Vaudeville and the Making of Modern Entertainment, 1890–1925

by David Monod

Today, vaudeville is imagined as a parade of slapstick comedians, blackface shouters, coyly revealed knees, and second-rate acrobats. But vaudeville was also America's most popular commercial amusement from the mid-1890s to the First World War; at its peak, 5 million Americans attended vaudeville shows every week. Telling the story of this pioneering art form's rise and decline, David Monod looks through the apparent carnival of vaudeville performance and what made the theater so popular and transformative? Although he acknowledges its quirkiness, Monod makes the case that vaudeville became so popular because it offered audiences a guide to a modern urban lifestyle. Vaudeville acts celebrated sharp city styles and denigrated old-fashioned habits, showcased new music and dance moves, and promulgated a deeply influential vernacular modernism. The variety show's off-the-rack trendiness perfectly suited an era when goods and services were becoming more affordable and the mass market promised to democratize style, offering a clear vision of how the quintessential twentieth-century citizen should look, talk, move, feel, and act.

Genres: History

276 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 28, 2020

Reviews

[Joe Stevens · Rating 2.5 out of 5]

The final two chapters redeem the book somewhat with a look at the business of vaudeville and the decline of vaudeville. Chapters 2 through 4 are academic nonsense and PC junk. You never learn about the real performers who you can see in old movies, talking shorts and early old time radio. If they weren't edge studies you rarely hear about them here. Again read the last two chapters for actual information.