the.com/vaudeville
Variety theater where a juggler, a singer, and a dog act shared one bill and no shame.
means A style of live theatrical entertainment made up of unrelated acts—comedy, music, dance, novelty performances—strung together on one program, popular roughly from the late 1800s through the early 1900s.
from Most trace it to French 'voix de ville,' meaning 'voice of the town,' tied to satirical songs sung in the streets and valleys of Normandy; others point to 'vau-de-Vire,' a valley near Vire famous for composing comic ballads. Either way, the word crossed into English carrying its mixed, popular, song-and-skit spirit, and by the time it reached American stages it had become the name for an entire night of unrelated acts under one roof.
- origin
- named after a valley in Normandy, maybe
- peak era
- 1880s to 1930s, thousands of theaters
- killed by
- radio and talkies made it obsolete
- legacy
- launched Chaplin, Keaton, and the Marx Brothers