Available now! Click here to purchase.
Secrets, ghosts, deadly fires, and lost stories of world-famous entertainers. The dramatic past of the 146-year-old Cheboygan Opera House is revealed for the first time in Kathy King Johnson’s new book Cheboygan Opera House: The Early Years.
In the booming lumber town of Cheboygan, a beautiful new Opera House becomes a hot stop on the vaudeville circuit. From the gilded age to the roaring twenties, before the days of radio and television, these are the stories of the celebrities who brought live entertainment to the world: Thomas Edison, Annie Oakley, Fay Templeton, Marie Dressler, Mary Pickford, Denver the mule and more. Meet the social reformers, Ann Eliza Young, Lucy Simpson Thurman, Tank Kee, Pussyfoot Johnson, who spoke out for human rights offering education, awareness and diversity to far flung stages across America.
Traverse City Record Eagle Article
Interlochen Public Radio Article
IPR Podcast (Including interview with Kathy King Johnson)
“Already bought mine! Very informative, well written and researched history of this important cultural center. Nice work, Kathy!” ―Gerald Vilenski, founder Plainwell Arts Council
Available now! Click here to purchase.
About the Author
Kathy King Johnson is former executive director of the Cheboygan Area Arts Council
and the author of the Cheboygan Opera House: The Early Years: 1877 to 1927. Kathy
brings to life the cast of characters who shaped the artistic and cultural growth of
Northern Michigan when the Opera House was part of the national vaudeville circuit.
Excerpts from the book were originally published in the Cheboygan Tribune and
submitted for a Pulitzer Prize in local reporting. A native of Cheboygan, Kathy is a
graduate of University of Michigan’s honors English program and a Hopwood Award
winning essayist. Also an accomplished horse trainer, Kathy writes from her home at
Further Ado Farm outside of Cheboygan and has written three books about horses–
“The Legendary Eclipse: The Greatest Race Horse Ever,” “Rambler” and “Breakfast with
Mama,” available from Amazon.