Vaudeville…where’s that? Yeah, right! Okay, we’ve all heard of it, but how educated are you on vaudeville? Admittedly, I know very little about it. My perception has always been it was like a comic relief show of its day.
However, vaudeville was more than a smoke-filled night spot for comedians. It was the melting pot of entertainment from the 1880s through the 1920s hosting 25,000 performers. It was the most popular form of entertainment in America in its time.
Vaudeville was home to singers, plate-spinners, ventriloquist, dancers, musicians, magicians, acrobats, animal trainers, and yes, comedians alike. In short, anyone who could keep an audience’s attention for more than a couple of minutes found employment in a vaudeville show.
Who were these performers? Here is a sample of names, I recognized at a glance:
- Don Ameche (Trading Places)
- Abbott and Costello
- Andrew Sisters
- Irving Berlin
- Milton Berle
- W.C. Fields
- Judy Garland
- Bob Hope
- Harry Houdini
- Jules Vernon (Ventriloquist)
For more famous vauder performer, you can check wikipedia for a complete list here and here.
A piece of living history from vaudeville…
The golden Victoria era with its vaudeville has faded from our society. The slap stick humor, risqué burlesque dancers, amazing animal tricks, or mystifying magic acts are now replaced with newer versions of entertainment.
As Larry Gelbart said, “If vaudeville had died, television was the box they put it in.” Now, ain’t that the truth? Sorry, Miss Jenny…isn’t that the truth?
The letter V is sponsored this week by Alphabe-Thursday and hop over to give a passing grade to fellow valedictorians for completing today’s assignment!
1) What do you like best about past entertainment?
2) What do you like best about today’s entertainment?
Thanks Amanda for hosting Thursday Two Questions!
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I loved some live presentations on Broadway, when I lived in NY and kind of thought that vaudeville was similar.
just a little too early for your MMMM post I think. :-)Will circle back
Some great radio and film acts came out of Vaudeville. Entertaining stuff.
Skipping through some V posts today and glad I stopped. My grandparents were both in Vaudeville, Frank as an escape artist and Diana as a belly dancer! I have a little history on them but would like to learn more. Thanks for the inspiration:)
I like that past entertainment were good for the whole family. Mostly and these new entertainment, I find to be demoralizing. Mostly.
Very good read.
I am with sue, would have loved to have gone to a real show… I am not sure if you got my email the other day, but I just wanted to remind you that I made you co-host of my blog hop…
Nice choice for V. I’ve seen some reproduction vaudeville acts. It was a simpler, far less graphic and gratuitous time.
I knew very little about vaudeville and found your post very informative Cathy.
There was a time when entertainers seemed to have genuine talent and seemed to care about the audience. These days most ‘stars’ seem to care more about shocking the audience and having their names in the morning tabloids.
What a wonderful Post! I totally love it. This looks like fun. I’m going to have to try it some time as long as I remember! Is this every Thursday? Yep, great Post Girlfriend thanks for sharing!
I’m with Sue–it would have been fun to have seen some of those acts on stage!!!
Past entertainment, I like the fact that there were more clothes on people. Now a day it seemed entertainers look for ways to wear very little.
Today’s entertainment is aided by technology. People are and have more opportunities to be creative. It amazes me what entertainers can do and is capable of. For example: ladygaga?
Thanks for linking up this week…:-)
It would have been interesting to go to a real vaudeville show.
Good V post.
=)
This was an interesting read. I’ve heard of vaudeville but didn’t really know what it was all about. Thanks for educating me!