Based on Musical Theatre: A History (J. Kenrick)

1. VAUDEVILLE AND
BURLESQUE
Chapter 6 – THE 301

2. TONY PASTOR
First “Clean” variety show

3. BENJAMIN
KEITH
&
EDWARD
ALBEE
They called their clean
variety shows “vaudeville,”
meaning “voice of the town”

4. Three Levels of
Vaudeville
◦ Small time – training ground for new performers, or
old-timers on the skids
◦ Medium time – good theatres in mid-range cities,
performers were either on the way up, or on the way
down
◦ Big time – the finest theatres in the best cities, two
performances a day, headliners were the star
performers

5. Vaudeville Bill
◦ Silent act
◦ Singing sisters, dancing
brothers
◦ One-act play, comedy
skit
◦ Rising or falling star, or
a novelty act (weird)
Intermission!
◦ BIG ACT (choir,
orchestra)
◦ Novelty act
◦ Headliner (best slot!)
◦ Short film or annoying
act

6. SOME OF VAUDEVILLE’S GREATEST STARS: HARRY HOUDINI AND EVA
TANGUAY

7. What killed vaudeville?
◦ The rise of film with sound – performers could be enjoyed for much less
money!
◦ Wall Street crash of 1929 – a shot heard ‘round the world, beginning the
Great Depression
◦ Joseph P. Kennedy partnered with RCA Radio, deposing the Albee-Keith
consortium, turning all the vaudeville theatres into prime film venues

8. Burlesque
◦ Not about sex, but about the
hilarious lengths men will go to
pursue it!
◦ Comedians worked in pairs: the
“top banana” was the lead
◦ Skits appealed to lower class
audiences and had tons of physical
humor
◦ Lots of commedia dell’arte echoes
in use of stock characters

9. DECLINE OF
BURLESQUE

10. Decline of
Burlesque
By the 1920s, just as the Great
Depression hit, the audiences
disappeared
To revive audiences, strip tease
became the new staple
By the 1930s only men attended
burlesque shows
But its impact lives on: Young
Frankenstein, Spaceballs, Austin
Powers, Shrek, and the 2010 film
Burlesque all contain elements
of burlesque