Footlights and Highlights

New York: Dutton, 1948. First Edition. Very good plus lightly used copy with some minor edge wear in a very good dust jacket with some fading to the spine and bottom edge of the front panel, a bit of dust soiling, and a few shallow chips. The engaging autobiography of one of Broadway’s most famous producers, Crosby Gaige (1882–1949), also known as a book collector and small press publisher. His work in the theatre became a serious endeavor for him after he joined forces with actor, playwright, and theatre owner Edgar Selwyn and his brother Arch. Together they produced many hit plays, including Within the Law (1912) and Why Marry? (1917). After a time, he branched out on his own and produced a string of successes, including The Butter & Egg Man (1925), The Enemy (1925), The Shannons of Broadway (1927), Little Accident (1928), and Accent on Youth (1934). Gaige published a respected group of limited edition books in the 1920s and 1930s by such authors as James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Thomas Hardy, Joseph Conrad, etc. He also occasionally directed plays and served as vice president of the Managers Protective Association. Gaige had a reputation as a bon vivant and was widely respected as a gourmet and wine connoisseur, and he wrote several books on cooking, including the New York World's Fair Cook Book, Cocktail Guide and Ladies' Companion, Macaroni Manual and a new edition of Andre Simon's French Cookbook. He was also president of the New York Wine & Food Society. This autobiography is filled with witty and informative anecdotes about many literary and theatrical personalities, including George M. Cohan, Beatrice Lillie, Dorothy Parker, John Barrymore, Alexander Woollcott, Irvin S. Cobb, Gertrude Lawrence, George S. Kaufman, Adolph Zukor, and many more. The chapter ‘Adventures in Books’ gives rich detail to the world of publishing and book collecting of his time, with generous references to Arnold Bennett, George Doran, Henry Holt, Sigfried Sassoon, Liam O’Flaherty, Richard Aldington, Lytton Strachey, John Galsworthy, Katherine Mansfield, Frank Swinnerton, J.M. Barrie, George Bernard Shaw, and Mary Baker Eddy, to name but a few. All in all, quite a stunning self-portrait.