Softcover - Biography/Memoir. A charming morsel of a book about one man's real life Vaudeville story tap dancing back and forth across the country in the 1930s. More than 100 photos and newspaper clippings to enjoy.

International vaudeville star and Broadway prima ballerina Jeanne Devereaux performed for millions across America and Europe from age eleven until her retirement at forty. A headliner at Radio City Music Hall, she led a large group of performers on one of the first USO Camp Shows tours to Japan. Born Jean Helman, she entered showbiz as a dancing trouper performing in palatial theaters and was one of the last vaudevillians surviving into the 2010s. In her later years living in Pasadena, California, Devereaux indulged her passion for research and writing in the Huntington Library's Rothenberg Reading Room, losing none of her intelligence and wit despite a fading memory. Drawing on personal interviews, theatrical programs, and her diary and letters, this biography illuminates the life and career of one of vaudeville's stars of stage, film, and television.

Vaudeville, as it is commonly known today, began as a response to scandalous variety performances appealing mostly to adult, male patrons. When former minstrel performer and balladeer Tony Pastor opened the Fourteenth Street Theatre in New York in 1881, he was guided by a mission to provide family-friendly variety shows in hopes of drawing in that portion of the audience – women and children – otherwise inherently excluded from variety bills prior to 1881. There he perfected a framework for family-oriented amusements of the highest obtainable quality and style. Historical Dictionary of Vaudeville contains a chronology, an introduction, an extensive bibliography, and the dictionary section has more than 1,000 cross-referenced entries on performing artists, managers and agents, theatre facilities, and the terminology central to the history of vaudeville. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about vaudeville.

In a rapidly changing world, the ways in which economic forces affect both personal and global change can be difficult to track, particularly in the arts. This collection of twenty new essays explores both obscure and famous plays dealing with economic issues. Beginning with the Industrial Revolution, the text moves from Marx's theories to Wall Street speculation, nineteenth century immigration issues, the excesses of the Gilded Age and the 1920s, the Great Depression, World War II and millennial economic challenges.

Saloons, barrooms, honky-tonks, or watering holes--by whatever name, they are part of the mythology of the American West, and their stories are cocktails of legend and fact, as Richard Selcer, David Bowser, Nancy Hamilton, and Chuck Parsons demonstrate in these entertaining and informative accounts of four legendary Texas establishments. In most Western communities, the first saloon was built before the first church, and the drinking establishments far outnumbered the religious ones. Beyond their obvious functions, saloons served as community centers, polling places, impromptu courtrooms, and public meeting halls. The authors of this volume discuss both the social and operational aspects of the businesses: who the owners were, what drinks were typically served, the democratic ethos that reigned at the bars, the troubling issues of social segregation by race and gender within each establishment, and the way order was maintained--if it was at all. Here, the spotlight is thrown on four saloons that were legends in their day: Jack Harris's Saloon and Vaudeville Theater in San Antonio, Ben Dowell's Saloon in El Paso, the Iron Front of Austin, and the White Elephant of Fort Worth. Together with architectural renderings of the floor plans and old photographs of the establishments and some of their more famous customers, the history of each is woven into the history of its city. Fatal shootings are recounted, and forms of entertainment are described with care and verve. One of this book's most fascinating aspects is the sharp detail that brings to life the malodorous, smoky interiors and the events that took place there. Selcer and his co-authors are experts on their respective watering holes. They start with the origins of each establishment and follow their stories until the last drink was served and the places closed down for good. There are stops along the way to consider the construction of the ornate bars, the suppliers of the liquor served, the attire of the gentlemen gamblers, the variety of casino games that emptied men's pockets, and more. Through the wealth of detail and the animated narrative, a crucial part of Texas' Western heritage becomes immediately accessible to the present.

The field of Popular Music Studies is growing, but still lacks some basic reference materials. The Chronology of American Popular Music, 1899-2000 fills this gap by offering a comprehensive overview of the field. It will be a must-own for libraries and individuals interested in this growing field of research.