Stars on Stage

The years just prior to World War II and the three decades following represent the golden age of American theatre on Broadway. The names of stars such as Katharine Hepburn, Marlon Brando and Ethel Merman were writ large on theatres everywhere and writers like Eugene O'Neill, Thornton Wilder, Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller offered a new play every season. Photographer Eileen Darby came onto the scene in 1939, eschewing the stiff portraits and fixed tableaux that were then in vogue. Her style of both onstage and offstage rehearsal photography allowed an intimate look at the creative process of theatre and appeared in numerous publications such as Cue, Playbill and the New York Times. With an overview of the period by John Lahr and a biographical portrait of Darby and her work by Mary Henderson, STARS ON STAGE is one of the most dynamic books ever published on this most fascinating period of American culture.