Name: The Age and Stage of George L. Fox, 1825-1877: 1825-1877
Author: Senelick, Laurence
ISBN: 9780877456841

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The Age and Stage of George L. Fox, 1825-1877: 1825-1877

by Laurence Senelick

University of Iowa Press, 1999
Paper: 978-0-87745-684-1
Library of Congress Classification PN1986.F68S46 1999
Dewey Decimal Classification 792.3028092

ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE

ABOUT THIS BOOK

Senelick's biography of the panto clown Laff Fox, renowned in his time as America's funniest performer, brings this most popular and most tragic legend to life. In his new essay to this expanded edition, Senelick draws upon recent discoveries and insights to further animate Fox's remarkable career.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Laurence Senelick is professor of drama at Tufts University and the editor of, among many other publications, Wandering Stars: Russian Emigré Theatre, 1905-1940 (Iowa, 1992). The first edition of The Age and Stage of George L. Fox won the Theatre Library Association's George Freedley Memorial Award.

REVIEWS

“This is a magisterial study, the author of which is the best writer among American theatre scholars. Among his virtues is an unerring eye for the apposite quotation and the clinching anecdote…The Age and Stage of George L. Fox may be recommended to students of theatre history as exemplary. It is a performance biography grounded in a deeply learned sense of theatrical fun.”—Theatre History Studies

“Senelick reacquaints us with the man called 'Royal George' in his heyday, and convincingly argues that his panto style is reflected in the lazzi of the Marx Brothers, the Three Stooges and the animated cartoon. This well organized, thoroughly researched volume will benefit anyone fascinated with nineteenth-century America's cultural and theatrical history, or those intrigued by the development of physical comedy style. It will enhance any library, public or private.”—Theatre Studies

“…an evocative portrait of the colorful and rambunctious nineteenth-century popular stage that extends well beyond biography or theatrical antiquarianism. Populated with eccentric journeymen actors, unscrupulous producers, grasping wives, and gregarious audiences, Senelick's narrative entertains in the style of a nineteenth-century melodrama. More importantly, Senelick persuasively weaves the crosscurrents of social, political, and moral values of the day into his account.”—Theatre Journal

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CONTENTS

FOREWORD TO THE PAPERBACK EDITION

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION

1.
On Stage in Boston (1825–38)

2.
The Little Foxes (1838–46)

3.
The Howards and the Foxes (1846–50)

4.
New York Opportunities (1850–52)

5.
Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Triumph of Sentiment (1852–54)

6.
The Chatham Street Theatre (1854–58)

7.
The Old Bowery and the New (1858–60)

8.
Lieutenant Fox Goes to War (1860–63)

9.
The Triumph of Pantomime (1863–66)

10.
Barnum's and Beyond (1866–67)

11.
The Rise of Humpty Dumpty(1867–68)

12.
A Hard Act to Follow (1868–70)

13.
Hamlet and the Triumph of Travesty (1870–71)

14.
Humpty's Return and the Triumph of Variety (1871–73)

15.
Augustin Daly at the Helm (1873–74)

16.
Humpty Dumpty Has a Great Fall (1874–75)

17.
Too Cracked to Be Mended (1875–77)

Epilogue: Fox's Legacy

APPENDIX ONE:
Fox-Howard Genealogy

APPENDIX TWO:
Cigar-Store Humpties

APPENDIX THREE:
Fox's Tours of 1874–75

NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

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