Vaudeville

A form of theatrical entertainment consisting of a variety of acts, vaudeville was the most popular form of entertainment in the early decades of the 20th century. The secret to its success was the range of entertainment it offered. Vaudeville theater included acts such as singers, comedians, acrobats, animal trainers, dancers, and jugglers. This variety appealed to a broad range of audiences, which meant economic success for theater owners. Vaudeville also set the pattern for much of the popular entertainment of the 20th century. Many of the best-known names in American show business got their start in vaudeville.

Vaudeville, in the form in which it gained popularity, developed in the late 19th century, partly due to changes in the business ownership of theaters. Prior to this time, theaters were owned on a local basis. This meant that per-

Poster for a popular vaudeville act (Library of Congress)

Formers had to contract with individual theaters, which was difficult. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a group of entrepreneurs began to buy theaters throughout-the country. These men then established syndicates with theaters in each major U. S. city. Performers then needed only to sign one contract for a tour of the United States. The new syndicates undertook efforts to transform vaudeville into respectable entertainment. In its earlier form, vaudeville had appealed to young males through ribald acts, and the audiences often participated by heckling the acts on stage. The new syndicates realized that they could sell more tickets if they appealed to a wider audience and, therefore, cleaned up vaudeville both in terms of the acts and the behavior of the audience. The syndicates also created a star system and relied on it to fill seats. Performers such as Mae West and W. C. Fields, later stars of the MoviE industry, became draws on their own. Because they helped fill seats, they were paid more.

The success of vaudeville owed much to the social and economic changes of the time. As urban populations grew, there was a built-in audience for new forms of popular entertainment. The sheer numbers of people available in cities helped fill the theaters. Economic changes also built audiences. The rise of large-scale corporate capitalism created new managerial jobs. The men who filled these jobs enjoyed a higher standard of living than clerks had previously, and they had more money to spend on leisure. Many middle-class women, whose husbands worked in these new managerial jobs, enjoyed more leisure time and more money with which to enjoy it. In addition, many younger unmarried women were working outside the home, earning money with which to purchase entertainment. Families in general were enjoying more leisure time as the hours of work declined.

The theater owners pursued potential audiences by tailoring the shows to the audience. In theaters located in working-class and immigrant sections of cities, tickets were cheaper; but the big stars never played these venues. Performances might include parodies of wealthier citizens or other jokes meant to appeal to the audience. Theaters located in the center of cities, usually close to the central business district and main shopping areas, catered to middle-class audiences. Tickets were more expensive; but for a higher price, the audiences got to see the stars of the day perform. Performances in the higher-priced theaters emphasized more genteel acts. They would often include ethnic jokes that poked fun at the working-class immigrants then streaming into the United States. Many of the vaudeville acts thus helped maintain stereotypes about ethnic groups. Performers also altered their performances in different parts of the country. They quickly learned that what New York audiences found entertaining, audiences in Milwaukee, for example, might not. The strength of vaudeville and the key to its success was its ability to change nightly and regionally.

The role played by vaudeville in spreading stereotypes is paradoxical, given that most of the performers came from immigrant working-class backgrounds. In New York City in particular, vaudeville was seen as a ticket out of the immigrant ghetto; and it was from these immigrant ghettos that many of vaudeville’s best-known performers emerged. Its working-class origins helped vaudeville play a role in the cultural transformations of the era. Performers helped shape new ethnic identities that became part of American culture. By lampooning the genteel ways of the middle classes, performers helped weave the egalitarian thread in big-city culture. Furthermore, when traveling outside New York, the performers introduced New York culture to audiences across the country. In this way, vaudeville contributed to the development of a national culture.

Vaudeville declined due to competition from radio and film and the onset of the Great Depression of the 1930s. Whereas in earlier days, one could see the star performers only by attending vaudeville shows, radio brought these performers into America’s homes. Films actually began as part of vaudeville shows. Some of the less expensive vaudeville theaters would show short clips as part of the performance. In the early years, movies did not threaten vaudeville; but as the quality of films improved, more theaters began to show them. The newer films, which had better quality both in terms of picture and story lines, began to play a larger role in vaudeville performances. By the end of the 1920s, only four vaudeville theaters in the United States were not showing films as part of their performances. The introduction of sound into films made them even more attractive for Americans. When the economic depression of the 1930s hit, vaudeville, already teetering on the edge of collapse, declined and never recovered.

Despite its short reign, vaudeville played an important role in setting the pattern for American entertainment of the 20th century. It played a key role in the cultural transformation that took America from the Victorian age to the modern day. It substituted for the older culture of hard work, asceticism, and morality a new urban vision of success and happiness based on luxury and consumption. Vaudeville’s legacy included the creation of a mass audience consisting of people from all walks of life. In addition, vaudeville was the first entertainment industry. The syndicates that controlled theaters across the country were precursors to large movie and music corporations. The syndicates relied on stars to attract an audience. The movie industry quickly learned to copy vaudeville’s star system. Performances often tested the boundaries of propriety, and they were censored only by the theaters, a situation that paralleled the later film rating system. Vaudeville was the first entertainment form to commercialize ethnic cultures.

It also gave ethnic and racial outsiders a chance to join the mainstream through entertainment. Vaudeville was more than just a type of entertainment; it was the beginning of the modern entertainment industry.

See also ENTERTAINMENT, POPULAR.

Further reading: John E. Dimeglion, Vaudeville U. S.A. (Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1973); Robert W. Snyder, The Voice of the City: Vaudeville and Popular Culture in New York (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989).

—Michael Hartman