cover image The Story of 42nd Street: The Theatres, Shows, Characters, and Scandals of the World's Most Notorious Street

The Story of 42nd Street: The Theatres, Shows, Characters, and Scandals of the World's Most Notorious Street

Mary C. Henderson, Alexis Greene. Back Stage Books, $40 (240pp) ISBN 978-0-8230-3072-9

Henderson, Mary C. & Alexis Greene. The Story of 42nd Street: The Theatres, Shows, Characters, and Scandals of the World's Most Notorious Street. Back Stage: Watson-Guptill. 2008. 240p. photogs. index. ISBN 978-0-8230-3072-9. $40. THEATER~Verdict: Henderson and Greene's pictorial history rewards readers with wonderful illustrations, informative sidebars, and extensive New York City theater history. Recommended for theater and architecture fans and for public libraries. Background: Theater historians Henderson and Greene provide the histories of 12 landmark theater buildings built between 1893 and 1920. While some have survived in greatly restored forms, theater lovers may be pained to see grandly ornamented auditoriums reincarnated as ""grindhouses showing movies of doubtful quality 24 hours a day."" The authors introduce the actors, producers, directors, and hucksters who breathed life into the buildings-Flo Ziegfeld, Oscar Hammerstein I, George White, and David Belasco. The authors narrate with tenderness, but their view of the past and the future is always clear-eyed and pragmatic. The Theater Collection of the Museum of the City of New York provides an unparalleled archive of photographs.-Larry Schwartz, Minnesota State Univ. Lib., Moorhead.