What was vaudeville like

The performances ranged from the truly talented to the simply quirky. There were great acts of physical talent; everything from contortionists, to tumblers to dancers such as the Nicholas Brothers. Actors performed plays, magicians put on shows, jugglers juggled, but the real focus of vaudeville was comedy.

Great comic acts such as Witt and Berg and Burns and Allen brought in the biggest crowds. It was symbolic of the cultural diversity of early twentieth century America. Vaudeville was a fusion of centuries-old cultural traditions, including the English Music Hall, minstrel shows of antebellum America, and Yiddish theater. Though certainly not free from the prejudice of the times, vaudeville was the earliest entertainment form to cross racial and class boundaries.

For many, vaudeville was the first exposure to the cultures of people living right down the street. Vaudeville developed into a big business. Its growing popularity prompted the building of more and ever-larger theaters.

Modern American show business had arrived. It was a by-product of a uniform system of railroads, the telegraph and telephones, willing bankers, aggressive lawyers, a popular daily press and a nation expanding in size and opportunity.

As more people with theatrical ambitions turned to vaudeville, they found talent was not enough. They had to have an act, and an act could only be developed through the experience of playing to vaudeville audiences to discover what they liked and what they did not. There are approximately , big-time vaudeville houses that more or less maintained a two- shows -a-day policy.

In addition to the recognized vaudeville chains and theatres, there were more than 1, other venues that booked vaudeville. Keith and Albee would go on to develop one of the most prestigious and biggest vaudeville chains in the United States. They were headquartered in New York City and from there they sent bands of entertainers across America. Families were guaranteed that when they went to a Keith-Albee vaudeville house that they would see performers who offered respectable acts and led respectable lives.

Albee was the ultimate manager, and he took over the theatrical operations, and also, around the turn of the century, he opened the United Bookings Office in NYC. Albee booked most of the major vaudeville circuits in the U. Some of the biggest names of the midth century got their start in vaudeville. Judy Garland, left, in Chicago, playing vaudeville.

The Palace Theatre, which is now a Broadway theatre, was originally a vaudeville house. It meant you had made it. Keith began his career in show business working variously as a grifter and barker with traveling circuses in the 's, and for dime museums in New York. He returned to his home state of Massachusetts and in established his own museum in Boston featuring "Baby Alice the Midget Wonder" and other acts. His success in this endeavor allowed Keith to build the Bijou Theatre.

The Bijou, a lavishly appointed, state-of-the-art, fireproof theatre, set the standard for the shape of things to come. At the Bijou, Keith established a "fixed policy of cleanliness and order. He ruled with an iron fist, censuring and censoring performers whose acts fell below his standards of decency. Keith posted signs backstage ordering performers to eliminate "vulgarity and suggestiveness in words, action, and costume" while performing in his theatre "under fine of instant discharge.

He reinforced his theatres' image of gentility by including acts from the "legitimate" stage, drawing an audience previously unavailable to variety amusements. Simultaneously, he maintained a number of acts whose forms would have been familiar to fans of the earlier variety stage without alienating either constituency. As his partner Edward F. Albee would later write, the programs at Keith's theatres ensured "there is something for everybody.

The Church amply funded the expansion of the Keith enterprise on the promise of more clean entertainment. Keith and Albee built even more elaborate theatres in Boston with help from the Church and they duplicated their success in other Northeastern cities. Within a few short years, imitators sprung up around the country.

Managers like S. Poli, Klaw and Erlanger, F. By the 's vast theatre circuits spanned the country and "comprehensive networks of booking offices" handled promotion and production.