All That Glittered: The Golden Age of Drama on Broadway, 1919-1959

From the late 1920s to late 1950s, the Broadway theatre was America's cultural epicenter. Television didn't exist and movies were novelties. Entertainment took the form of literature, music, and theatre. During this golden age of Broadway, actors and actresses became legends and starred in now classic plays. Laurence Olivier, Alfred Lunt and Lynne Fontaine were names to remember, etching plays into memory as they brought the words of Tennessee Williams or Eugene O'Neill to life. Joseph Cotton romanced Katherine Hepburn in Philip Barry's The Philadelphia Storywhile Laurette Taylor becameThe Glass Menagerie'sAmanda Wingfield.  Frederic March, Florence Eldridge, Jason Robards Jr. and Bradford Dillman showed us life among the ruins inLong Day's Journey Into Night.InAll That Glittered, Ethan Mordden, long one of Broadway's best chroniclers, recreates the fascinating lost world of its golden age.