An Actor's Tale
Harry Watkins was no one special. During a career that spanned four decades, this nineteenth-century actor yearned for fame but merely skirted the edges of it. He performed alongside the brightest stars, wrote scores of plays, and toured the United States and England, but he never became a household...
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| Format: | Online |
| Language: | English |
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University of Michigan Press
2025
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| Online Access: | ONIX_20250929T091909_9780472905287_5 |
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| _version_ | 1869515771289272320 |
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| author | Hughes, Amy E. Hughes, Amy |
| author_browse | Hughes, Amy Hughes, Amy E. |
| author_facet | Hughes, Amy E. Hughes, Amy |
| author_sort | Hughes, Amy E. |
| collection | Directory of Open Access Books |
| description | Harry Watkins was no one special. During a career that spanned four decades, this nineteenth-century actor yearned for fame but merely skirted the edges of it. He performed alongside the brightest stars, wrote scores of plays, and toured the United States and England, but he never became a household name. Inspired by this average performer’s life and labor, An Actor’s Tale offers an alternative history of nineteenth-century theater, focusing on the daily rhythms and routines of theatrical life rather than the celebrated people, plays, and exceptional events that tend to dominate histories of US theater and performance. In the process, Hughes asks uncomfortable questions about the existence, predominance, and erasure of White male mediocrity in US culture, both in the past and present. When historians focus only on performers and plays with artistic “merit,” what communities, perspectives, and cultural trends remain invisible? How did men like Watkins advance themselves professionally, despite their mediocrity? Why did men like Watkins embrace and perpetuate myths like the American Dream, the “self-made man,” and meritocracy, and how have these ideals shaped casting, producing, and celebrity worship in today’s US entertainment industry? Ultimately, Hughes reveals how this actor’s tale illuminates the widespread tendency to ignore, deny, and forgive White male mediocrity in US culture, and how a deeper understanding of people like Watkins can transform our understanding of the past—and our understanding of ourselves. |
| format | Online |
| id | doab-20.500.12854ir-166774 |
| institution | Directory of Open Access Books |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | University of Michigan Press |
| publisherStr | University of Michigan Press |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | doab-20.500.12854ir-1667742025-09-30T05:00:56Z An Actor's Tale Hughes, Amy E. Hughes, Amy Theater, Actors, Acting, Theater History, Theater Management, Casting, Drama, Playwrights, Nineteenth Century, Diaries, Everyday Life, Popular Entertainment, America, United States, American Culture, Social History, History from Below, Microhistory, Capitalism, Self-Made Man, Individualism, American Dream, Meritocracy, Whiteness, White Mediocrity, White Male Mediocrity, White Fragility, White Supremacy, American thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts::ATD Theatre studies thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CB Language: reference and general::CBV Creative writing and creative writing guides Harry Watkins was no one special. During a career that spanned four decades, this nineteenth-century actor yearned for fame but merely skirted the edges of it. He performed alongside the brightest stars, wrote scores of plays, and toured the United States and England, but he never became a household name. Inspired by this average performer’s life and labor, An Actor’s Tale offers an alternative history of nineteenth-century theater, focusing on the daily rhythms and routines of theatrical life rather than the celebrated people, plays, and exceptional events that tend to dominate histories of US theater and performance. In the process, Hughes asks uncomfortable questions about the existence, predominance, and erasure of White male mediocrity in US culture, both in the past and present. When historians focus only on performers and plays with artistic “merit,” what communities, perspectives, and cultural trends remain invisible? How did men like Watkins advance themselves professionally, despite their mediocrity? Why did men like Watkins embrace and perpetuate myths like the American Dream, the “self-made man,” and meritocracy, and how have these ideals shaped casting, producing, and celebrity worship in today’s US entertainment industry? Ultimately, Hughes reveals how this actor’s tale illuminates the widespread tendency to ignore, deny, and forgive White male mediocrity in US culture, and how a deeper understanding of people like Watkins can transform our understanding of the past—and our understanding of ourselves. 2025-09-30T05:00:56Z 2025-09-30T05:00:56Z 2025-09-29T07:26:35Z 2025 book ONIX_20250929T091909_9780472905287_5 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/106138 9780472905287 9780472077687 9780472057689 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/166774 eng open access image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/106138/1/9780472905287.pdf University of Michigan Press 10.3998/mpub.11984130 10.3998/mpub.11984130 b7359529-e5f7-4510-a59f-d7dafa1d4d17 82a94b5d-15b8-4ee1-a7a5-412d8f9fb4d0 9780472905287 9780472077687 9780472057689 246 [...] open access |
| spellingShingle | Theater, Actors, Acting, Theater History, Theater Management, Casting, Drama, Playwrights, Nineteenth Century, Diaries, Everyday Life, Popular Entertainment, America, United States, American Culture, Social History, History from Below, Microhistory, Capitalism, Self-Made Man, Individualism, American Dream, Meritocracy, Whiteness, White Mediocrity, White Male Mediocrity, White Fragility, White Supremacy, American thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts::ATD Theatre studies thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CB Language: reference and general::CBV Creative writing and creative writing guides Hughes, Amy E. Hughes, Amy An Actor's Tale |
| title | An Actor's Tale |
| title_full | An Actor's Tale |
| title_fullStr | An Actor's Tale |
| title_full_unstemmed | An Actor's Tale |
| title_short | An Actor's Tale |
| title_sort | actor s tale |
| topic | Theater, Actors, Acting, Theater History, Theater Management, Casting, Drama, Playwrights, Nineteenth Century, Diaries, Everyday Life, Popular Entertainment, America, United States, American Culture, Social History, History from Below, Microhistory, Capitalism, Self-Made Man, Individualism, American Dream, Meritocracy, Whiteness, White Mediocrity, White Male Mediocrity, White Fragility, White Supremacy, American thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts::ATD Theatre studies thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CB Language: reference and general::CBV Creative writing and creative writing guides |
| topic_facet | Theater, Actors, Acting, Theater History, Theater Management, Casting, Drama, Playwrights, Nineteenth Century, Diaries, Everyday Life, Popular Entertainment, America, United States, American Culture, Social History, History from Below, Microhistory, Capitalism, Self-Made Man, Individualism, American Dream, Meritocracy, Whiteness, White Mediocrity, White Male Mediocrity, White Fragility, White Supremacy, American thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts::ATD Theatre studies thema EDItEUR::C Language and Linguistics::CB Language: reference and general::CBV Creative writing and creative writing guides |
| url | ONIX_20250929T091909_9780472905287_5 |
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