Introduction

The period from the end of the Civil War to the onset of the Great Depression was the most dynamic in the history of the American stage. General economic prosperity and expanding urban populations fueled a demand for theatrical entertainment and an ever greater number of actors. Emerging young talents overlapped waning older stars. Traditional and new acting approaches and dramatic material jockeyed for audience attention and critical recognition. The acting profession, long held in disrepute, gradually attained an unprecedented level of social respectability. For the acting profession, it was a dynamic, progressive time, although not without significant organizational and artistic tensions and conflicts. Since other essays in this volume describe how organizational changes – the long run, touring combinations, managerial monopolies, and so forth – affected actors, this chapter concentrates principally on signal developments within the acting profession, on shifts in acting style, and on the leading, most celebrated actors of the era.

The Gilded Age: 1870–1915

The Profession Expands

After the Civil War, the number of actors steadily increased. The 1870 census reported two thousand actors and actresses; by 1890 this figure had grown almost fivefold. By 1912 there were more than fifteen thousand actors (see Winter, Wallet of Time, I, 28). This figure probably included only legitimate performers. If one adds professional showpeople – dancers, circus performers, and variety artists – there were possibly as many as thirty to forty thousand employed in some form of theatre or popular entertainment at the turn of the century.