VAUDEVILLE form of theatrical entertainment, most ...



Name: ________________________________________________ Period: ________________

1920’s Unit Reading

Produce an outline for these topics, Harlem Renaissance, Scopes Trial, the automobile and consumerism, and the importance of mass media (examples are cinema and magazines), remember less can be more; outlining is an important skill to master and you will need to study from these outlines for the upcoming Blue Books =) - - - MAKE SURE YOU USE THE TEXTBOOK

Directions: read the small excerpts below and answer the questions, you may bullet your answers

VAUDEVILLE form of theatrical entertainment, most typically, a kind of variety show popular in the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term dates from the 15th century and is supposed to refer to the valley of Vire (Middle Fr. vau de Vire) in France, the reputed origin of a type of satirical or humorous drinking song. By the 18th century the name had been corrupted to voix de ville ("street voices"), and such songs were frequently inserted in spoken or pantomimed dramas. One form of vaudeville, a collection of songs arranged to accompany a dramatic sketch or an operatic parody, was roughly similar to the English light theatrical form, the ballad opera. In the 19th century the term vaudeville came to refer to a stage entertainment made up of several individual "acts" or presentations by a single entertainer or group of entertainers--acrobats, family acts, musicians, comedians, jugglers, magicians, trained animals, and so forth. This kind of vaudeville evolved both from British music-hall entertainment and, more directly, from barroom entertainment. The first person to transform it into respectable entertainment was the American actor and theater manager Tony Pastor (c. 1837-1908), who in 1881 presented a variety show at his Fourteenth Street Theater in New York City. In 1885 Benjamin Franklin Keith (1846-1914) entered into partnership with Edward Franklin Albee (1857-1930), with whom during the ensuing half century he acquired control over a chain of vaudeville theaters in almost every major city of the U.S. Largely as a result of the enterprising management of Keith, Albee, and Frederick Francis Proctor (1851?- 1929), who joined them in 1905, vaudeville became the most popular form of American entertainment during the early decades of the 20th century. In 1928, when vaudeville was at the height of its popularity, an estimated 2 million people daily attended performances given at the approximately 1000 vaudeville theaters of the U.S. The Palace Theater in New York City was the leading theater on the so-called vaudeville circuit, and to appear there was the aspiration of almost every vaudeville performer. Star performers, or headliners, of vaudeville included the singers Nora Bayes (1880-1928) and Eva Tanguay (1878-1947), the comedians Eddie Cantor and W. C. Fields, and the comedy duo of Joseph Weber (1867-1942) and Lew Fields (1867-1941). Not only American but also foreign performers appeared in American vaudeville houses, including the Scottish singer-comedian Sir Harry Lauder, the French singer Yvette Guilbert (1865?-1944), and the French actor Sarah Bernhardt. The rise to popularity of motion pictures and radio, coupled with a variety of social and economic factors, led during the early 1930s to the rapid decline and virtual collapse of vaudeville, although vestiges of it persisted in revues and musical comedies and later on television.

Citation (MLA) Vaudeville. Funk & Wagnalls® New Encyclopedia. 2005. unitedstreaming. 4 June 2006

1. What was Vaudeville?

2. When did Vaudeville reach its highest popularity?

3. Why did Vaudeville start to decline?

RAGTIME American musical genre, mainly for piano, that reached its greatest popularity between 1897 and World War I. Usually in h time, it is characterized by syncopated melodies over a regularly accented bass. Its roots are in minstrel-show plantation songs, cakewalks, banjo playing, and black folk music; it also drew on, and recast in fresh ways, the chromatic harmonies of 19th-century European music. Created by itinerant professional performers in saloons and honky-tonks, ragtime was ultimately disseminated by piano rolls and printed music. It is a sophisticated genre requiring considerable technical skill. Its systematic syncopation--using patterns found in African-American music throughout the Americas--was its critical contribution to jazz. Among outstanding ragtime composers were Scott Joplin, whose "Maple Leaf Rag" (1899) inaugurated ragtime as a national craze; Thomas Turpin (1873-1922); James Scott (1886-1938); and Eubie Blake (1883-1983). Played at unrushed tempo in Joplin's classical Saint Louis style, it gained a faster, "hotter" character in the hands of New Orleans players such as Jelly Roll Morton.

Citation (MLA)

Ragtime. Funk & Wagnalls® New Encyclopedia. 2005. unitedstreaming. 4 June 2006

1. What was Ragtime?

2. When was it popular?

3. What did Ragtime contribute to (what musical genre)?

4. Who composed “Maple Leaf Rag”?

Directions: next to each political cartoon, provide historical context (specifics) HC, symbolism S, why did someone produce it WP, their motive M, and who do you think their potential audience was PA, you may bullet, as long as you use specifics

HC:

S:

WP:

M:

PA:

HC:

S:

WP:

M:

PA:

HC:

S:

WP:

M:

PA:

Directions: answer the questions associated with the photograph; you may bullet if you answers are specific enough

Slapstick Charleston scene from one of many 1920s Christie Comedies. Al Christie Collection, American Heritage Center.

1. What was the name for women who dressed this way?

2. What do you notice about their attire and the company they keep? Is it different then what we learned about concerning women and their roles / identity?

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download