological sequence where histories of different theaters are mixed up sometimes within the same paragraph.  It might have made more sense if it was just a bulleted-point list.  Even better would be a book with a chapter on each theater that compiles its architectural details, modifications and name changes, and notable performances, but that is not the book this is.

Recommended books:

• Boston’s Downtown Movie Palaces by Arthur Singer
• Boston’s Theater District by Dale Stinchcomb

Rating: **

A sound clip from our new episode!

Herbert J. Biberman, is famous in Hollywood history for being "One of the Hollywood Ten."

But his Philadelphia origin story - and his career in its theater world - is almost completely unknown . . . . because he wanted it that way.

(Link to our website, with all podcast episodes is in our Bio)

#HollywoodTen #hollywoodhistory #phillyhistory #theatrehistory #theaterhistory

New Episode! #theatre #theater #theaterhistory #philadelphia #steelmagnolias

https://www.aithpodcast.com/abigail-adams-and-marcia-saunders-at-peoples-light/

Sak has updated the interface on his site for searching British Library playbills - it's more mobile/tablet friendly, and has all kinds of search options to play with!
https://blplaybills.org/

#theaterHistory #theatrehistory #playbills #MuseTech

October 8th, 1900: "Ben-Hur" came to #philadelphia

The Chestnut Street Opera House hosted the tour of the biggest and most successful Broadway show of the era, starring the handsome star William Farnum.

The show was an adaptation of the 1880 novel "Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ" by Gen. Lew Wallace. It boasted a cast of 350 people.

The role of Jesus Christ was by a a 25,000 candle-power beam of light.

#theatre #theater #theatrehistory #theaterhistory

In which Sak Supple shares his experiments with using LLMs to transcribe 18th and 19th century playbills from the British Library - manicules, long 's' and all! 'blplaybills.org: better search results using LLMs' https://www.bl.uk/stories/blogs/posts/blplaybills-org-better-search-results-using-llms

#OCR #TheaterHistory #LLMs #AI #ATR

Have you checked out Sak Supple's https://blplaybills.org/ lately? He's been experimenting with semantic search, and improving OCR for British Library playbills.

A big boon for #TheaterHistory / #TheatreHistory!

Please let him or us know if you have feedback or ideas

📘⭐ The nineteenth-century US entertainment industry through the perspective of an ordinary actor:

'An Actor's Tale : Theater, Culture, and Everyday Life in the Nineteenth-Century United States' - a book from Michigan Publishing on #ScienceOpen:

➡️ https://www.scienceopen.com/book?vid=baf2b2b5-08a4-4e6f-85b4-2b95680aa0b9

#TheaterHistory #PerformanceStudies #CulturalHistory #AmericanStudies

📘⭐ How people can shape a city’s spaces and how a city can shape its people:

'Movable Londons : #Performance and the Modern City' - a book from Michigan Publishing on #ScienceOpen:

➡️ https://www.scienceopen.com/book?vid=63f0f664-c8c3-44e0-b11e-a75aecb3317f

#RestorationTheater #LondonHistory #TheaterHistory #ClassStudies