Vaudeville

Vaudeville - vôdˈvĭl, originally a light song, derived from the drinking and love songs formerly attributed to Olivier Basselin and called Vau, or Vaux, de Vire. Similar to the English music hall, American vaudeville was a stage entertainment consisting of unrelated songs, dances, acrobatic and magic acts, and humorous skits and sketches. From humble origin in barrooms and "museums," vaudeville came to be the attraction in hundreds of theaters throughout the United States from 1881, when Tony Pastor gave the first "big time" vaudeville show in New York City, until 1932, when its greatest center, the Palace Theatre, became a movie theater. Such headliners as George M. Cohan, Harry Houdini, Eva Tanguay, W. C. Fields, Fay Templeton, Will Rogers, Ed Wynn, Eddie Cantor, Jimmy Durante, Irene Franklin, Fred Allen, Jack Benny, and Edgar Bergen began their careers by playing the circuits. There was an invigorating influx of performers from England and France who were a major influence on the growing sophistication and high quality of vaudeville. The popularity of radio and motion pictures caused vaudeville's decline, but television brought about a revival of vaudeville revues.

See C. W. Stein, ed., American Vaudeville As Seen by Its Contemporaries (1984); S. Staples, Male-Female Comedy Teams in American Vaudeville, 1865–1932 (1984); A. Slide, ed., Selected Vaudeville Criticism (1988).

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