Key Figures in Early Popular Music in America Religion as a Driving Force for Musical Expression Before the 18th century, the only form of musical teaching accessible to musicians and the rural public was from tune books. Editions such as Cyrus Phillips’s notable work Musical Self Instructor, Containing Five Hundred Questions and Answers Relative to…Continue Reading Key Figures in Early Popular Music in America: Hutchinson Family, Rainer Family, Alleghanians, and the Trapp Family by Victoria Damore
Category: Story
Lillian Roth: Vaudeville Star and Advocate for the Addicted by Klaudia Kendall
Lillian Roth, born Lillian Rutstein, and nicknamed Butterfingers, was a Jewish-American actress born the 13th of December 1910. Named after a famous singer at the time, Lillian Russell, the young vaudeville star, beginning her career in the Keith-Orpheum circuit, seemed destined for a life in the spotlight. Regardless of her namesake and her silly nickname,…Continue Reading Lillian Roth: Vaudeville Star and Advocate for the Addicted by Klaudia Kendall
Leon Errol: Versatile Rubber-Legged Comedian – by David Soren
This collection comprises primarily two scrapbooks describing the stage career of the comedian Leon Errol (1881 or more likely, 1876-1951), on the vaudeville circuits in the Northwest and then in New York with the Ziegfeld Follies. There are also later publicity photographs of Errol from Culver Pictures, First National Pictures, Universal Pictures, and Paramount Pictures,…Continue Reading Leon Errol: Versatile Rubber-Legged Comedian – by David Soren
Larry Weeks: Juggler Extraordinaire by David Soren
Lester Fulton Weeks, known on-stage as Larry Weeks (Salem, Massachusetts 9-24-1919- New York City, 10-13-2014) was one of the most famous jugglers in the history of vaudeville and night clubs. A naturally taught juggler from at least the age of 10, he became a professional juggler early on while growing up in the Bronx. His…Continue Reading Larry Weeks: Juggler Extraordinaire by David Soren
Leon Errol: The Rubber-Legged Scoundrel of Vaudeville by Frank Cullen
Comedian, dancer, producer, director and writer Leon Errol never told jokes, but he was among the finest comedians. Squinty-eyed, bald and beaked, Errol looked and acted like an aggravated chicken. Often his film character was a befuddled, lecherous, lying sot, and his signature act was a rubber-legged drunken stagger that sometimes segued into dance. Like…Continue Reading Leon Errol: The Rubber-Legged Scoundrel of Vaudeville by Frank Cullen
Marion Harris: Hot Jazz and Black Themes for White Audiences by David Soren
Marion Harris (April 4, 1896? – April 23, 1944) became famous as a white vaudeville singer and recording artist who was influenced by contemporary black jazz and often did numbers in a certain “Negro Style” as it was termed which helped to usher in the Jazz Age across America. For several decades beginning around 1915…Continue Reading Marion Harris: Hot Jazz and Black Themes for White Audiences by David Soren
Milton Berle: Mr. Televison and Uncle Miltie by Brynna Jamison
Milton Berle is remembered fondly as one of the best comedians of the Vaudeville era and also played an important role in continuing vaudeville into early television. Vaudeville was the most popular form of American Entertainment from the 1860s to the 1930s and even continued up to the ’60s. There were many notable entertainers from…Continue Reading Milton Berle: Mr. Televison and Uncle Miltie by Brynna Jamison
Jessie Mae Hall: The Dainty Doll Comedienne (Including May Ward and Her 8 Dresden Dolls, Pauline Hall, Blanche Bates and Al Trahern by David Soren
Sometimes a great vaudeville star will be so forgotten and so lost in the mist of time that it is difficult to find out anything about him or her. In the case of JESSIE MAE HALL, THE DAINTY DOLL COMEDIENNE, I became so intrigued with the sheet music I had that I had to find…Continue Reading Jessie Mae Hall: The Dainty Doll Comedienne (Including May Ward and Her 8 Dresden Dolls, Pauline Hall, Blanche Bates and Al Trahern by David Soren
Jimmy Durante: The Great Schnozzola by David Soren
Jimmy Durante (New York City, February 10, 1893 – Santa Monica, California, January 29, 1980) was a unique entertainer and reportedly one of the kindest, sweetest people at the top of the entertainment world. He was an accomplished although self-taught ragtime piano player with a singing voice that sounded like a pneumatic drill glossing over…Continue Reading Jimmy Durante: The Great Schnozzola by David Soren
Joe Cook: The One-Man Vaudeville Show by David Soren
Of all the forgotten geniuses of vaudeville, Joe Cook (born Joseph Lopez in Evansville, Indiana 1890 – died New York State, May 15, 1959) is arguably the greatest. A master of versatility, he could sing, dance, act, juggle Indian clubs, perform acrobatics, rotate another human with his feet while lying on his back, tightrope-walk, mime,…Continue Reading Joe Cook: The One-Man Vaudeville Show by David Soren