This series comprises contracts, photographs, handwritten scores, notes and clippings for stage “gags” and dialogues, and stage scripts by Keith and others. The photographs are mostly of Keith and his partner and companion, Maude Parker. There is a scrapbook of script notes and collected clippings of jokes, and several notebooks with script notes. The few…Continue Reading Carlo Sells Keith: Early Vaudevillian- Library Entry
Day: March 28, 2023
Dolly Connolly and Percy Wenrich: Ragtime Superstars by David Soren
Dolly Connolly (born Chicago December 16, 1888 – died New York November 30, 1965) was perhaps the most beautiful of the famous ragtime singers and had marked out a steady career for herself in vaudeville when she met up and coming composer and accompanist Percy Wenrich, a handsome but rather shy and nerdy fellow who…Continue Reading Dolly Connolly and Percy Wenrich: Ragtime Superstars by David Soren
Al Jolson: Ultimate Vaudeville Superstar by David Soren
No vaudeville collection would be complete without a commentary on the greatest of all vaudeville and Broadway stars of the 1910s and 1920s, Al Jolson. The University of Arizona collection has a large number if not a complete number of Jolson sheet music including one piece signed by him personally. Jolson was a vaudeville…Continue Reading Al Jolson: Ultimate Vaudeville Superstar by David Soren
Autographs, Celebrity
Included here are autographs of various celebrities who are not otherwise represented in this archive. An autographed sheet music of Al Jolson is included within his entry and there is another in the Harry Carroll entry. Some of the autographs collected on the music are not from vaudeville stars: DAVIS, EDDIE, SHE CAME ROLLIN’ DOWN…Continue Reading Autographs, Celebrity
Burns and Allen: America’s Favorite Comedy Duo- by Frank Cullen
George Burns (1896–1996) & Gracie Allen (c.1896–1964) Flirtation acts were big in 1920s vaudeville, and some remained big into decades of television sitcoms. Burns & Allen became the best known of them because of their years of popularity in network radio, in movies and on television. Among their better contemporaries—and good friends—were Jesse Block (1900–1983)…Continue Reading Burns and Allen: America’s Favorite Comedy Duo- by Frank Cullen
Cliff Edwards: The Voice of Disney’s Jiminy Cricket by David Soren
If Cliff Edwards (Hannibal, Missouri, June 14, 1895 – Hollywood, July 17, 1971) is remembered at all today it is for two reasons. First is his nickname during his career of Ukulele Ike and the second is his voice-over of the role of Jiminy Cricket in the Walt Disney cartoon Pinocchio of 1940 in which…Continue Reading Cliff Edwards: The Voice of Disney’s Jiminy Cricket by David Soren
African-American Vaudeville: Separate and Unequal by Amber Kearns
The Vaudeville genre was particularly popular in the United States and Canada from the late 1900s until its decline in the 1920s. Including musicians, dancers, actors in short scenes, comedians, magicians, animals, and many other acts, these performances were various and unique, often having little relation to one another, yet grouped on one bill. The…Continue Reading African-American Vaudeville: Separate and Unequal by Amber Kearns