Tent show : Arthur Names and his "famous" players /

This addition to the growing literature on the American tent show (i.e., repertoire) tradition offers not only a brief look at the Arthur Names operation (1920-45) but a family history of both Names and his partner for a few of those years, William Whisenhunt. Told by Whisenhunt's son (history, Western Washington Univ.), the story is personal and offers little new information or insight into the tent-rep phenomenon, save for a couple of chapters on the specific operation of Names' company and the plays he wrote specifically for his troupe. The definitive source on tent shows remains William Slout's Theatre in a Tent: The Development of a Provincial Entertainment (CH, Oct'72). Consequently, the present title is primarily relevant for large performing arts collections and perhaps regional repositories that have an interest in popular culture in Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, and especially Texas, the sites of Names's tours. A potted history of the American theater by emeritus theater professor W. Kenneth Waters provides contextualization in an introduction. Notes; selective bibliography; illustrations. D. B. Wilmeth; Brown University