THE TIME:
From the gilded age of the 1870’s, through the ’90’s up to the present time.
THE SCENE:
The earlier parts of the story take place on the Cotton Blossom Floating Palace Theatre, a show boat on the Mississippi. The background aboard Cotton Blossom is panoramic. Twice a year the un- wieldy boat was towed up and down the mighty river and its tributaries; it was a familiar sight from New Orleans to the cities of the North, from the coal fields of Pennsylvania to St. Lous, and stirring presentations of “East Lynne,” “Tempest and Sunshine,” and other old dramatic favourites, by the actors and painted ladies of the Cotton Blossom troupe, are still remembered in Paducah, Evansville, Cairo, Cape Girardeau, Natchez, Vlcksburg, Baton Rouge, and in many other river towns and cities.
Following the fortunes of the Hawks-Ravenal family, the story then carries us to the notorious “Gambler’s Alley” of earlier Chicago, and then to the modern theatrical centre of America, the Times Square dis- trict of New York City.
Pubdiisned by DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & C
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