Vaudeville Performers - Charlie Chaplin, Babe Ruth, Sarah Bernhardt, George Gershwin, Harry Houdini, Bessie Smith, Judy Garland, Eddie Bracken (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 163. Chapters: List of vaudeville performers: A-K, Charlie Chaplin, List of vaudeville performers: L-Z, Al Jolson, James Cagney, Harry Houdini, Irving Berlin, Babe Ruth, Red Skelton, Jack Johnson (boxer), Jack Benny, Bing Crosby, Will Rogers. Excerpt: Sister list: List of vaudeville performers: L-Z This is a partial list of vaudeville performers. Inclusion on this list indicates that the subject appeared at least once on the American vaudeville stage during its heyday between 1881 and 1932. The source in the citation included with each entry confirms their appearance and cites information in the performance notes section. Vaudeville (sometimes abbreviated as vaude) a style of variety entertainment predominant in America in the late 19th century and early 20th century. A similar development in Britain was known as Music Hall. Developing from many sources, including shows in saloons, minstrelsy, freak shows, dime museums, British pantomimes, and other popular forms of entertainment, vaudeville became one of the most popular types of entertainment in America. Vaudeville took the form of a series of separate, unrelated acts each featuring a different types of performance. These performances could ranges from musicians (both classical and popular), dancers, comedians, animal acts, magicians, female and male impersonators, to acrobats, one-act plays or scenes from plays, athletes, lecturing celebrities, minstrels, or even short films. While the initial origins of vaudeville are obscure, historians acknowledge that the opening of Tony Pastor's Fourteenth Street Theatre in New York City on October 24, 1881 marks the beginning of American vaudeville. Pastor had refined the rough variety acts into something wholesome enough for women and children. Other theatre owners quickly picked up on Pastor's new style of vaudeville and theatres began springing up like weeds and would continue in a quick pace until the 1920s. Vaudeville kept the pace up as well reaching its height around 1915. These heights included an industrialization of the business of vaudeville. Following this climax, vaudeville began to struggle with competition from film and in the following decade, radio. These mediums competed not only for audiences, but tale