Pauline Musters, alias Princess Pauline (1878-1895) Pauline Musters was born on February 26, 1878 in the village of Ossendrecht, the Netherlands, close to the Belgian border. Her parents Anna Couwenbergh and Michiel Musters were very poor. Michiel took a loan to build a humble house, unfortunately, this burned down in a thunderstorm. Shortly after, Pauline…Continue Reading Pauline Musters by Olga Jansz
Category: Story
Edward Metcalfe: The Splendid Foil, By Joyce H. Munro
Let wars rage still while I work with a will at this peaceful trade of mine. “Armorer’s Song” from Robin Hood I. Doloroso He lies beneath a rectangular stone set flush with the ground behind the Pilgrim State Hospital in Brentwood, Long Island, New York. I haven’t seen his stone for myself but I’m guessing…Continue Reading Edward Metcalfe: The Splendid Foil, By Joyce H. Munro
The Tutt Brothers: Pioneering Black Impressarios by David Soren
African-American performers, producers and writers Salem Tutt Whitney (born Indiana 1869 – Chicago, Feb. 12, 1934) and J. Homer Tutt (born Logansport, Indiana January 31, 1882- Los Angeles, February 10, 1951) billed themselves as brothers although they may have been half-brothers. In the early years of the 20th century they worked together to produce travelling…Continue Reading The Tutt Brothers: Pioneering Black Impressarios by David Soren
The Wiere Brothers: Organized Mayhem by David Soren
Harry (June 23, 1906- January 15, 1992), Herbert (February 27, 1908- August 5, 1999) and Sylvester Wiere (September 17, 1909- July 7, 1970) were a zany comedy team born in Berlin, Vienna and Prague respectively so that each had a different nationality despite being brothers. Their extraordinarily long career stretched from the 1920s right up…Continue Reading The Wiere Brothers: Organized Mayhem by David Soren
Tony Pastor: The Clean Vaudeville Entrepreneur by Victoria Moses
Tony Pastor (April 26, 1833-August 26, 1908) was known as the Father of Vaudeville for his contributions as a performer and manager of variety entertainment. Pastor began his career as a circus clown, later shifting to comic singer on stage, and finally to manager and entrepreneur. As an entertainer, Pastor was known for his large…Continue Reading Tony Pastor: The Clean Vaudeville Entrepreneur by Victoria Moses
Trixie Friganza: Bold and Brassy Vaudeville Fun by Robin Williams
Trixie Friganza was born Delia O’Callahan (Brigid O’Callaghan) on November 29, 1870 in Grenola, Kansas, U.S. She died on February 27, 1955 in Flintridge, California. In her 84 years, Trixie made her mark on Vaudevillian history with her flamboyant attitude, light-hearted comedy, and her always handy catchphrase “You know Trixie with her bag of tricks”….Continue Reading Trixie Friganza: Bold and Brassy Vaudeville Fun by Robin Williams
Vesta Victoria: The Self-Deprecating Singing Comedienne from England by Anna Jennings
Victoria Lawrence was born in Leeds, England on November 26th, 1873 into a theatrical family. Her mother, Annie Lawrence, whose stage name was “Marion Nelson,” was a singer; her father, Joe Lawrence, was called “The Up-Side-Down Comedian” for singing on his head (Fields 30-31). She toured with her parents as a little girl, performing at…Continue Reading Vesta Victoria: The Self-Deprecating Singing Comedienne from England by Anna Jennings
What is Vaudeville? By Frank Cullen
“ Vaudeville was America’s first big-time show business, a coast to coast enterprise that at its height reached as many as 5000 theatres and employed as many as 50,000 people full- or part-time as entertainers and a nearly equal number in related business and crafts. The growth was made possible by the nationwide expansion of…Continue Reading What is Vaudeville? By Frank Cullen
White Rats: A Vaudeville Revolt by Frank Cullen
By the 1890s the vaudeville world was composed of empires and smaller fiefdoms in which performers were pawn in the moguls’ fight to monopolize and the independent’s struggle to survive. The United Booking Office, the booking arm of the huge Keith-Albee (later Keith-Albee-Orpheum chain) determined if, where, when and for how much a vaudeville act…Continue Reading White Rats: A Vaudeville Revolt by Frank Cullen
Willie, West and McGinty: The Comedy Builders by David Soren
Bill Briscoe (1886-1949) began his career as a comic acrobat in a team known as Wild and West, which toured internationally. He and Frank Crossley (ca. 1882-ca. 1942), both from Lancashire, England, developed a carpenter slapstick act as Willie West & McGinty (no comma) around 1900, while en route to perform a gymnast act in…Continue Reading Willie, West and McGinty: The Comedy Builders by David Soren