What do you think?
Rate this book
The Show Won't Go On: The Most Shocking, Bizarre, and Historic Deaths of Performers Onstage
There has never been a show business book quite like The Show Won't Go On , the first comprehensive study of a bizarre performers who died onstage. The Show Won't Go On covers almost every genre of entertainment, and is full of unearthed anecdotes, exclusive interviews, colorful characters, and ironic twists. With dozens of heart-stopping stories, it's the perfect book to dip into on any page.
240 pages, Paperback
Published September 3, 2019
49 people are currently reading
253 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
June 9, 2019
A lot of people die in The Show Won’t Go On. It’s all about performers who actually die during a performance. Apparently, it happens a lot. Jeff Abraham and Burt Kearns selected three figures’ worth of them out of potentially thousands, they imply.
Their research is impeccable, due in large part to their subjects. Precisely because they died onstage, there are large numbers of witnesses. The events got written up in biographies and immortalized in news reports (often inaccurately). Courts ruled on the cause of death. To their immense credit, the authors sought out personal interviews with witnesses, friends and relatives who were there. They got Dick Cavett to show them the interview where his guest died in his chair – and which has never been seen by anyone else.
They’ve divided the book into professions. Vaudeville, singers, actors, comics, circus performers and possibly most notably social media wannabes each get a chapter. Social media is busy breeding a whole new generation of death challengers, who fall off cliffs (when they’re not jumping), trying to get that great selfie.
There is the occasional shooting, particularly in the magicians chapter, where armed audience members decide to fire at magicians claiming to be able to stop bullets. Remarkably, orchestra conductor seems to be the highest risk profession, as numerous conductors die in rehearsal or on stage. The heart-pumping physical demands combined with the constant travel and rich food set them up for a very young fall.
At first I thought this was going to be a tough read. After all, the hero dies on every page, and the stories of how they fell to the floor could be repetitive. How many times do you want to read what the sound of a skull cracking on concrete is like? And then there’s the snoring sound, also known as the death rattle, of someone expiring from a heart attack. But precisely because they were in public when it happened, Abraham and Kearns were able to dress up the stories with what went on in the lives and careers of the victims up to the fateful collapse, and how the crowd reacted, or didn’t. The authors prove to be great scene-setters.
Shamefully, on several occasions, calls for refunds could be heard as a doctor and/or nurse from the audience rushed to the stage to perform CPR. Sometimes the show went on. More often, it didn’t. Because they were public performances, some of these deaths (from the 60s to the present) can be seen on Youtube.
The only thing I did not appreciate was the authors’ continual attempts to find some kind of irony in every death. They looked at song titles of the victim’s last song, words in the show or tour name, lyrics or jokes, the line they last spoke in the play, or even something they said that morning before the show to demonstrate some kind of link to life or death. Cheesy and unhelpful. Nonetheless, the book is far more engaging than the collections of New York Times obituaries that find publishers all the time.
The Show Won’t Go On left me with one important conclusion: watch your cholesterol. Almost everyone who died onstage had a heart attack or stroke. Many spent lives on the road, eating badly, smoking, drinking and getting no real exercise offstage. They died of heart ailments starting at in their 30s, with few making it past 70. There’s no business like show business.
David Wineberg
Their research is impeccable, due in large part to their subjects. Precisely because they died onstage, there are large numbers of witnesses. The events got written up in biographies and immortalized in news reports (often inaccurately). Courts ruled on the cause of death. To their immense credit, the authors sought out personal interviews with witnesses, friends and relatives who were there. They got Dick Cavett to show them the interview where his guest died in his chair – and which has never been seen by anyone else.
They’ve divided the book into professions. Vaudeville, singers, actors, comics, circus performers and possibly most notably social media wannabes each get a chapter. Social media is busy breeding a whole new generation of death challengers, who fall off cliffs (when they’re not jumping), trying to get that great selfie.
There is the occasional shooting, particularly in the magicians chapter, where armed audience members decide to fire at magicians claiming to be able to stop bullets. Remarkably, orchestra conductor seems to be the highest risk profession, as numerous conductors die in rehearsal or on stage. The heart-pumping physical demands combined with the constant travel and rich food set them up for a very young fall.
At first I thought this was going to be a tough read. After all, the hero dies on every page, and the stories of how they fell to the floor could be repetitive. How many times do you want to read what the sound of a skull cracking on concrete is like? And then there’s the snoring sound, also known as the death rattle, of someone expiring from a heart attack. But precisely because they were in public when it happened, Abraham and Kearns were able to dress up the stories with what went on in the lives and careers of the victims up to the fateful collapse, and how the crowd reacted, or didn’t. The authors prove to be great scene-setters.
Shamefully, on several occasions, calls for refunds could be heard as a doctor and/or nurse from the audience rushed to the stage to perform CPR. Sometimes the show went on. More often, it didn’t. Because they were public performances, some of these deaths (from the 60s to the present) can be seen on Youtube.
The only thing I did not appreciate was the authors’ continual attempts to find some kind of irony in every death. They looked at song titles of the victim’s last song, words in the show or tour name, lyrics or jokes, the line they last spoke in the play, or even something they said that morning before the show to demonstrate some kind of link to life or death. Cheesy and unhelpful. Nonetheless, the book is far more engaging than the collections of New York Times obituaries that find publishers all the time.
The Show Won’t Go On left me with one important conclusion: watch your cholesterol. Almost everyone who died onstage had a heart attack or stroke. Many spent lives on the road, eating badly, smoking, drinking and getting no real exercise offstage. They died of heart ailments starting at in their 30s, with few making it past 70. There’s no business like show business.
David Wineberg
Read
December 2, 2019Not much to say here so far as a review. The book is more to less interesting by turns. It's a bit morbid but at times enthralling.
An account of people who died on stage or on the air. I wondered why I picked it up, but it was (as noted) fairly interesting.
An account of people who died on stage or on the air. I wondered why I picked it up, but it was (as noted) fairly interesting.
May 8, 2024
A collection of stories of performers who died while performing, most often of natural causes, but others via tragic accidents or murders. The authors seem to have actually done original research rather than just grabbed whatever stories they could find, which is the case with many other collected facts books.
The book deliberately eschews describing cases of performance deaths where getting killed is not an uncommon risk, such as bullfights. But it does talk about people who die in freak accidents such as equipment failures during stunts, and people who have had health problems but performed against their better judgment, such as Tiny Tim. There are even cases of people who deliberately committed suicide during performances. Overall the topic proved more interesting than I had anticipated.
The book deliberately eschews describing cases of performance deaths where getting killed is not an uncommon risk, such as bullfights. But it does talk about people who die in freak accidents such as equipment failures during stunts, and people who have had health problems but performed against their better judgment, such as Tiny Tim. There are even cases of people who deliberately committed suicide during performances. Overall the topic proved more interesting than I had anticipated.
September 4, 2023
I hope the authors are being sarcastic about Kurt Cobain being murdered or Lennon being killed by a programmed assassin. Sarcastic or not I think it's stupid to include conspiracy theories as if they're facts because someone will read this and be gullible enough to believe it.
One of the dumbest things is that the contents says there are only 16 chapters yet the author adds chapters but calls them interludes. My guess is that they were added as filler because the authors didn't have the pages they needed. It wouldn't have been a problem but this book just drags on and on and says the same thing over and over except with different names and circumstances. Then the authors added an appendix with even more people who died. Its like they wanted to drag this book on and on by trying to write an encyclopedia.
I'll be nice and help you save you the time you'll waste reading this. Almost everyone dies of a heart attack and the majority all fall down.
One of the dumbest things is that the contents says there are only 16 chapters yet the author adds chapters but calls them interludes. My guess is that they were added as filler because the authors didn't have the pages they needed. It wouldn't have been a problem but this book just drags on and on and says the same thing over and over except with different names and circumstances. Then the authors added an appendix with even more people who died. Its like they wanted to drag this book on and on by trying to write an encyclopedia.
I'll be nice and help you save you the time you'll waste reading this. Almost everyone dies of a heart attack and the majority all fall down.
November 15, 2020
A morbidly fun collection of essays, perfect for pick up and go reading. As the title suggests, this is a look at performers who unfortunately met their demise in the most public of arenas. Even my kid liked this one, so I guess it's family friendly, if you're into that kind thing.
November 26, 2019
This book's premise is a fascinating one, but taken all together, so many onstage deaths become quite redundant. Most of the stories end with something like "And then he made a snoring sound and sank back in his chair/fell flat on his face. At first the crowd thought it was part of the show and laughed. Soon doctors in the crowed tried to revive him to no avail. He had suffered a massive heart attack. He was 52."
One thing the book did manage to do: induce a weird sense of paranoia in me where I'm constantly thinking, "Is this the moment I make a snoring sound and go out like Tommy Cooper or Tiny Tim?" Seeing life and death as analogous to an on/off switch is a bit of an eye-opener that puts one in mind of Hamlet's famous line, "The readiness is all."
One thing the book did manage to do: induce a weird sense of paranoia in me where I'm constantly thinking, "Is this the moment I make a snoring sound and go out like Tommy Cooper or Tiny Tim?" Seeing life and death as analogous to an on/off switch is a bit of an eye-opener that puts one in mind of Hamlet's famous line, "The readiness is all."
September 19, 2019
Yes, it’s a morbid subject but this book treats it with respect. There are some moving stories and many ironic stories of death on the stage. It’s strangely fun.
October 6, 2019
An unbelievable read. Sometimes sad, sometimes funny but never ever boring. Brilliant from beginning to end.
November 1, 2022
I checked "The Show Won't Go On" out from the library in honor of Spooky Season (October), due to its fairly grisly premise. In the end, it turned out to be EXACTLY what I expected...no more, no less! It is, indeed, a fairly lengthy compilation of instances when a performer dies onstage, either during, just before, or just after their performance. Some of these deaths are more well-documented than others, so our authors (Jeff Abraham and Burt Kearns) tend to spend more time on those stories. The writing is strictly workmanlike and average; the authors are not Writers, per se, but Collectors and Curators of the macabre...they convey exactly what information needs to be conveyed and don't have any terribly interesting analyses for much of it. But that's all right for a book like this, where the premise itself is startling enough that it basically speaks for itself.
As it turns out, performers of all genres & mediums have famously kicked the bucket on stage, for a variety of reasons. There are several famous examples from television (and many of those have fairly lengthy passages devoted to them), but equally fascinating are stories of stand-up comedians keeling over mid-set, with the audience believing it to be part of the routine; of rock stars' hearts failing them while performing before a crowd; of circus performers or other acrobats meeting shocking ends due to equipment failure. Gospel singers, dramatic actors, country stars, classical musicians...all genres have had the Grim Reaper in the audience at one point. Interestingly, "orchestra conductor" seems to be one of the deadliest performance careers out there; a LOT of them have died mid-concert! Some deaths are definitely more grisly than others, and MANY of the stories included in this volume also feature tragically ironic details about their performance (such as claiming great health prior to performing, or singing words about "living forever"--or the opposite, death coming soon!
All this sounds a bit morbid...and it definitely is! The authors, however, never mock or belittle the victims; they acknowledge the curiosity without ever seeming voyeuristic. Their research is great, and they have obtained access to certain information not always available to the public (case in point: the famous on-screen death of a guest on the Dick Cavett show, which has grown famous despite never being shown on air). It's true that reading about death after death makes the book seem a bit redundant at times; it feels somewhat wrong to get blasé about ANOTHER on-stage death. But I found that reading this book in bits and pieces gave me the perfect dose throughout my week reading it. "The Show Won't Go On" is not exactly a revelation, but it is a delightfully grim look at a dark side of life on stage...perfect if you are in the mood for a few chills down your spine.
As it turns out, performers of all genres & mediums have famously kicked the bucket on stage, for a variety of reasons. There are several famous examples from television (and many of those have fairly lengthy passages devoted to them), but equally fascinating are stories of stand-up comedians keeling over mid-set, with the audience believing it to be part of the routine; of rock stars' hearts failing them while performing before a crowd; of circus performers or other acrobats meeting shocking ends due to equipment failure. Gospel singers, dramatic actors, country stars, classical musicians...all genres have had the Grim Reaper in the audience at one point. Interestingly, "orchestra conductor" seems to be one of the deadliest performance careers out there; a LOT of them have died mid-concert! Some deaths are definitely more grisly than others, and MANY of the stories included in this volume also feature tragically ironic details about their performance (such as claiming great health prior to performing, or singing words about "living forever"--or the opposite, death coming soon!
All this sounds a bit morbid...and it definitely is! The authors, however, never mock or belittle the victims; they acknowledge the curiosity without ever seeming voyeuristic. Their research is great, and they have obtained access to certain information not always available to the public (case in point: the famous on-screen death of a guest on the Dick Cavett show, which has grown famous despite never being shown on air). It's true that reading about death after death makes the book seem a bit redundant at times; it feels somewhat wrong to get blasé about ANOTHER on-stage death. But I found that reading this book in bits and pieces gave me the perfect dose throughout my week reading it. "The Show Won't Go On" is not exactly a revelation, but it is a delightfully grim look at a dark side of life on stage...perfect if you are in the mood for a few chills down your spine.
February 13, 2020
Today’s post on The Show Won’t Go On: The Most Shocking Bizarre, and Historic Deaths of Performers Onstage by Jeff Abraham and Burt Kearns. It is 232 pages long including notes and is published by Chicago Review Press. The cover is a stage with a grim reaper in the center. There is foul language, no sex, and violence in this book. There Be Spoilers Ahead.
From the back of the book - There has never been a show business book like quite like The Show Won’t Go On, the first comprehensive study of a bizarre phenomenon: performs who died onstage. The Show Won’t Go On covers almost every genre of entertainment, and is full of unearthed anecdotes, exclusive interviews, colorful characters, and ironic twists. With dozens of heart- stopping stories, it’s the perfect book to dip into on any page.
Review – We get all kinds stories in this book from accidents and heart attacks to suicide and murder. Abraham and Kearns are passionate about these stories giving the reader insight into the person's life before their deaths and then telling the stories of their tragic demise. While the stories are full of interesting details, it never gets too graphic, as the stories themselves are not too long. As the pieces are not very lengthy the narratives did not get in depth and we get lost in the details. All the performing arts are covered in this book from theater to radio and TV. Some of the stories are tongue in cheek, the authors never mock the person themselves or what happened to them, just pointing out at the oddities around their deaths. I had fun reading this book and I would recommend it.
I give this book a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.
From the back of the book - There has never been a show business book like quite like The Show Won’t Go On, the first comprehensive study of a bizarre phenomenon: performs who died onstage. The Show Won’t Go On covers almost every genre of entertainment, and is full of unearthed anecdotes, exclusive interviews, colorful characters, and ironic twists. With dozens of heart- stopping stories, it’s the perfect book to dip into on any page.
Review – We get all kinds stories in this book from accidents and heart attacks to suicide and murder. Abraham and Kearns are passionate about these stories giving the reader insight into the person's life before their deaths and then telling the stories of their tragic demise. While the stories are full of interesting details, it never gets too graphic, as the stories themselves are not too long. As the pieces are not very lengthy the narratives did not get in depth and we get lost in the details. All the performing arts are covered in this book from theater to radio and TV. Some of the stories are tongue in cheek, the authors never mock the person themselves or what happened to them, just pointing out at the oddities around their deaths. I had fun reading this book and I would recommend it.
I give this book a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.
February 11, 2022
While I enjoyed the book, I am troubled by the authors' conflation of disability with death.
July 30, 2023
This is one of the few times I agree with the overall Goodreads average rating of a book. I expected more information about each of the performers mentioned, but most of them were simply read like the first line of a newspaper obituary: “Performer A, age xx, died on Date B, when something went wrong and Cause of Death C.” Some were fleshed out a bit more, giving a backstory to the events, but these were few and far between. I recognized some of the performer’s names, but most were people I’d never heard of, which probably contributed to my disappointment with the book. At least the book is off my to-read list now :)
August 10, 2023
This book recounts how performers have died onstage over the centuries, doing the thing they loved. It includes actors, musicians, comedians, vaudeville performers, acrobats, and even social media stars. Not merely a recounting of bizarre and unexpected onstage deaths, this book also pays moving tribute to the performers' long careers, often spanning decades of performing before audiences around the world before their final performance. Definitely worth a read. (Reviewed by Michael, West Windsor Branch)
March 29, 2024
Easy listening
While it doesn’t seem right to say I enjoyed this book, as it’s all about people coming to unfortunate ends, I did enjoy “listening” to it. Mostly these tales happened a long time ago, so the distance does make for easier listening. Stay away if you will be traumatized by gory details, but otherwise indulge your morbid curiosities. I confess I got a kick out of comedians who made a dramatic death scene as part of their acts, sealing their own fates when the audience applauded and no one lifted a finger to help. Egads.
While it doesn’t seem right to say I enjoyed this book, as it’s all about people coming to unfortunate ends, I did enjoy “listening” to it. Mostly these tales happened a long time ago, so the distance does make for easier listening. Stay away if you will be traumatized by gory details, but otherwise indulge your morbid curiosities. I confess I got a kick out of comedians who made a dramatic death scene as part of their acts, sealing their own fates when the audience applauded and no one lifted a finger to help. Egads.
January 16, 2020
It's a quick read and nothing too deep. Some very interesting stories I had not heard before, however many of them are very similar since fatal heart attack seems to be the cause of most of the deaths. Nobody gets run through with a sword or shot in mid-performance... oh that might be a spoiler. Well we know they are all going to die some how. Read it for fun in between beefier and deeper books.
January 17, 2020
Hopefully I will not be struck dead in saying this, but "Meh." I mean, it wasn't badly written or anything and there were interesting sections, but overall it had a somewhat amateurish feel and didn't come anywhere near being "shocking." Death can be redundant, I see. Actually it really isn't surprising entertainers, especially older ones, will occasionally have their final curtain call while performing.
February 7, 2021
I've been working a ton and I needed something easy to read in what little bits of free time I could grab. This book was great. Very entertaining, funny without being jokey. I was expecting it to be a ripoff of Murder Can Be Fun (which honestly, I wouldn't have minded), but it has it's own style. The title tells you all you need to know: if that sounds like something you'd like, this book totally delivers.
June 12, 2024
A Well-Written Overview Of Tragic And Macabre Onstage Deaths
This is a fascinating collection of stories, most of which I’d never heard, about performers of all kinds and in all media who literally died while performing. I had no idea there were so many, and this book gives them their due. From the famous, like Tiny Tim and Dick Shawn, to the obscure, each has a unique story and the writers do a great job of telling those stories. Highly recommended.
This is a fascinating collection of stories, most of which I’d never heard, about performers of all kinds and in all media who literally died while performing. I had no idea there were so many, and this book gives them their due. From the famous, like Tiny Tim and Dick Shawn, to the obscure, each has a unique story and the writers do a great job of telling those stories. Highly recommended.
September 18, 2019
Three-and-a-half. I enjoyed this, but, honestly, I thought I'd enjoy it more. Such a great premise for a book, but, alas, when you actually sit down to read about performers dying on-stage, and you're a hypochondriac, well...let's just say you start to become painfully aware of any pains in your body (particularly the head, chest and shooting pain in your arm variety.)
October 17, 2019
This is a macabre book detailing instances of performers dying in the middle of their performances. Some are well-known, some aren't, but the book is fascinating with details and behind-the-scenes information that bring the stories to life, and makes them more tragic. Certainly not for everyone, but a very interesting read.
January 6, 2020
charming, and incredibly intriguing, but it does leave out some bigger names in favor of more in-depth looks at lesser-known stories. getting to see the death on the dick cavett show, and discussing magic with penn jillette, keep the book interesting, but i wish there were fewer comprehensive lists and more lengthy stories.
February 10, 2021
I blurted out "Jesus Christ" several times through the book, especially the stories involving death-defying (not so in these cases) acts. There are enough deaths by natural causes to make you paranoid that you might die while reading this book or during your everyday activities. Entertaining for those with morbid curiosity.
April 15, 2021
Interesting premise, but it could have been better written. Some entries, such as Lil Hardin, had so much filler that her entry was really about a different musician. Others, like Jackie Wilson, had medical incidents onstage, yet lived for years afterward so didn't really fit the theme of the book.
September 1, 2022
Bathroom reader compilation of brief description of the circumstances and cause of death of performers in various genres who dies on the job. It is, of course, a little gruesome and also disheartening (Lord, what a pun) to read of how many performers died of heart attacks before they were even 60 years old.
November 6, 2019
Very well researched, interesting, and shocking. I must have exclaimed ‘oh SHIT!’ At least 20 times. Also, a somewhat reassuring read in a weird way because so many of these people died doing what they loved.
February 18, 2021
I don't *mind* that the authors throw in occasional jokes about the various manners of death, but I do mind that they are awful and land flatter than [ok see I could do it too]. Good FUN FACT reading tho, if one is into that.
November 11, 2019
It is clear that this book was very well researched. BE WARNED: for those who are looking at a really in-depth look at the various deaths which happen during performances, go elsewhere. Although there is quite a bit of information per person, it felt more like a reference book.
January 14, 2020
Great read about unfortunate deaths in theater, movies & television.
January 20, 2020
It would be very strange to be at a concert or performance and have the person on stage keel over and die. Although not as unpleasant for us as for the performer.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews