The New York concert saloon : the devil's own nights /

This well-researched volume in the valuable Cambridge series explores concert saloons, a form of theatrical entertainment that flourished in drinking establishments in the second half of the 19th century in New York City. McNamara (performance studies, New York Univ.) devotes chapters to the acts, the spaces and their equipment, and to the personnel. The research is largely based on reports that appeared in the theatrical paper Clipper, which was kindly disposed toward concert saloons, and from the records of the Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents, which opposed the saloons and collected fines levied under laws intended to curtail them. The author also looks at beer gardens and dance halls and at the impact of concert saloons across the country, especially in the Far West. Some illustrations, appendixes including one devoted to the State of New York Act to Regulate Public Amusement in the City of New York. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Collections supporting study at the upper-division undergraduate level and above. R. Sugarman emeritus, Southern Vermont College