Vaudeville Takes the Spotlight in Free Exhibition Opening November 15 at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

Aerialists and Animal Acts, Comics and Magicians, Dancers, Singers, and Strongmen Who Strutted Their Stuff on Vaudeville Stages are Recaptured in Artifacts from the Library's Renowned Collections

Promotion postcard for the appearances of Dainty June and her Newsboy Songsters on the Orpheum circuit, 1924. The act was depicted in the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee, which inspired the musical "Gypsy." Gypsy Rose Lee Papers, Billy Rose Theatre Collection, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, the world's leading source for vaudeville research, has delved into its vast archives to present Vaudeville Nation, a free exhibition on view at the Library from Tuesday, November 15, 2005 through Saturday, April 1, 2006. The exhibition examines the rich history of what was America's most popular form of entertainment between the 1880s and 1930s. Vaudeville, a uniquely American creation, had something for everyone, combining comedy, dancing, singing, drama, animal acts, magic exploits, and feats of human strength. Such legendary performers as Jack Benny, Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle, Fanny Brice, Vernon and Irene Castle, Harry Houdini, and Bert Williams are represented through primary documents, including joke books, scripts, designs, songs, contracts, scrapbooks -- as well as promotional materials, such as photographs, illustrated letterheads, flyers, and calling cards. Most of the materials are being exhibited for the first time.

The multimedia exhibition also features recordings of broadcasts showcasing songs, instrumentals, and comedy routines performed by vaudeville stars who made the transition to radio. The music of Fats Waller on theater organ and of Eubie Blake on piano emanates from a historical radio console. A touch screen offers Bill Robinson performing Doin' the New Low Down with audible taps and Fanny Brice performing Becky is Back in the Ballet. Restored films of individual acts such as The Foy Family, Eddie Cantor, and George Burns and Gracie Allen allow exhibition visitors a glimpse into the artistry of these vaudevillians.

Exhibition Organization and Artifacts
The exhibition is organized chronologically into three sections. The first section, 1880s - World War I, begins with the origins of vaudeville in the mixed bill programs of 19th-century variety shows. This is followed by the rise of urban vaudeville and the development of the touring circuits, as well as the actual acts and their formats. The second section, World War I - 1928, shows the further development of vaudeville and how the genre dealt with the new technologies of radio and sound film. The exhibition concludes with 1928 - 1940, a section featuring Prologs, the vaudeville that alternated with films at the picture palaces, and presentations that were the outgrowths of vaudeville. Among the artifacts featured in the exhibition are:

• a 1913 poster for Marcus Loew's Theatre with dense exclamatory listings of a typical program. Headliner Sophie Tucker is described as the "most notable attraction of the season, the Mary Garden of Ragtime;" Joyce and West offer the "best ultra modern dances;" and The Six Olivers are "sensational acrobats and tumblers."
• a rotogravure of Marie Dressler , patriotically wrapped in an American flag, illustrating the impact of current events and beliefs on vaudeville programs. The Spanish-American War, World War I, Suffrage, and Prohibition, as well as local politics were all fair game for the vaudevillians, who performed songs such as "Since My Margaret-ta become-a da Suffragette-a."
• a 1902 contract between Fratelli Riccobono, an act with trained horses and dogs, and the Orpheum Circuit, specifying dates in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Omaha, Kansas City, and New Orleans and a weekly rate of $350.
• a letterhead proclaiming the talents of Sherlock Holmes, "Premiere of Dogs," who "Thinks - Talks - and Acts." He "understands the English language; knows how to add, subtract, multiply and divide; distinguishes numerous objects, various coins and gives their value...speaks simple, compound, and complex words, phrases, and sentences...reads the human mind; amazes scientists, amuses adults, pleases children; fills the box office tills."
• a postcard for the dancer and diver Annette Kellerman and her company of 60 dancing girls, describing her as "the perfect woman" with "measurements that almost surpass belief." This rave is backed up by a detailed comparison of her measurements with those of the Venus de Milo and the goddess Diana.
• a promotion postcard for the appearances of Dainty June and her Newsboy Songsters on the Orpheum circuit, 1924. Gypsy Rose Lee wrote about the act, starring her sister (later known as June Havoc), in her memoirs, which inspired the musical Gypsy.

"The Library for the Performing Arts is uniquely poised to document vaudeville's history and to trace its influences," said David Ferriero, Andrew W. Mellon Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Research Libraries. "New York City was the center of vaudeville activity during its heyday, and our collections in music, dance, theater, and recorded sound contain materials collected for more than a century that provide the most complete documentation anywhere of this popular art."

"Vaudeville has been called the most influential entertainment genre in the nation's history," commented Jacqueline Z. Davis, the Barbara G. and Lawrence A. Fleischman Executive Director of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. "It served as a model for radio, early sound film, and television. Comics found that their vaudeville routines worked nicely in the new broadcast medium. Even early television was greatly influenced by vaudeville as can be seen in Milton Berle's Texaco Star Theatre and The Ed Sullivan Show."

Vaudeville Nation is curated by Barbara Stratyner, Judy R. and Alfred A. Rosenberg Curator of Exhibitions at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and author of Popular Music 1900 - 1919 . "Vaudeville and related forms, such as minstrelsy and Prologs, provided freedom for social and political commentary," noted Ms. Stratyner. "It supported the development of America's two native art forms -- jazz and tap dance. The exhibition is arranged to enable the gallery visitor to understand the experience of vaudeville performers and their audiences. While only some vaudeville acts, such as Will Rogers's monologues or Eddie Cantor's songs, were overtly political, most represented social-political choices on gender, ethnic humor, and language."

Vaudeville Nation will be on view in the Donald and Mary Oenslager Gallery of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, 40 Lincoln Plaza. Admission is free. For further information, telephone 212.870.1630 or visit www.nypl.org. The exhibition will also be available in a website version at www.nypl.org/vaudeville. Free public programs on vaudeville at both The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and the Donnell Library Center will complement the exhibition. (See separate release for program listings.)

What is Vaudeville?
The heyday of vaudeville lasted for 50 years, offering programs of unrelated acts in organized national and transcontinental tours. Vaudeville's antecedents were in the mixed bill traditions of the Colonial and Federal Eras and the 19th-century variety forms of minstrelsy, pantomime, and burlesque. (It was only in the 20th century that burlesque became known for its character comics and striptease performers.) These variety shows did not evolve into vaudeville until the 1880s, when producers Tony Pastor and later B.F. Keith and Edward F. Albee attracted women and families by cleaning up the acts, moving into proscenium theaters, and barring liquor and smoking. Vaudeville was purposefully set up as an inexpensive and very accessible entertainment, with something for everyone. With the advent of movie houses during the 1920s to the 1940s, live vaudeville shows became known as Prologs and alternated with the feature films. The Prolog remained alive at New York's Roxy Theater, where it could be seen until the theater was demolished in1961, and at Radio City Music Hall, where it continued through 1979.

Vaudeville Collections at the Library for the Performing Arts
The research divisions of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, which are the Billy Rose Theatre Collection, Jerome Robbins Dance Division, Music Division and Rodgers & Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound, house the Library's vaudeville collections. They document thousands of performers, promoters, tour managers, critics, composers, writers, dance directors, and designers. The collections include such primary documents as Smith & Dale's jokes, Weber & Fields scripts, songs from topical parodies to early jazz standards, and Fred Morgan's illustrated reviews for the New York Evening Graphic . There are scrapbooks compiled by performers - Sophie Tucker donated 274 of her scrapbooks to the Library - and by fans - Robinson Locke, editor of the Toledo Blade , donated over 3,000 volumes to the Library. The Library's holdings also include illustrations from Fanchon & Marco's West Coast circuit, and costume and set designs by Albert Packard, James Morcom, and John Keck for the Roxy Theater and for Radio City Music Hall.

Vaudeville Nation will be on view November 15, 2005 through April 1, 2006 at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, Donald and Mary Oenslager Gallery, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza. Exhibition hours are: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from noon to 6 p.m.; Thursday from noon to 8 p.m.; closed Sundays, Mondays, and holidays. Admission is free. For exhibition information, telephone 212.870.1630 or visit the Library's website at www.nypl.org.

This exhibition is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency.        

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts gratefully acknowledges the leadership support of Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman. Additional support for exhibitions has been provided by Judy R. and Alfred A. Rosenberg and the Miriam and Harold Steinberg Foundation.

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Contact:     Rima Corben    212.704.8600

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