Rupert Holmes - Interviews We have scenes where if you walked into the theatre at that He walked through mostmass entertainment forms, from vaudeville to radio to television to film. http://www.rupertholmes.com/interviews/brief_encounter.html
Extractions: photo by Say Good Night, Gracie photo by Carol Rosegg Rupert Holmes ruled Broadway in 1986, when the long running musical he scripted and scored, The Mystery of Edwin Drood , won five Tony Awards. But after two thrillers Accomplice in 1990 and Solitary Confinement in 1992Holmes disappeared from the New York stage, instead devoting himself to "Remember WENN," the television series about a struggling 1930s Pittsburgh radio station which developed and retains a cult following. With the program's conclusion, Holmes returned to stagework and this season it will be tough to avoid him. His first Broadway effort in a decade, Say Goodnight, Gracie , a one-man show starring Frank Gorshin as George Burns, begins previews Sept. 17 at the Helen Hayes Theatre. Marty
VAUDEVILLE LINKS Show Notes; Hooray For Hollywood., Growing Up With radio. Mountebanks, The, vaudevilleProducing site of Comedian/Writer National theatre, Community vaudeville. http://nfo.net/lnx/lvaud.html
MWOTRC: Metro Washington Old Time Radio Club Eugene Howard and on the same vaudeville bills with Lulu s first radio appearancewas with Gertrude Niesen father was the manager of London s Adelphi theatre. http://www.mwotrc.com/rr2003_04/itpays.htm
Extractions: (From Radio Recall , April 2003) Recently, a professorial OTR historian and elder statesman of our hobby from the Elmira, NY area cited It Pays To Be Ignorant as one of the "Ten Worst OTR Shows of All-Time." I respect his opinion especially since said professor is a good friend of mine. However, I'm at variance with his contention that this series catered its humor to the "least common denominator." And I take comfort in the fact that this show of the 1940s far out-classes today's latest common denominator which has no problem with the tasteless toilet humor that permeates today's top-"grossing" comedy movies. I've always enjoyed It Pays To Be Ignorant Host Tom Howard was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, on 16th June 1885. When he was 11 months old, his parents, Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Black, relocated the family to the U.S. In 1905, while working in a Philadelphia grocery store, Tom adopted the stage name "Tom Howard" in order to spare his mother's feelings and embarked on a show-biz career, at first earning $15.00 a day for a dozen vaudeville "turns" a day. In 1910, he married the former Miss Harriet Berg. Over the years, he performed on the American and Columbia Wheels burlesque circuits; acted on Broadway in shows such as "Ziegfeld Follies," "Smiles" (a Ziegfeld production which also starred Fred and Adele Astaire, Marilyn Miller, and Eddie Foy, Jr.), "Keep Moving," "The Gang's All Here" (with future Three Stooges front-man Ted Healy), "The Greenwich Village Follies," and "Rain or Shine."
Theatre Of The Mind @ Gulliver.cc theatre of the Mind Drama and Comedy on radio, vaudeville pair Jim and Marion Jordanplayed the McGees, delighting radio fans for an astounding run of 24 http://www.gulliver.cc/radio.htm
FOX THEATRE 2004-2005 Broadway Series sendup of 70s chestnuts and vaudeville-inspired comedy is an uproarious piece oftheatre that nostalgically It s the show KMOX radio calls miraculously funny http://www.fabulousfox.com/broadway/
Extractions: View seating locations. The Fox Theatre is thrilled to announce the 2004-2005 U.S. Bank Broadway Series! This season is packed with hits, including several of Broadway's classic productions of the past decade and a few new surprises! In a first for the subscription series, we will open the season in September at the 400-seat Grandel Theatre (just north of the Fox) with Triple Espresso Chicago In December, the world-renowned Rockettes come to town with the much-anticipated St. Louis debut of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular . Also new to the Fox stage will be a national tour of the latest Disney production On the Record , and this Broadway season's hot revivial of Wonderful Town . Plus, two of the most successful shows in musical theatre history return with Les Miserables and The Producers, the New Mel Brooks Musical New subscriptions will go on sale June 13th at noon. For more information, check out our subscriber advantage or call the Fox Subscription hotline at (314) 535-1700, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday and Noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.
Vaudeville History Ohio 1911 was a time without radio, without television talent shows, lecturers, travellingvaudeville shows, minstrels many towns established a theatre and community http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~hl/v.html
Extractions: The era from 1903 to 1911 was a time without radio, without television, and without video stores. Phonograph records, both disc and cylinder types, were just beginning to be developed for primitive, non-electric gramophones and graphophones. Also, short five- and ten-minute silent moving pictures were just beginning to be available as extra novelty features during magic lantern shows. Thus, the primary form of entertainment in small-town America was live entertainment, such as home talent shows, lecturers, travelling vaudeville shows, minstrels, musicals, and dramas. To accomodate this need many towns established a theatre and community center, often called an "opera house." Chicago Junction, Ohio (later renamed Willard) was no exception, and the variety of live entertainment provided by the "Chicago Opera House" was unbelievable by late twentieth-century standards for a town with a population of 3000. The original Chicago Opera House (known later as Hoffman House or Maple Opera House) contained 440 removable seats and offered some form of activity almost every night, including dances, dance classes, concerts, banquets, wrestling, and illustrated lectures. It was truly Willard's "window to the world." When I found that my great-grandfather, Fred Henry Layer, had managed the Chicago Opera House, I sought every source of information available about his career from approximately July 1903 to December 1911. Then one summer I compiled this information into three cross-correlated lists published in a book format with family photographs and original newspaper clippings of many events. This book is now on deposit at the Willard Public Library. The basic lists have been updated and are available here on the Net.
ASTRO - Summer Theatres From vaudeville to radio, right through Gus the aging theatre cat, Macavity the criminalcat, rocker Rum Tum Tugger and the once glamorous Grizabella, now http://www.summertheatre.org/section_theatres/detail.asp?PRID=46
Disinformation | A Not So Brief History Of The Firesign Theatre their visage as America s Comedy theatre, and Electric vaudeville. April of 1995The Firesign theatre assembled in to record four Nick Danger radio spots for http://www.disinfo.com/archive/pages/article/id2037/pg5/
Extractions: They created a following of die-hards, affectionately called Fireheads who treated the band like they were the Grateful Dead , preceding them to every venue to try and catch every show. The Firesign Theatre staged endless press conferences, and interviews and appeared on many local and National Public Radio affiliates across the country promoting their comeback and cementing their base. Mobile Fidelity released Fighting Clowns with the "Carter" song on CD in 1993, and a double CD set of selected live performances from the 25th Anniversary Tour, Back From The Shadows in 1994. The sales figures of the CDs has caused CBS/Sony to not renew further licensing to Mobile Fidelity with the hope of doing their own reissues. In August of 1995
Vaudeville Humor | Levitt and pieces in anthologies and in some period dramatic comedies, vaudeville humorhas Levitt has also written books and articles on theatre, radio plays for the http://www.siu.edu/~siupress/titles/f02_titles/levitt_vaudeville.htm
Extractions: Vaudeville Humor The Collected Jokes, Routines, and Skits of Ed Lowry Edited with an Introduction by Paul M. Levitt November 2002 cloth, 0-8093-2453-9, $55.00s 544 pages, 6 x 9 Theatre Studies This is a marvelous look at an era of American entertainment now faded from most peoples memory. . . . The subject as presented serves as a compendium of vaudeville and its reflection of a culture much different from todays. The work has added value because it provides a view of that world as seen by one manEd Lowry. Robert F. Nisbett, Colorado State University From Vaudeville Humor: The Collected Jokes, Routines, and Skits of Ed Lowry . . . Marriage is like a three-ring circus: engagement ring, wedding ring, and suffer-ing. Do you realize that when Lincoln was your age, he was chopping wood and helping his parents? / Yeah, and when he was your age he was president. A Scotsmans wife was running a fever of 105, so he had her moved into the basement and used her to heat the house. A Russian was being led off to execution by a squad of Bolshevik soldiers on a rainy morning. What brutes you Bolsheviks are, grumbled the doomed man, to march me through the rain like this. How about us? retorted one of the squad. We have to march back.
TalentMatch - An Online Entertainment Community, Press Kit Before there was radio, television or movies, there was entertainment in the US Therewere vaudeville circuits from the country to New Yorks Palace theatre. http://www.talentmatch.com/press/presskit.asp
Extractions: Its hard to pinpoint the first entertainer who walked onto a vaudeville stage - or even the location of the stage, for that matter. But one thing is certain. Whoever that entertainer might have been, the motivation to walk on that stage was no different than it is for the millions of artists who search for an audience today. The desire for artists to share their talents has always existed - only the venues for exposure and discovery have changed. Before there was radio, television or movies, there was vaudeville. It got its start in Europe; but found its home in the United States. By 1875 vaudeville was the most popular form of entertainment in the U.S. There were vaudeville circuits from what was considered the "Wild West" all the way across the country to New Yorks Palace Theatre. Aspiring artists would walk on to candle-lit stages to sing and dance or juggle or tell jokes, perform mime or conduct magic. It was the venue that millions of aspiring artists had been searching for - an outlet and release for their talent. It offered the variety and freshness that American audiences wanted. At its height in 1920, more than 20 million Americans saw vaudeville acts every day - in virtually every city and town in the nation. Vaudeville theatres peppered city streets like coffee stands do today.
Television Archives: June 1948 spend on its first show, the Texaco Star theatre hired singer NBC refashioned oneof its big radio studios for The show had a vaudeville format, with the acts http://web.cnjnet.com/~mweinber/berle.html
Extractions: In June 1948, a big-budget variety show premiered on TV, the first in two years. With $10,000 to spend on its first show, the Texaco Star Theatre hired singer Pearl Bailey, comedian Al Kelly, ventriloquist Senor Wences, as well as dancers, an orchestra, and even a few circus acts. NBC refashioned one of its big radio studios for Texaco's new show; it had room for three sets on stage and for a large studio audience. The show had a vaudeville format, with the acts arranged to create variety and build to several high points. Holding the program together on stage was a "host" performer, and Texaco and its advertising agency hired comedian Milton Berle to preside over the first few shows. Berle was a show business veteran who had worked in silent films with Charlie Chaplin as a child and later in vaudeville, the Ziegfield Follies, radio, and Hollywood. Now in his forties, Milton Berle was the right person in the right place at the right time. Berle had learned how to keep his audience laughing when he'd hosted variety shows in vaudeville. When the Texaco Star Theatre premiered on June 8, 1948, Berle told jokes and played off his audience and fellow performers. He kept his viewers laughing, both in NBC's big TV studio and in bars and homes along NBC's East Coast network. "Register Mr. B as television's first smash!" hailed the
Powerhouse Museum | Roy Rene's Top Hat was broadcast live from a radio theatre before a studio audience. This is the reasonMo continued to wear his whitefaced make-up and vaudeville-style costume http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/opac/98-36-1.asp
Extractions: high resolution version (requires java) Top hat, worn by Roy Rene, silk/ card/ felt, Woodrow Hats, England, 1947-1950. Sydney Opera House Trust Top hat, worn by Roy Rene, silk/card/felt, Woodrow Hats, England, 1947-1950 Worn, black silk top hat with Roy Rene's characteristic drop on one side. Stamped inside: By appointment to HM The King/ Woodrow Hats/ Silk plush. Woodrow Hats. 500 Harris Street Ultimo, PO Box: K346 Haymarket, Sydney NSW 1238, Australia. designed by MassMedia Studios
Diane Samuels Interview - Writewords.org.uk theatre, Watford transfering to the vaudeville theatre, West End Legend of Mata Hari ,Palace theatre, Watford, 2002 My work for BBC radio includes Two Together http://www.writewords.org.uk/interviews/diane_samuels.asp
Extractions: I was born in Liverpool in 1960, was educated at the Kind David High school and studied hisory at Sidney Sussex college, Cambridge. I worked as a drama teacher in inner London secondary schools and then as an education officer at the Unicorn Theatre for children before becoming a full time writer co-winner of the 1992 Verity Bargate Award, winner of 1993 Meyer Whitworth Award
About Arts Performing_Arts Theatre From 2004-06-12 vaudeville (16); Youth (0 The Chronicles of Narnia (Chronicles of Narnia radio theatre)TheChronicles of Narnia (Chronicles of Narnia radio theatre) by CS Lewis http://www.beauchamp.de/odp/odp.php/browse/Arts/Performing_Arts/Theatre/
Extractions: If this site is too slow, try the mirror at sicherheitsmeister.com Arts Performing Arts ... Wardrobe and Costume This category in other languages: Asturian Bulgarian Catalan Chinese Simplified ... Turkish Theatre by Robert Cohen History of the Theatre (9th Edition) by Oscar G. Brockett Theatre, Brief Version by Franklin J. Hildy The New Encyclopedia of Stage Hypnotism by Cohen Breaking Into Acting for Dummies by Robert Cohen The Essential Theatre With Infotrac by Ormond McGill Corsets and Crinolines by Larry Garrison At This Theatre by Wallace Wang A Cultural History of Theatre by Oscar Gross Brockett From Farce to Metadrama: A Stage History of The Taming of the Shrew, 1594-1983 (Contributions in Drama and Theatre Studies) by Robert J. Ball Living Theatre: A History by Edwin Wilson Eight Plays For Theatre by Alvin Goldfarb The Dramatic Imagination: Reflections and Speculations on the Art of Theatre by Robert Cohen British Theatre in the Great War: A Revaluation by Robert Edmond Jones Structural Design for the Stage by Gordon Williams The Essential Theatre by Alys Holden A History of African American Theatre by Ben Sammler Acts of service: Spontaneity, commitment, tradition in the nonscripted theatre
VAUDEVILLE MusicWeb Encyclopaedia Of Popular Music to the top; the ultimate goal was the legitimate theatre on Broadway Vaudevillebegan to succumb in the late 1920s to the competition of radio and films http://www.musicweb.uk.net/encyclopaedia/v/V22.HTM
The Electric Eclectic - Music Star Galleries; Simply Scripts Movie, radio, Television, Plays of practical information,advice for theatre folk at Music Website on Earth; vaudeville Slang The http://bloxword.ca/music.htm
Extractions: REFERENCES TO 'MUSIC / SONG / THEATRE' A Passion for Jazz Music Commentary, History and Education A Place for Readers, Writers, Poets, Theatrical Arts Share Writer's Resources and Ideas Academy Awards 3/4 of a century recognizing excellence in filmmaking achievement Acadamy Awards Database Searchable by name; film title; song title; category; etc. All Classical Explore classical music Am I Right Misheard Lyrics and Song Parodies Anne Harlow's Home Page Great Music, Dance, and Theatre Links Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics This site provides footnotes for the lyrics Aria Database All the information you could want Artifact The guide to quality Internet resources in the Arts and Creative Industries Artist Lyric Links A wealth of lyric related links Artslynx International Resources - Dance, Theatre, Arts, Music, Film, Writing, etc. ASCAP World's most visited professional music website Aural Delight An Eclectic Guide to Internet Radio B.B.C. - A to Z Index A list of all BBC websites Based on the Book Selected books that have been made into movies Best Song Lyrics Homepage Plus links to other lyric sites Big Bands Database An ongoing project dedicated to Bands; to Jazz and to Swing History
The History Of Jim Crow of American popular culture after 1900, especially manifested in minstrel shows,the vaudeville theatre, songs and music, film and radio, and commercial http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/resources/lessonplans/hs_es_popular_culture.htm
Extractions: Ronald L. F. Davis, Ph. D. The onset of Jim Crow laws and customs rested upon the racist characterization of black people as culturally, personally, and biologically inferior. This image functioned as the racial bedrock of American popular culture after 1900, especially manifested in minstrel shows, the vaudeville theatre, songs and music, film and radio, and commercial advertising. So pervasive was the racial demeaning of black people, and so accepted was it by white Americans throughout the nation, that blackness became synonymous with silliness, deprivation, and ignorance. Most white Americans believed that all Africans and their descendants were racially inferior to whites, and that their common inferiority tied them together wherever they might live in the modern world. In America, black people were portrayed as inferior almost from the time of their enslavement in the colonies in the 1620s. This racial characterization enabled white masters to justify slavery as something positive. Using racial stereotypes to justify the enslavement of blacks was especially pronounced after 1830 as white Southerners defended slavery against attacks by northern abolitionists. This historic view of blacks became deeply embedded in American popular culture with the emergence of the minstrel show in the 1840s. By 1900, the image of silly and exaggerated black men and women in comic routines was the mainstay of musical acts, songs, and skits that dominated the theatrical scene in America well into the twentieth century. (For further discussion of the relationship of Jim Crow and minstrel shows, see
CAPA - America's Premier Presenter Of The Performing Arts the public in 1926 as a combination vaudeville house and movie theatre, part ofthe KeithAlbee chain. In 1929, the Palace became the RKO (radio Keith Orpheum http://www.capa.com/venues/palace.html
Extractions: Box Office Hours The Palace Theatre first opened its doors to the public in 1926 as a combination vaudeville house and movie theatre, part of the Keith-Albee chain. In 1929, the Palace became the RKO (Radio Keith Orpheum), which it remained until the 1970s. Designed to resemble France's Palais de Versailles by internationally reknowned architect Thomas Lamb, who also designed the Ohio Theatre , the construction of this 2,827-seat theatre was personally supervised by vaudeville magnate Edward Albee. Great attention was paid to the hall's acoustics since performers had to be heard without amplification. The dressing room tower was organized like a small hotel complete with a "front desk," where performers picked up their room keys and mail, as well as kitchen facilities and a designated children's playroom for touring performers. Over the years, most of the top names in the entertainment business have appeared at the Palace Theatre, including Bing Crosby, Nat "King" Cole, Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Jackie Gleason, Jack Benny, Mae West, Tommy & Jimmy Dorsey, Burns and Allen, Eddie Cantor, Bill Robinson, Glenn Miller, Gypsy Rose Lee, and Harpo and Chico Marx. During the '30s, '40s, and '50s, the Palace Theatre was the most active live show theatre in Columbus.
Untitled Several years later, vaudeville was faltering, and the curtain holdings were soldto RKO (radioKeith-Orpheum showcase was reopened as the new Orpheum theatre. http://www.bestofbroadway-sf.com/orphist.html
Extractions: On the corner of Hyde and Market Streets in San Francisco stands the Orpheum Theatre. From the day, over 75 years ago, that its magnificent carved doors first opened to the public, until now, Orpheum audiences have seen an illustrious array of American theatrical entertainment pass across its stage and screen. From vaudeville, to movies, to musical comedy, this official city historical landmark has held them all! In the twenties, the entertainment rage was vaudeville, and movies merely an "added attraction" to intrigue the patrons. The theatres themselves were architectural flights of fancy Egyptian palaces, Indian temples, medieval castles with open courtyards. Most of the architecture was exaggerated and opulent. But these settings added to the romance and adventure the audience would find on-stage.
RKO Bushwick dozens of theaters and held various radio and television influences and descendants,here s a vaudeville website of the ancient Beaux Arts RKO Bushwick theatre. http://www.forgotten-ny.com/STREET SCENES/RKO Bushwick/RKO.html
Extractions: HOME LAMPS ADS TROLLEYS ... NECROLOGY When you get off the El at the Gates Avenue station and Broadway, you have only to walk up the street about a block or so to be transported back to a time when showbiz was really showbiz...when a night out meant putting on a shirt and tie or a dress...a time when entertainment meant more than just a movie and an overpriced candy bar. That's because the proud old RKO Bushwick Theatre is still standing at the corner of Broadway and Howard. Forgotten Fan Dan Reynolds sent me this image of the Bushwick in 1933 (right) Benjamin Franklin Keith was creator of the vaudeville circuit, opening a number of theaters for vaudeville artists beginning in the 1880s, and though he died in 1914, B.F. Keith theaters thrived for years afterwards, with the B.F. Keith circuit booking vaudeville acts regularly into hundreds of theaters by the 1920s. For years after that, the RKO organization ran dozens of theaters and held various radio and television stations as well. Vaudeville was the pre-eminent form of American show business entertainment from the late 1800s to the motion picture era began in earnest in the early 1920s. Comics, singers, dancers and plays all shared the same stage in a variety show that survived in show buisness until the early 1970s, when it was finally displaced from network television. For more on vaudeville and its influences and descendants, here's a vaudeville website Conveniently