What was vaudeville?
Vaudeville was originally the term for a light song. It was derived from the drinking songs attributed to French singer Olivier Basselin and called Vau de Vivre (referring to the Vire valley of France where it originated). At the end of the nineteenth century this light-hearted form of entertainment was adapted for the stage in France, England, and the United States. Eventually known as vaudeville, it evolved into a variety show that consisted of music, theater, and comedy sketches intended for a wide audience. Vaudeville reached the American stage by the 1870s, when acts were performed in New York, Chicago, and other cities. Troupes traveled a circuit of about 1,000 theaters around the country and as many as two million Americans flocked to the shows each day. Script writers attracted immigrant audiences by using ethnic humor and exaggerated dialects, and by joking about the hardships of daily…
