Vaudeville

For decades vaudeville was America's popular entertainment. This documentary looks at the history of the form, the source of its success, the variety of acts that toured that various circuits, and the lives of the performers, who ranged from the high-browed to the truly bizarre. It also examines the reasons for the death of vaudeville. We are treated to interviews with survivors of the period (Billy Barty, Rose Marie, the Nicholas Brothers, Billy Short, and others) and with wonderful film clips and stills. The films of the very young Nicholas Brothers alone is worth it. I highly recommend _Vaudeville_.

Just seeing the stars (Morey Ansterdam, Rose Marie, the Nicholas Brothers, BOBBY Short (not "Billy" as another contributor to this space wrote), the great Carl Ballantine, and many more provides the viewer with a living scrapbook and a real feeling for what it was like. After seeing this, I am sorry that vaudeville was dead when I grew up. Unfortunately, many of the performers from this show are now gone too. This is another reason why this oral history is so valuable to us now. It is a record of those days.

I remember vividly the great old variety shows I grew up with (Jack Benny, Jackie Gleason, Red Skelton, etc.). A great number of these people and their guests were products of the vaudeville era. It was niceto see many of them able to sing, dance and do comedy. You had to in order to survive. Vaudeville was a terrific training ground and this program shows us why.

I must say, the secret to longevity is now known... become a vaudeville star... No disrespect intended, this was an amazing and thorough look at the history of vaudeville, both on the stage and on the screen, both black and white (and more), what a show! The creators of this program were brilliant, with the perfect balance of rarely/never been seen footage and current interviews of some of the original stars of vaudeville. A must see for all fans of the genre!!!!