ABSTRACT
Although scholars will not agree on a definition, the premise of this chapter is that “popular” entertainments are those that appeal to cross-class audiences in complex societies through commercial means. In this sense, popular entertainment reaches a broader audience than “elite” or “working-class” performance and relies on marketing strategies that “folk” theatre cannot deploy. Popular entertainments may draw on class-based or folk traditions, but these are typically transformed in the commercial move to generate as big an audience as possible. Because this kind of entertainment relies on live actors who cannot be distributed like the images of filmed, televised, and digitized performers, popular performances of the past never became “mass” entertainment of the kind we have today; even the most famous international stars could not be seen by an entire population. However, the media that advertised and shaped popular entertainments between 1850 and 1920 – principally print and photography – reached deep into the consciousness of many populations around the globe.
