Jolly Della Pringle: Star of the Western Stage

by Charles E. Lauterbach

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786498918
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	04/30/2015
Pages:	236
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

The director of nearly 100 plays, musicals and operas, Charles E. Lauterbach 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. He lives in Boise, Idaho.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Preface
Prologue
1. Curtain Up: Child Star, Novice Actress
2. Della’s Wedding and the Comedy Ideals
3. Della Pringle and G. Faith Adams
4. Prosperous Seasons and the Great Loop
5. Western Star on Eastern Stages
6. West to the Coast
7. To Court and to the Altar
8. Seasons of Challenge
9. Rough Road to a New Home
10. Running Before the Wave
11. Off the Stage and Onto the Screen
12. Biding Time in Boise
13. “The working old fool”
14. Curtain Coming Down
Epilogue: A Summing Up
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

the author has done a tremendous amount of research, impressive.... The effort he put into uncovering the story of this now forgotten woman and the hardships she endured maintaining a touring troupe, is amazing”—Classic Images

From the Publisher