Anna Cora Mowatt, married in 1834 at age 15, lived in luxury until her husband's health failed and he lost his money, forcing her to find a way to support them. She was the first woman to give public poetry readings; she wrote the first social satire for the stage; and, having become a star overnight without previous acting experience, she was the first American to make acting a respectable profession for women--proving that a lady could be an actress and an actress a lady. Though this book was … [Read more...] about Actress in Spite of Herself: The Life of Anna Cora Mowatt by Mildred Allen Butler
Becoming Carlotta: A Biographical Novel by Brenda Murphy
Hazel Tharsing was born in California in 1888. Intensely shy, she learned to meet the world as the glamorous actress Carlotta Monterey, by far the greatest acting role of her twenty-year career. Counted among the most beautiful women in America, she married a British aristocrat in London, then the twenty-year-old son of her mother’s lover in San Francisco, then a famous artist in New York, and finally America’s greatest playwright, Eugene O’Neill, in Paris. This novel about her life is an … [Read more...] about Becoming Carlotta: A Biographical Novel by Brenda Murphy
Bargain Book: Marina in a Green Dress by Alan Davidson
New to London, Jessica is obsessed with the hit musical MARINA and its charismatic star - Kennedy Orr. It's a welcome escape from her dreary bedsit, her dull boy friend Steve and her boring job with a scary woman boss. She loves the show so much that she's seen it more times than she cares to admit, even though it ends in a beautiful death. One day she pours out all her feelings in a long letter to the star and tells him the story of her life. She has no intention of posting it but Steve has … [Read more...] about Bargain Book: Marina in a Green Dress by Alan Davidson
