"Leslie Stuart was a leading composer of English-language musical theater at the start of the twentieth century. His greatest musical comedy success, Floradora, was a huge hit in America and made him extremely rich. However, Stuart's subsequent extravagant spending on gambling, drinking, and entertaining, as well as his generous gifts to the needy, left him bankrupt.

This book sets out the facts of Stuart's life, from his original compositions for concert and vaudeville performers through his major hit shows. Much of this information has been extracted from newspapers and other original sources, and will amuse and inform both the theater historian and the general reader interested in the history of the musical."--BOOK JACKET.