Theatrical and Circus Life / or, Secrets of the Stage, Green-Room and Sawdust Arena

TRANSFORMATION SCENE.
EMBRACING
A HISTORY OF THE THEATRE FROM SHAKESPEARE'S TIME TO THE PRESENT DAY, AND ABOUNDING IN ANECDOTES CONCERNING THE MOST PROMINENT ACTORS AND ACTRESSES BEFORE THE PUBLIC;ALSO, A COMPLETE EXPOSITION OF THE MYSTERIES OF THE STAGE, SHOWING THE MANNER IN WHICH WONDERFUL SCENIC AND OTHER EFFECTS ARE PRODUCED; THE ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF NEGRO MINSTRELSY; THE MOST ASTONISHING TRICKS OF MODERN MAGICIANS, AND A HISTORY OF THE HIPPODROME, ETC., ETC.
Illustrated with Numerous Engravings and Fine Colored Plates.
By JOHN J. JENNINGS.
CHICAGO: Globe Publishing Co. 1886.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1886, by GLOBE PUBLISHING CO., In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

The theatre and the circus, both sources of unlimited amusement to the world, are also objects of the greatest interest to all who have had even a single peep at the stage or pressed their feet even once upon the sawdust precincts of the tented show. The tricks and illusions that are mystifying to nine-tenths of those to whom they are presented rarely fail to be productive of pleasure, and the performers, whether before the foot-lights or within the circus ring, generally succeed in so thoroughly winning the hearts of the public, that, though their faces, when the paint is off and the atmosphere of glory has departed, might not be recognized upon the street, their names are so fixedly identified with the pleasant moments associated with their art, that they become household words, and are spoken, with admiration and praise, by all classes, from the newsboy and bootblack up through the various strata of society even to the ruler of the nation.
In presenting this volume to the public the intention has been to bring the player and the people into closer relations, and by revealing the secrets of the stage and sawdust arena to show that what appears at first to be deep mystery and to many, who are bigoted and averse to theatrical and kindred entertainments, the blackest diabolism, is merely the result of the simplest combinations of mechanical skill and studied art, and is as innocent of the sinister character bestowed upon it as are the efforts of school children at their annual exhibitions or the exercises of a Sabbath School class before a row of drowsy and nodding church-deacons. Fault may be found with the private lives of numbers of the members of the theatrical and circus profession, but the sins and shortcomings of individuals, can be visited upon the entire class with no more justice than can the frailties of a few preachers be applied generally to the pulpit, or the dishonesty of a handful of lawyers be reflected upon all the disciples of Blackstone in existence. Neither is it just to class as theatres places of resort that do not deserve the name—the dives and dens that are frequented by disreputable men and women whose low tastes are catered to by men and women every bit as disreputable as their patrons. Such establishments receive, in this volume, only the severe treatment they fully merit.