Overview
Difficult as it is to imagine today, in 1937 America’s two leading media companies fought over which had the better claim to Shakespeare. The Battle of the Bard explores this episode in US cultural history when NBC and CBS competed to perform Shakespeare for an American audience in a low-risk setting that they hoped would bring prestige to their networks. The resulting fourteen broadcasts are among the more remarkable recreations of Shakespeare of their time. This lively and engaging book shows the cultural dominance of radio at the time, and tells the story of why the networks each wanted to lord Shakespeare’s prestige over the other, how they put their series together, the critical reception, and the cultural impact and legacies of the broadcasts.
Full Product Details
Author: Michael P. Jensen (Contributing Editor, Shakespeare Newsletter)
Publisher: Arc Humanities Press
Imprint: Arc Humanities Press
Edition: New edition
Volume: 0
ISBN: 9781641890779
ISBN 10: 1641890770
Pages: 101
Publication Date: 18 December 2018
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Adult education
,
Professional & Vocational
,
Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
One of the most useful and entertaining books I have ever read on Shakespeare's theatrical history. - Prof. Grace Tiffany, Western Michigan University[-][-] Who owns Shakespeare? Most of us would say we all do but, in 1937, NBC and CBS fought it out as to the rights to argue that Shakespeare was their domain. Michael P. Jensen has brought back to life this extraordinary and almost completely forgotten Battle for the Bard on the radio with superb research and an engaging style that takes us right into the heart of the firstmass medium and its astonishing popularity in the 1930s as well as the networks' competing claims for the cultural high ground of owning Shakespeare. More than simply a study of Shakespeare on radio, this study speaks of the ways in which U.S. mass-media, then and now, negotiate with prestige culture. - Prof. Peter Holland, University of Notre Dame
One of the most useful and entertaining books I have ever read on Shakespeare's theatrical history. - Prof. Grace Tiffany, Western Michigan University[-][-]""Who owns Shakespeare? Most of us would say we all do but, in 1937, NBC and CBS fought it out as to the rights to argue that Shakespeare was their domain. Michael P. Jensen has brought back to life this extraordinary and almost completely forgotten Battle for the Bard on the radio with superb research and an engaging style that takes us right into the heart of the firstmass medium and its astonishing popularity in the 1930s as well as the networks' competing claims for the cultural high ground of owning Shakespeare. More than simply a study of Shakespeare on radio, this study speaks of the ways in which U.S. mass-media, then and now, negotiate with prestige culture."" - Prof. Peter Holland, University of Notre Dame
Author Information
Michael P. Jensen has authored more than a hundred articles and chapters in books on William Shakespeare. He is a Contributing Editor for Shakespeare Newsletter.
