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Defying “Death at the Wheel”

The Unexpectedly Long Life and Far Reach of Bertha, the Sewing Machine Girl

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2021

Heather S. Nathans
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Abstract

Some obsessions stay with you for a reason. On its surface, Bertha, the Sewing Machine Girl; or, Death at the Wheel, a ludicrously named melodrama peopled with exaggerated heroines and villains, offers an example of the noncanonical, everyday fare that audiences consumed in playhouses throughout the 19th century. But the deeper I dug, the more questions I uncovered.

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Article
Information
TDR , Volume 65 , Issue 2 , June 2021 , pp. 29 - 44
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press for Tisch School of the Arts/NYU

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