Vaudeville in NYC

XX Century

Vaudeville in NYC

Popularity/Decline

When/Where

Characteristics

Personal Evaluation

Examples

When/Where:

📈1880s-1930s; 📉1920s-1930s ☆Times Square & Union Square ☆

Times Square: - Palace Theatre; "Valhalla of Vaudeville." - Victoria Theater and Paradise Roof Garden - Hippodrome Theater

Union Square: - Tony Pastor's Theatre; "polite" vaudeville - Keith's Union Square Theatre - Automatic Vaudeville Company

Examples:

✰ Keith-Albee Circuit: premier East Coast tour ✰ Ed Wynn ("The Perfect Fool"): comic headliner- silly costumes, props, giggling voice- wrote & produced his own shows on Broadway✰ F.F. Proctor's Theaters: competitor of the Keith-Albee Circuit- several locations ↝ purchased by Keith-Albee in 1906✰ Tony Pastor ("Father of Vaudeville"): entertainer & theater owner- transformed variety entertainment into a respectable, family-friendly genre for middle-class audiences

Popularity/Decline:

📈 : - family-friendly performances (polite, clean, respectful) - various acts (dancers, magicians, animals) - affordable prices (5 - 10 cents)

📉: - film industry (greater financial opportunities) - performers ↝ film, radio = theater closure/conversion - Great Depression (films were cheaper than live performers)

Personal Evaluation:

Vaudeville incorporated a variety of acts, which makes me want to go and see one. I prefer live performances to watching movies, which is the opposite of what people thought back then. At the time, films represented a new and modern technological advancement. Now, it is integrated into our daily lives, undermining the appreciation for live entertainment. I would go to the Palace Theatre in Times Square once it is done being renovated!

Characteristics:

- fun & colorful, wide range of entertainment - 10 to 15 different acts, lasting for hours - multi-talented performers comedians, singers, dancers, contortionists, magicians, jugglers, ventriloquists, trained animals