Driftwood of the Stage (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: A GLANCE AT VAUDEVILLE. Few persons of this generation are aware that H. J. Sargent was the first man in America to give the name "vaudeville" to the class of entertainment that it signifies to-day. Mr. Sargent's company had been playing at the National Theater, Cincinnati, and as the theater was to be given up to the French tragedian, Charles Fechter, for an engagement of four nights, the company was taken to Weisiger's Hall, Louisville, Ky., to fill the time. On the evening of February 23, 1871, the bills at that house announced the appearance of "Sargent's Great Vaudeville Company, from the National Theater, Cincinnati." The company consisted of the Kiralfy Troupe, the Rigl Sisters, Gus Williams. Charles A. Vivian, Will Carleton, Jennie Benson, Kynock and Smith, Morrisey and Emerson, Oscar Willis, Prince Sadi d'Jalma and J. W. Ward. The supplanting of the word "variety" with "vaudeville," and inviting to the theater the more fastidious and refined elements of thecommunity did more to build the prosperity of miscellaneous amusement and give it prestige of respectability than did anything else. Variety shows were originally confined to places where the patrons were all men who would not attend unless they could drink or smoke. More and more the people are looking for the humorous side of the situation. This is why burlesque and vaudeville features have become so popular. The people have enough of tragedy in real life. They want a laugh, or at least a smile. The vaudeville house is looked upon by most people as the house of comedy. They know a place where their troubles cease bothering them. They learn to crave for that method of forgetfulness and yearn for the entertainment. The vaudeville house has proved a boon to the community, and the appreciation is marked by the...