"Power and Greed: Monopolies, Mergers, and Cartels on the American Stage"—A Conversation with Author and Professor Spencer Weber Waller

So I've read the book and found it informative and enjoyable, and I really encourage our listeners to read it as well to learn about the American theater and antitrust law's relationship with live entertainment in the United States.

So you structured the book like a play.

It lists a cast of characters, and chapters are organized into five acts.

What kind of play is it? History, tragedy, comedy, something else?

That's a great question.

Uh, well, it's definitely history.

Uh, it's history with an eye toward affecting what's going on today, which I hope it will not turn into a tragedy.

Uh, it's funny in places.

I'd be thrilled if it has a second life as either some kind of a narrative nonfiction podcast where we can tell the story in a more dramatic way.

Uh, it'd be lovely if it was turned into a play.

Uh, one producer and I have had very preliminary conversations about whether that is a possibility.

I'm not counting on it, uh, but, uh, yeah, I hope it's just a, a good story.

Uh, so I would say not a musical comedy but a history with, um, some, uh, very comedic characters.

One of the fun things about this was just engaging with how crazy this cast of characters is, who are the barons of vaudeville first and the, you know, the, the heads of the theater.

They were, uh, they weren't exactly mustache-twirling, Gilded Age robber barons, but, uh, they were in that ballpark.

And on that, uh, score, I can vouch for the fact that this book is rich in illuminating detail.

And unfortunately, during a podcast, we're not gonna be able to cover it all, um, but we hope to give you a little taste of it.

And I'd like to give our listeners an overview of each act to lay a foundation for our conversation.

So let's start with Act I, which is entitled The Creation of National Theater Industry.

Tell us about what happens in Act I.

Well, sure.

Uh, this is the very beginning, and it ta- it's really talking about live entertainment as a business.

And you really can't have a national business until really after the Civil War, uh, because the country was divided militarily.

And so, uh, once the war is over, and we have a national economy, we have a national currency, we have national transportation with the railroad system, which is quite necessary to have a functioning national tour of any kind of live entertainment, and of course, national communications, telegraph first and telephone, uh, second, y- you, you need all that.

And, uh, also, you need someone to connect the people who are providing the live entertainment with, uh, producing the live entertainment, excuse me, with the pe- people who will be presenting it.