The 7 Lively Arts Book

Intelligent, engaging discussions of slapstick, comic strips, vaudeville, and other elements of popular culture and their relationship to such traditional art forms as opera, ballet, drama, and classical music. 28 illustrations.

Booknews

Highly acclaimed when it was first published in 1924, this work fired the opening salvo in a campaign for serious recognition of the importance of popular culture. Seldes, a journalist, editor, and cultural critic, looks at slapstick, comic strips, musical comedy, popular songs, and vaudeville, and their relationship to such traditional art forms as opera, ballet, and drama. This is an unabridged republication of the edition originally published by Harper & Brothers Publishers, New York, 1924. This Dover edition contains a new introduction by Michael Kammen, professor of American history and culture at Cornell University. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)