Capital Complex: Valuations of Femininity in 1920s Stage Adaptations from Women's Culture

American theatre sustains itself through the commodification of live bodies and the gender ideologies they represent, particularly through commercial displays of women. While numerous studies in cultural theory and theatre research examine the commodification of women in entertainment, few studies investigate precisely how practitioners in commercial theatre calculate and compound the value of this complex asset. This study offers a productive method for examining the entertainment value---the presumed appeal and revenue---of femininity in mainstream entertainment. Through an analysis of 1920s stage adaptations, this dissertation investigates the capital concerns, economic, cultural, and ideological, at play in determining, manipulating, and maximizing the value of specific femininities in for-profit entertainment.;This study conceptualizes such concerns as a complex of capital, a theoretical tool for understanding and challenging dominant valuations of gender in for-profit entertainment. It examines the capital complex through three case studies exploring the practical aspects of calculating and compounding entertainment value in constructs of femininity. Specifically, this study analyzes the influence of capital on the commodification of femininity in three 1920s stage adaptations from women's magazine serials: Show Boat (1927), The Age of Innocence (1928), and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1926). As women's magazine serials composed and adapted during a time of shifting cultural expectations, each of these texts emerged as a strong commentary on modern femininty. This central theme serves to highlight valuations of gender in the transformation of each narrative from a women's magazine serial to a popular Broadway show.;In addition to analyzing issues of capital and valuations of gender in commercial theatre, this dissertation expands current scholarship on 1920s entertainment and gender by analyzing productions with female stars and women writers, an area in which women wielded more influence than anywhere else in the industry. This analysis also considers the symbiotic relationship between commercial Broadway theatre and women's magazines during the 1920s, an underexplored area of cultural intersection in shaping gender during this time.