Recently I picked up a library discard, "Coppin the Great," by Alec Bagot. Unfortunately, Bagot's lackluster effort fails to breathe life into his subject, concentrating more on a catalogue of Coppin's life than on his artistry.

An actor named Charles J. Miers seems to have made use of "The Artful Dodger" on the American stage (see "The Hallelujah Band" in American Memory) but there is not enough there to see whether he really developed the character. There is a picture of him in a black suit and stage bow tie on the cover of the sheet music. I haven't looked into any biographical material on him.

Can anyone define "malster" for me?