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Other than a few dramatic playlets, seriousness was discouraged. There was, in fact, such an emphasis on maintaining a continuous rhythm of laughter that the quality of the acts was questioned. It was called "lunch counter art. "

Nevertheless, the general population was happy. It was a cheap, efficient way of removing oneself from the careworn worries of the daily grind. Performers, too, were happy with the unprecedented opportunity. At anyone time, 6,000 people might be employed on the boards.

And because of the rigors of several performances a day and several theatres in a long travel of circuits, the turnover rate was as high as 70 percent - a revolving door of opportunity for the beginning performer. A talented person, such as Houdini, might go from $50 a week in variety to $1,500 a week in vaudeville virtually overnight.

The advent of talking movies in 1927 was the beginning of the end. While silent films shared vaudeville stages with other dumb acts, movies were different. Movie producers could present celebrities all over the country at the same time with one film distribution. As movie companies increased their wealth and power, they engineered their own string of theaters. They began luring vaudeville talent away from the limelights to the spotlights of Hollywood. They packaged shows combining both live and filmed entertainment.

Radio, too, became popular overnight, drawing talent from the circuits and satisfying an audience that could now stay in the comfort of the living room while listening to singers and comedians. The legitimate theater, smarting under the blow vaudeville had given it, fought back with more musical comedies.

One of the most curious factors in the death of vaudeville was Joe Kennedy, father of former president John F. Kennedy. Having been successful in the motion picture industry, Kennedy bought his way onto the Keith-Albee-Orpheum board of directors as chairman by purchasing 200,000 shares of stock. After the acquisition, he usurped Albee's authority and then sold the whole kit and caboodle to RCA.

Overnight, vaudeville passed from the hands of men to whom it was a dream to a man who owned it only for investment, and then to a corporation whose interests - radio and films - were opposed to vaudeville. It was doomed.

Other minor factors contributing to the decline of vaudeville included the refusal to change a formula that had been successful for nearly 40 years. World War I had brought an end to American innocence and simplicity, but vaudeville retained the slapstick gaiety of the nineties. The Depression, with 25 percent of Americans unemployed, was another factor. Although Americans were turning to entertainment to forget, vaudeville was no longer the entertainment they wanted. Movies were cheaper and swept an impoverished America off to exotic places with celebrities larger than life.

Price

The rise of unions also contributed. The larger acts could no longer handle their own props and staging. Travel expenses and theater maintenance costs rose. And American had begun moving to the suburbs. Nine-act productions were not able to follow where movies and radio signals could go with ease. By 1935 vaudeville was dead.

It was a tribute to the impact of vaudeville that throughout the 40s and 50s performers continued to look for its revival. The "Bulletin" and IJA 'Newsletter" often revealed a writer discovering some sign of vaudeville's imminent return. More realistic, however, were the real old-timers who had not only seen vaudeville come and go, but had seen the passing of variety and medicine shows. It was the old-timers who looked ahead.

The death of vaudeville was not hard on some performers. The legends of comedy and song who had their start in vaudeville became the first superstars of radio and film. But for the "dumb acts" like juggling, tough times lay ahead. You can't juggle on the radio and, but for background scenery, there was no place for juggling in the movies.

Instead, jugglers turned to new outlets such as Chautauqua, Lyceum, school assembly circuits and touring "unit" shows sponsored by major companies like International Harvester and Ford. There were still tent shows, and carnivals were coming into their own and rivaling circuses. Night clubs became a popular evening's entertainment after World War II.

And finally, after a long, dry spell, juggling found television. With hours of live broadcast time to fill and not knowing its direction, the new medium gobbled up jugglers and other visual novelty acts at a heartwarming rate. The "variety show" was back, with the likes of Ed Sullivan, Red Skelton and Jimmy Durante.

The memory of vaudeville has lived in the hearts of all jugglers long enough to see a renaissance in the popularity of novelty acts in New Vaudeville. Although different from true vaudeville in measurable ways, New Vaudeville is hope stirring eternal, as if vaudeville never left.