This book is a collection of chapters from the annals of the American Theatre, and it focuses on plays and actors in their less familiar aspects. It makes no pretense of being critical, and every effort has been made to verify all of the facts it contains, to appeal to the small but select band of specialists known as Dramatic Collectors, as well as those influential members of the community who are proud to call themselves Old Play-goers.The chapters on "The American Stage Negro," "The American Burlesque," and "A Century of American Hamlets" were first published in Harper's Magazine; the others have been printed in part in other periodicals, but they have all been rewritten, elaborated, and extended in their current form. The portraits in this volume are from the collections of Mr. J. H. V. Arnold, Dr. B. E. Martin, Mr. Thomas J. McKee, Mr. C. C. Moreau, Mr. Evart Jansen Wendell, and The Players. The book is meant to both educate and entertain.