Who's Who in the Theatre?

This is the ideal CD for those tracing a family history with theatrical connections. On opening the main menu, I could immediately see that this comprehensive work includes the family trees of many theatrical families, along with biographies, obituaries, and wills.

It features the biographies of actors still living in 1922 which include such greats as Charles Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Cecil Humphreys and Lillie Langtry.

Other features of this CD include:

• The hereditary of 76 different theatrical families including their family trees.

• Obituaries of actors and playwrights going back to the early 1600’s.

• A roll of honour for those actors, musicians, writers and workers for the stage who gave their lives during the First World War (1914-1918).

• A theatrical calendar giving major events that happened each month over the last 300 years.

• A synopsis of play bills July to December 1921.

• Command performances 1881-1921 and the theatre trips by King George V since 1911. These list the play, theatre company, where the play was performed, and when it was performed.

A Play from the 'Synopsis of Playbills' chapter.

Also included on the CD are reviews of the original publication, which was published in 1922 - these reviews are a selection from many excellent press opinions of previous issues:

THE TIMES says - In "Who’s Who in the Theatre," Mr. John Parker is carrying out the good work which David Erskine Baker began with his " Companion to the Playhouse " in 1764. Mr. Parker gives the more important facts in regard to several hundred players, dramatists, critics, Continental as well as English and American.

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH says — The volume, a perfect storehouse of information regarding members of the theatrical profession, is quite remarkable for the fullness and the accuracy of the details furnished. From the standpoint of the critic it is a book of incalculable value. The value of "Who’s Who in the Theatre" to all interested in stage work of any description increases with every fresh edition. Mr. John Parker’s compilation, in short, is no longer a luxury; it has become a positive necessity. The new edition bears ample testimony to his untiring industry. Taken altogether, it would be difficult to exaggerate the value of the volume. All who are interested in affairs theatrical will welcome its appearance.

THE DAILY MAIL says — An invaluable work of reference. Contains not only condensed biographies of well-known actors, managers, critics, composers, and dramatists, but also an obituary which contains the names of nearly all the leading actors of the past.

"Who’s Who in the Theatre" is not only a most complete biographical record of the stage, but is also a wonderful store of facts of incalculable value to everyone interested in theatres and in those who write for them, act in them, and manage them. " Who’s Who in the Theatre" is undoubtedly the best and most useful directory of the stage ever compiled.

THE MORNING POST says—" The Green Room Book"—flowered last in 1909. The new book, compiled as was the old by Mr. John Parker, has all the merits of the old and more. The biographies are fuller and are not confined to British artists. The book is an excellent piece of work and invaluable to those who have to do with the theatre. One can only congratulate Mr. John Parker, and trust that " Who’s Who in the Theatre " will prove what it deserves to be—a hardv annual.
Sir Herbert Tree, who writes a Fore-word, says that as a monument of industry the book is " absolutely pyramidal," and the efforts of the compiler deserve the gratitude of everyone connected with the theatre. We have no hesitation in endorsing that opinion.

A family tree from the 'Hereditary Theatrical Families' section.

Since the appearance of its first edition, " Who’s Who in the Theatre " has been recognised as a standard work in a region where trustworthy authorities are few. It is really indispensable to all who have to do with the stage, and concerns not the stage of our own land alone, but those foreign stages between which and our own there is such a constant commerce.

With over 1300 pages of detailed information on actors going back to the 1600’s, it is invaluable for researching ancestors that have tread the boards.