Vaudeville is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition or light poetry, interspersed with songs or ballets. It became popular in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s, while changing over time.
Jean Schwartz was a Hungarian-born Jewish American composer and pianist. He is best known for his work writing the scores for more than 30 Broadway musicals, and for his creation of more than 1,000 popular songs with the lyricist William Jerome. Schwartz and Jerome also performed together on the vaudeville stage in the United States; sometimes in collaboration with Maude Nugent, Jerome's wife, and the Dolly Sisters. Schwartz was married to Jenny Dolly from 1913-1921.
Shuffle Along is a musical composed by Eubie Blake, with lyrics by Noble Sissle and a book written by the comedy duo Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles. One of the most notable all-Black hit Broadway shows, it was a landmark in African-American musical theater, credited with inspiring the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and '30s.
James McIntyre was an American minstrel performer, vaudeville and theatrical actor, and a partner in the famous blackface tramp comedy duo act McIntyre and Heath.
Flournoy Eakin Miller, sometimes credited as F. E. Miller, was an American entertainer, actor, lyricist, producer and playwright. Between about 1905 and 1932 he formed a popular comic duo, Miller and Lyles, with Aubrey Lyles. Described as "an innovator who advanced black comedy and entertainment significantly," and as "one of the seminal figures in the development of African American musical theater on Broadway", he wrote many successful vaudeville and Broadway shows, including the influential Shuffle Along (1921), as well as working on several all-black movies between the 1930s and 1950s.
George Walker was an American vaudevillian, actor, and producer. In 1893, in San Francisco, Walker at the age of 20 met Bert Williams, who was a year younger. The two young men became performing partners. Walker and Williams appeared in The Gold Bug (1895), Clorindy (1898), The Policy Player (1899), Sons of Ham (1900), In Dahomey (1903), Abyssinia (1906), and Bandanna Land (1907). Walker married dancer Ada Overton, who later also was a choreographer.
Robinson Crusoe, Jr. is a musical with a book by Edgar Smith, lyrics by Harold Atteridge, and music by Sigmund Romberg and James Hanley.
Thomas Kurton Heath (1853–1938) was a vaudeville actor with James McIntyre. They started their act in 1874.
Charles T. "Charlie" or "Charley" White (1821–1891), was an early blackface minstrel entertainer.
Around the Clock is a musical in three acts with music by Lee Orean Smith, a book by Steve B. Cassin, and lyrics by J. Sebastian Hiller. The work was created as a starring vehicle for the Scottish comedian Billie Ritchie. A successful "road musical" which premiered in 1906, the work toured extensively for several years for performances in the United States and Europe; including two stints at theaters on Broadway in 1906 and 1908. The show was still touring as late as 1913. Set in Philadelphia, the loose plot takes place inside a music hall and on a vaudeville stage.
David Craig Montgomery was an American actor and dancer, the partner of Fred Stone. Montgomery and Stone became famous for their performance in the 1903 Broadway musical The Wizard of Oz, and had many other successes in musical comedy and vaudeville.
George Walker and Bert Williams were two of the most renowned figures of the minstrel era. However the two did not start their careers together. Walker was born in 1873 in Lawrence, Kansas. His onstage career began at an early age as he toured in black minstrel shows as a child. George Walker became a better known stage performer as he toured the country with a traveling group of minstrels. George Walker was a "dandy", a performer notorious for performing without makeup due to his dark skin. Most vaudeville actors were white at this time and often wore blackface. As Walker and his group traveled the country, Bert Williams was touring with his group, named Martin and Selig's Mastodon Minstrels. While performing with the Minstrels, African American song-and-dance man George Walker and Bert Williams met in San Francisco in 1893. George Walker married Ada Overton in 1899. Ada Overton Walker was known as one of the first professional African American choreographers. Prior to starring in performances with Walker and Williams, Overton wowed audiences across the country for her 1900 musical performance in the show Son of Ham. After falling ill during the tour of Bandana Land in 1909, George Walker returned to Lawrence, Kansas where he died on January 8, 1911. He was 38.
The Earl Carroll Vanities was a Broadway revue that Earl Carroll presented in the 1920s and early 1930s. Carroll and his show were sometimes controversial.
This Is The Army is an American musical revue in two acts, designed to boost morale in the U.S. during World War II, with a book by James McColl and music and lyrics by Irving Berlin. It was produced by the U.S. Army on Broadway in 1942, with a cast of U.S. soldiers, for the benefit of the Army Emergency Relief Fund.
Miner's Bowery Theatre was a vaudeville or variety show theater opened in the Bowery of New York by Senator Henry Clay Miner in 1878.
The Errand Boy is a musical in two acts with lyrics by Edward P. Moore and a book by George Totten Smith. Created as a starring vehicle for vaudeville star Billy B. Van, the composer of the music for this work was never credited. Set in the town of Georges Mills, New Hampshire, the plot centers around the local errand boy Patsy Bolivar who becomes involved with a troupe of traveling performers stranded in his town.
Coming Thro' The Rye is a "satiretta" or musical in two acts with both lyrics and book by George V. Hobart and music by A. Baldwin Sloane and J. Sebastian Hiller.
The Floor Walkers was a road musical that was created as a starring vehicle for the comedy duo of Hap Ward and Harry Vokes to feature their signature roles of the tramps Lord Percy Harden and Lord Harold Poorly ; characters the duo had previously portrayed in the earlier musicals A Run On the Bank (1895) and The Governors (1898). The Floor Walkers had no attributed author for its book or lyrics, but the music for the production was created by composer Herbert Dillea who also served as the musical's music director. The most well known song from the show was "Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder"; which was the only song to have an attributed lyricist, Arthur Gillespie. This song was for a time a popular standard and was recorded multiple times by singer Harry Macdonough and cornetist Jules Levy for records made for the Victor Talking Machine Company and Columbia Records from 1902 through 1905, and later was recorded by Wayne King in 1947.
Lottie Williams, also known as Lottie Thompson and born Charlotte Louise Johnson, was an American actress, singer, and dancer. A pioneering performer in African-American musical theater, she is best remembered for starring in several stage works with her second husband, Bert Williams, both on Broadway and in vaudeville. These included several musicals created by composer Will Marion Cook, lyrcisit Paul Laurence Dunbar, and the playwright Jesse A. Shipp; including Sons of Ham (1900), In Dahomey (1903), and Abyssinia (1906) among other works. In these musicals she portrayed mainly supporting character roles and was usually a featured singer and/or dancer. However, she portrayed the title role and the main protagonist in the Cook, Dunbar, & Shipp musical My Tom-Boy Girl (1905).
In Hayti is a musical in three acts with music by Jean Schwartz, lyrics by William Jerome, and a book by John J. McNally. It premiered at Broadway's Circle Theatre on August 30, 1909. It closed after 56 performances on October 16, 1909. Produced by Klaw and Erlanger, the show was directed by A. H. Holbrook and choreographed by Julian Alfred. The work was created as a starring vehicle for vaudeville and minstrel show stars James McIntyre and Thomas Heath who were known for their work as blackface performers. It was the second musical created by the songwriting team of Schwartz and Jerome for McIntyre and Heatth; the first being the tremendously popular 1905 musical The Ham Tree.The plot of the show revolves around Colonel Scott's attempt to control the chicken market in Haiti in the midst of a revolution.
