Jolly Della Pringle: Star of the Western Stage

Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2015. First Edition . Trade Paperback. As New. 6" x 9. 207 Pages Indexed. Brand new condition and gift quality. Interior text pages are flawless.The story of American repertory theatre actress Jolly Della Pringle (1870-1952) is an odyssey of travel, adventure, drama, romance and many changes in fortune. Pringle was a major star to the people in the gold fields, cow towns, logging camps, military forts and rural communities of the West and Midwest during the decades before and after the turn of the 20th century. She knew most of the famous performers of her day, including Buffalo Bill Cody, Charlie Chaplin, Fatty Arbuckle, Douglas Fairbanks and Gloria Swanson. Before serial marriage was common in show business, the seldom single Della Pringle married and divorced five times. Here for the first time is Pringle's saga, covering her rise from a teenage hotel maid to the magnificently gowned star of her own theatrical company, her amassing of a fortune, her coast to coast fame and her appearances in Mack Sennett's Keystone Kops comedies. The author is a retired Boise State University professor of theatre arts and a founding member of the Colorado Shakespeare Festival and the Michigan State Performing Arts Company. The director of nearly 100 plays, musicals and operas, he lives in Boise, Idaho. Contents in 14 Chapters: Curtain Up: Child Star Novice Actress, Della's Wedding and the Comedy Ideals, Della Pringle and G. Faith Adams, Prosperous Seasons and the Great Loop, Western Star on Eastern Stages, West to the Coast, To Court and to the Altar, Seasons of Challenge, Rough Road to a New Home, Running Before the Wave, Off the Stage and Onto the Screen, Biding Time in Boise, The Working Old Fool, and Curtain Coming Down.