The performers have changed over the years, but their comedy routines have been handed down from generation to generation. Vaudeville definition in the cambridge english dictionary. A vaudeville was a comedy which lacks psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation. Two performers enter from opposite sides of the stage and meet in the middle for a brief comedy bit. Drinking songs, in vaudeville performances, were often performed by crossdressed women. The strict decency standards keith and albee imposed on all vaudeville acts were hard on comedians.
It consisted of a number of variety acts, including live music, dance, and comedy. Humor and ethnic stereotypes in vaudeville and burlesque. In the united states the term connotes a light entertainment popular from the mid1890s until the early 1930s that consisted of 10 to 15 individual unrelated acts, featuring magicians, acrobats, comedians, trained animals, jugglers, singers, and dancers. Developed in england by joe hayman, the definitive jewish vaudeville monologue became bigger than any one comedian as it grew into a sensation stateside when american comedians like barney bernard. Vaudeville comedy, then and now 2012 plot summary imdb. Here is a potted history of vaudeville in three minutes. This tradition has continued in variety comedy entertainment in all of its forms, from stage to television, drawing upon what theater historian brooks mcnamara calls, a shared body of. Bing crosby joins vaudeville veterans jack benny and george burns in a televised tribute to vaude comedy. The collected jokes, routines, and skits of ed lowry contains vaudeville jokes, skits, and routines from the first three decades of the twentieth century originally compiled by comedian ed lowry 1896 1983.
Actors performed plays, magicians put on shows, jugglers juggled, but the real focus of vaudeville was comedy. The comic offense from vaudeville to contemporary comedy. A performer might play a cut house to break a jump. Slapstick knockabout physical comedy, named for the slapstick, a batlike paddle with a flap that emits a huge slap sound when struck.
Vaudeville is a type of entertainment that mixes comedy and music in a variety show. Proper usage and audio pronunciation plus ipa phonetic transcription of the word vaudeville. Information and translations of vaudeville in the most comprehensive dictionary definitions resource on the web. Tragedy is the truest mimesis, followed by epic poetry, comedy, and lyric poetry. Vaudeville definition, theatrical entertainment consisting of a number of individual performances, acts, or mixed numbers, as by comedians, singers, dancers, acrobats, and magicians. Definition of vaudeville theater in the dictionary. Inclusion on this list indicates that the subject appeared at least once on the north american vaudeville stage during its heyday between 1881 and 1932.
Meetings between country bumpkins and city slickers provided lots of material for jokes, and became a classic comedy routine. The comedy skits were written by the men and women of vaudeville. Information and translations of vaudeville theater in the most comprehensive dictionary definitions resource on the web. The space is an extension of both men, a collaboration of equal parts gastronomic spectacle and artistic variety.
We hope that the following list of synonyms for the word vaudeville will help you to finish your crossword today. Stage entertainment offering a variety of short acts such as slapstick turns, songanddance routines, and juggling performances. Great comic acts such as witt and berg and burns and allen brought in the biggest crowds. Comedy is the third form of literature, being the most divorced from a true mimesis. Sister act any vaudeville act with women singers, not necessarily related. Vaudeville article about vaudeville by the free dictionary. As the name suggests, the theatre held mostly vaudeville shows and musical revues in its early days. Slapstick comedy is a form of physical comedy which involves excessive clumsiness or accidents in absurd situations it involves things like humorous accidents, violence, and physical but funny disputes between characters especially if it happens over a misunderstanding or. Vaudeville comedians what do you think of as humorous. His parents were acrobats in vaudeville, and by the time he was three, buster was in on the act. All vaudeville comedy acts were dependent, in some part, on stock materials for inspiration. Most people seem to understand what burlesque is and yet few know or remember vaudeville, burlesque theatres more up market relation. Vaudeville is a style of entertainment that was popular in america around the turn of the 20th century. Vaudeville plays and other events that were performed in ohio town of chicago jct.
Vaudeville was made of comedians, singers, dancers, musicians, and anyone else who could keep an audiences interest for more than three minutes. The comic offense from vaudeville to contemporary comedy examines how contemporary writerperformers are influenced by the comedic vaudevillians of the early 20th century. American theatre vaudeville and burlesque flashcards. Other forms of entertainment could also be included, such as lectures, oneact. Amazons short description of the book does not expound upon its important subtitle. The genre of comedy is defined by a certain pattern according to aristotles definition. When groucho marx and charlie chaplin were born, variety entertainment had been going on for decades in america, and like harry houdini, milton berle, mae west, and countless others, these performers got their start on the vaudeville stage. Listen to the audio pronunciation in the cambridge english dictionary. A typical vaudeville show had eight to 14 acts, or turns, and included a little bit of everything. Made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill. Vaudevillean definition and meaning collins english. From 1881 to 1932, vaudeville, a nationwide system of theatre circuits specializing in variety entertainment was at. Although occasionally found in bits and pieces in anthologies and in some period dramatic comedies, vaudeville humor has never before been available in one collection. One popular sketch was called the arkansas traveler.
Vaudeville comedy, then and now concentrates on the comedians of that era, whose comedy has been performed thousands and thousands of times on stage, in movies, and incorporated into many sitcoms of today. Like a vaudeville performer, victorian novelist, or standup comic, hirst will do anything to hold your attention. Vaudeville is a diverse performance that bears witness to the joint passions. For me, one of the main values of the book is its exploration of the link between vaudeville and the early anarchistic jenkins term sound comedies. From the marx brothers to the simpsons, richard pryor to amy schumer. Sitting on their hands an audience resolutely refusing to applaud.
Vaudeville was the next logical extension of the music hall, a popular form of urban entertainment in the mid19th century, which provided for a variety of acts to perform in front of an allmale. Vaudeville vaudeville is a 10 letter word starting with v and ending with e synonyms, crossword answers and other related words for vaudeville. Vaudeville definition of vaudeville by merriamwebster. Imagine what it took to create fifty years worth of squeaky clean humor.
Vaudeville definition is a light often comic theatrical piece frequently combining pantomime, dialogue, dancing, and song. Beginning in the 1880s and through the 1920s, vaudeville was home to more than 25,000 performers, and was the most popular form of entertainment in america. Information about vaudeville in the dictionary, synonyms and antonyms. The source in the citation included with each entry confirms their appearance and cites information in the performance notes section. From vaudeville to contemporary comedy examines the complex history of the vaudeville aesthetic from radio to television to the digital age and argues for its irrefutable influence on contemporary american comedy.
Olio act cut house theatre that paid lower salaries. Start studying american theatre vaudeville and burlesque. Humor and ethnic stereotypes in vaudeville and burlesque lawrence e. Vaudeville theatre definition of vaudeville theatre by.
Vaudeville, or music hall, was popular between the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. Vaudeville comedians some comedy routines become classics. Vaudeville and slapstick comedy and clowns by carlos. Dark time during which a theatre is closed to the public. Mintz university of maryland the halcyon days of the american vaudeville and burlesque the ater, roughly from 1890 through 1910, compose the period in which ethnic humor on stage was most manifest. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Definition of vaudevillean from the collins english dictionary. Vaudeville definition of vaudeville by the free dictionary. The vaudeville theatre is a west end theatre on the strand in the city of westminster. In the preface, desrochers establishes a widely recognizable definition of the vaudeville aesthetic at the turn of the twentieth century, which differed.
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