Willie, West and McGinty: The Comedy Builders by David Soren
Bill Briscoe (1886-1949) began his career as a comic acrobat in a team known as Wild and West, which toured internationally. He and Frank Crossley (ca. 1882-ca. 1942), both from Lancashire, England, developed a carpenter slapstick act as Willie West & McGinty (no...
White Rats: A Vaudeville Revolt by Frank Cullen
By the 1890s the vaudeville world was composed of empires and smaller fiefdoms in which performers were pawn in the moguls’ fight to monopolize and the independent’s struggle to survive. The United Booking Office, the booking arm of the huge Keith-Albee (later...
What is Vaudeville? By Frank Cullen
"Vaudeville was America’s first big-time show business, a coast to coast enterprise that at its height reached as many as 5000 theatres and employed as many as 50,000 people full- or part-time as entertainers and a nearly equal number in related business and crafts....
Vesta Victoria: The Self-Deprecating Singing Comedienne from England by Anna Jennings
Victoria Lawrence was born in Leeds, England on November 26th, 1873 into a theatrical family. Her mother, Annie Lawrence, whose stage name was “Marion Nelson,” was a singer; her father, Joe Lawrence, was called “The Up-Side-Down Comedian” for singing on his head...
Trixie Friganza: Bold and Brassy Vaudeville Fun by Robin Williams
Trixie Friganza was born Delia O’Callahan (Brigid O’Callaghan) on November 29, 1870 in Grenola, Kansas, U.S. She died on February 27, 1955 in Flintridge, California. In her 84 years, Trixie made her mark on Vaudevillian history with her flamboyant attitude,...
Tony Pastor: The Clean Vaudeville Entrepreneur by Victoria Moses
Tony Pastor (April 26, 1833-August 26, 1908) was known as the Father of Vaudeville for his contributions as a performer and manager of variety entertainment. Pastor began his career as a circus clown, later shifting to comic singer on stage, and finally to manager and...
The Wiere Brothers: Organized Mayhem by David Soren
Harry (June 23, 1906- January 15, 1992), Herbert (February 27, 1908- August 5, 1999) and Sylvester Wiere (September 17, 1909- July 7, 1970) were a zany comedy team born in Berlin, Vienna and Prague respectively so that each had a different nationality despite being...
The Tutt Brothers: Pioneering Black Impressarios by David Soren
African-American performers, producers and writers Salem Tutt Whitney (born Indiana 1869 – Chicago, Feb. 12, 1934) and J. Homer Tutt (born Logansport, Indiana January 31, 1882- Los Angeles, February 10, 1951) billed themselves as brothers although they may have been...
The Shop Girl: A Unique Early Theatre Item in the University of Arizona Special Collections Main Library Archive by Elizabeth Marchalonis
The Shop Girl is considered by many scholars to be the first real direct antecedent of the modern Broadway musical. It premiered at the Gaiety Theatre in London in 1894. Producer George Edwardes developed the idea of a musical comedy which was not a burlesque but...
The Salome Dance Craze of the Early 20th Century: Oscar Wilde, Eva Tanguay, Gertrude Hoffmann, Mlle. Dazie and More! by Brandon Neth
The biblical story of Salomé was transformed in the late 1800s, breathing new life into the tale. Originally interpreted through the misogynistic lenses of the times, Oscar Wilde’s play Salomé offered new possibilities for the interpretation of Salomé’s story. By...