Vaudeville
Vaudeville comprised live variety shows; they were the dominant form of entertainment before radio and sound movies became popular in the late 1920s. Singing, dancing, and acrobatic acts toured the nation appearing in small concert halls and "museums" in the early 19th century. They grew in popularity and became known as "variety," and by 1860 there were theaters devoted to such programs in all the larger cities. Many noted legitimate actors first appeared in variety.
It was late in the 19th century that the French word "vaudeville" came into use to describe these programs; the British called them music halls. B. F. Keith, who began managing a music hall in Boston in 1883, acquired a number of vaudeville theaters. Combining with a rival, F. F. Proctor, in 1906, he became the leading figure of the vaudeville world. Marcus Loew, Alexander Pantages, and the firm Sullivan and Considine and Orpheum were also operating large vaudeville circuits at that time.
Will Rogers was one of the biggest stars in the early 1920s.
Between 1910 and 1930 motion pictures so supplanted stage shows in popular patronage that after 1930 vaudeville acts were rarely seen except as parts of the program at the larger motion picture theaters.
Further reading
- Robert M. Lewis. From Traveling Show to Vaudeville: Theatrical Spectacle in America, 1830--1910 (2007) excerpt and text search