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A Revolution in Three Acts: The Radical Vaudeville of Bert Williams, Eva Tanguay, and Julian Eltinge
Winner - 2022 Deems Taylor / Virgil Thomson Book Awards in Pop from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers
Bert Williams--a Black man forced to perform in blackface who challenged the stereotypes of minstrelsy. Eva Tanguay--an entertainer with the signature song "I Don't Care" who flouted the rules of propriety to redefine womanhood for the modern age. Julian Eltinge--a female impersonator who entranced and unnerved audiences by embodying the feminine ideal Tanguay rejected. At the turn of the twentieth century, they became three of the most provocative and popular performers in vaudeville, the form in which American mass entertainment first took shape.
A Revolution in Three Acts explores how these vaudeville stars defied the standards of their time to change how their audiences thought about what it meant to be American, to be Black, to be a woman or a man. The writer David Hajdu and the artist John Carey collaborate in this work of graphic nonfiction, crafting powerful portrayals of Williams, Tanguay, and Eltinge to show how they transformed American culture. Hand-drawn images give vivid visual form to the lives and work of the book's subjects and their world.
This book is at once a deft telling of three intricately entwined stories, a lush evocation of a performance milieu with unabashed entertainment value, and an eye-opening account of a key moment in American cultural history with striking parallels to present-day questions of race, gender, and sexual identity.
Bert Williams--a Black man forced to perform in blackface who challenged the stereotypes of minstrelsy. Eva Tanguay--an entertainer with the signature song "I Don't Care" who flouted the rules of propriety to redefine womanhood for the modern age. Julian Eltinge--a female impersonator who entranced and unnerved audiences by embodying the feminine ideal Tanguay rejected. At the turn of the twentieth century, they became three of the most provocative and popular performers in vaudeville, the form in which American mass entertainment first took shape.
A Revolution in Three Acts explores how these vaudeville stars defied the standards of their time to change how their audiences thought about what it meant to be American, to be Black, to be a woman or a man. The writer David Hajdu and the artist John Carey collaborate in this work of graphic nonfiction, crafting powerful portrayals of Williams, Tanguay, and Eltinge to show how they transformed American culture. Hand-drawn images give vivid visual form to the lives and work of the book's subjects and their world.
This book is at once a deft telling of three intricately entwined stories, a lush evocation of a performance milieu with unabashed entertainment value, and an eye-opening account of a key moment in American cultural history with striking parallels to present-day questions of race, gender, and sexual identity.
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Published September 21, 2021
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About the author
David Hajdu
20 books64 followersDAVID HAJDU is the author of Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn and Positively 4th Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Farina and Richard Farina. He is a critic for The New Republic and a professor in the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. He lives in New York City."
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
March 15, 2022
A brief look at three very fascinating performers from the peak of Vaudeville in the early 1900s.
I was happy to learn a bit about the rise and fall of Vaudeville, a form of entertainment that once dominated and then faded away with the advent of motion pictures. And it is always gratifying to see a history focused on people from marginalized populations, in this case an extremely successful Black American who performed in blackface, a sex-positive woman who defied Victorian decorum and norms to become Vaudeville's queen, and a closeted gay man who was an acclaimed female impersonator.
The presentation is a little dry and flat at times and the book might have been better if it had focused on one person instead of trying to cram in all three, even if their lives had thematic parallels and crossed over at various points. Still, I found myself quickly turning the pages even as their lives begin taking sad turns.
I was happy to learn a bit about the rise and fall of Vaudeville, a form of entertainment that once dominated and then faded away with the advent of motion pictures. And it is always gratifying to see a history focused on people from marginalized populations, in this case an extremely successful Black American who performed in blackface, a sex-positive woman who defied Victorian decorum and norms to become Vaudeville's queen, and a closeted gay man who was an acclaimed female impersonator.
The presentation is a little dry and flat at times and the book might have been better if it had focused on one person instead of trying to cram in all three, even if their lives had thematic parallels and crossed over at various points. Still, I found myself quickly turning the pages even as their lives begin taking sad turns.
December 22, 2021
I found this book when I was searching through the library catalog for books in graphic novel form. Although I knew a little about Bert Williams and Eva Tanguay, I didn't know anything about Julian Eltinge.
This book not only covers the lives - both performing and personal - of these three performers, but also gives a brief history of the beginnings, rise, and fall of vaudeville. The word itself is a corrupted version of the French voix de ville or, voice of the city streets. There's even a sample vaudeville program, and a description of the types of acts that would typically perform.
The stories of these vaudevillians are certainly interesting, but I'm not sure how revolutionary they were. They were definitely important in their time - Tanguay, the model of a free-spirited "new" woman; Bert Williams, a respected Black comic performer in musicals, plays, and in shows like the Ziegfield Follies; Eltinge as an early practitioner of "female delineation". Their success was undeniable. But truly revolutionary artists - like Picasso, or The Beatles - continue to challenge themselves and their fans as they continue to evolve. These artists profiled didn't do that. Other than paving the way for performers who came later (I think Mae West owed something to both Tanguay and Eltinge), it doesn't seem like they really changed the trajectory of the performing arts, or made being Black, female or gay any more societally acceptable in the long run. It is maybe asking too much for these particular performers to have been too revolutionary - slavery was a recent memory in the United States, homosexuality was illegal in most places, and being female in a male-dominated society has always had its challenges. But I'm glad these authors took the time to illuminate the stories of these people, and this slice of American entertainment history.
This book not only covers the lives - both performing and personal - of these three performers, but also gives a brief history of the beginnings, rise, and fall of vaudeville. The word itself is a corrupted version of the French voix de ville or, voice of the city streets. There's even a sample vaudeville program, and a description of the types of acts that would typically perform.
The stories of these vaudevillians are certainly interesting, but I'm not sure how revolutionary they were. They were definitely important in their time - Tanguay, the model of a free-spirited "new" woman; Bert Williams, a respected Black comic performer in musicals, plays, and in shows like the Ziegfield Follies; Eltinge as an early practitioner of "female delineation". Their success was undeniable. But truly revolutionary artists - like Picasso, or The Beatles - continue to challenge themselves and their fans as they continue to evolve. These artists profiled didn't do that. Other than paving the way for performers who came later (I think Mae West owed something to both Tanguay and Eltinge), it doesn't seem like they really changed the trajectory of the performing arts, or made being Black, female or gay any more societally acceptable in the long run. It is maybe asking too much for these particular performers to have been too revolutionary - slavery was a recent memory in the United States, homosexuality was illegal in most places, and being female in a male-dominated society has always had its challenges. But I'm glad these authors took the time to illuminate the stories of these people, and this slice of American entertainment history.
July 6, 2022
This took me quite some time to read, as it's quite wordy and the black and white line artwork takes some getting used to. Some of the syntax also seems outdated, but was likely what was used for that time in history.
Regardless, I told a lot of people about this book as I was reading it. I am constantly amazed at what content gets published in nonfiction comic form. The focus on these three entertainers was inspired, as each entertainer's act is relevant to the social movements of today, and were also foundational to vaudeville itself. I had heard these names before in passing and now feel like I have a much better understanding as to why these three people were so important to where we have gotten to as a society.
Regardless, I told a lot of people about this book as I was reading it. I am constantly amazed at what content gets published in nonfiction comic form. The focus on these three entertainers was inspired, as each entertainer's act is relevant to the social movements of today, and were also foundational to vaudeville itself. I had heard these names before in passing and now feel like I have a much better understanding as to why these three people were so important to where we have gotten to as a society.
June 6, 2024
Wow! Such a pleasant read. Cool to learn about the era of Vaudeville, with which I only really knew the Marx Brothers. Just 3 interesting stories.
A lost star only because some of the graphics are a little stiff and some of the text sometimes long winded or at times a little confusing.
A lost star only because some of the graphics are a little stiff and some of the text sometimes long winded or at times a little confusing.
July 16, 2023
"Dramatic nonfiction" is how the authors describe this graphic novel about three vaudeville stars that defied social norms of the day. Bert Williams was a Black man impersonating a white man in blackface; Eva Tanguay performed as a sexually profligate woman and lived that life; and Julian Eltinge dressed as a woman, effectively making his career as a cross dresser.
Black and white graphic art and hand written text.
Black and white graphic art and hand written text.
January 10, 2022
I don’t know what I was expecting, I just picked this book up because it was a graphic novel. Neither disappointed nor thrilled by it, it was informative. Learned about people I had never heard of. I think Julian Eltinge was the most interesting person.
April 2, 2022
This is a great overview of more unknown Vaudeville history and it is contextualized through the three transgressive figures featured in this book. Connections to drag and the changes that came with the silver screen paint quite the portrait of the scene at the time. It's interesting!
June 22, 2022
A very interesting book about three vaudeville stars, in graphic format - the illustrations reflect the stories well. These stars pretty much covered the span of vaudeville history and embodied a number of social issues: women's autonomy, racism, men cross-dressing as women.
March 31, 2022
A great history of Vaudeville.
April 4, 2022
I often found it hard to keep track of characters, or to know what action was being depicted in the art. The writing was dry & depressing.
June 28, 2022
Interesting choice to tell three stories of three vaudevillians, but though they crossed paths, their stories didn’t mesh. So, in the end, none of the stories really connected with this reader.
March 20, 2023
Good info, but depressing especially near the end
July 11, 2024
The three people are really interesting, but the art adds nothing and the prose is straightforwardly informative, so I feel like I just read a few interesting Wikipedia articles.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews