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To
appreciate the significant difference between
the American and European traditions in
novelty entertainment, it's necessary to
return to 1620. As if settling on the moon,
the early pioneers in the
New World
brought with them only what was functional
and, in those Calvinistic times, only what was
spiritually pure. They left behind a long and
rich history of the European circus.
Not
until 1793, when John Bill Ricketts presented
America's first circus, did the
new country begin to establish the roots of
its own variety arts traditions. Until then,
cutting out a new life in the forest and
deling with the natives of this strange world
were tasks far too overwhelming to accommodate
more than a Saturday night square dance.
With
a growing population and wealthier
settlements, however, itinerant entertainers
made their appearance. By the close of the
18th century, demand had risen to the extent
that traveling bands and even small circuses
could support themselves in the
"frontiers" of the larger cities.
The
single performer gave way to tent shows more
or less in the European tradition. But even as
early as 1830 the wild and wooly nature of
America
was stamping a new character on circuses. The
pioneers demanded more daredevil and menagerie
acts, and less technical skill in subtle arts
like juggling. Artistry bowed to
commercialism.
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With
the Gold Rush and the blossoming of
America
in the mid-19th century, commercialism
gave way to crudeness. Simultaneously
with England, crude popular
entertainment entered the saloons and
taverns. While medicine shows and
small circuses played to the country
folk, innkeepers in town presented
traveling variety acts for male-only
audiences.
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With
the the Industrial Revolution after
the Civil War, a greater number of
workers found themselves with more
pocket money, more leisure time and a
more refined taste. The traveling
productions cleaned up their act
enough to entertain a mixed audience
of men and women and poor and middle
class audiences in refurbished saloons
called music halls. There was a move
to elevate popular entertainment to a
respectable level.
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Communities
sponsored events that mixed education
with entertainment. The most notable
of these was the Chautauqua assembly,
begun in 1874 on the
shore
of
Lake
Chautauqua,
New York, and still functioning. The
popularity of these summer cultural
events spread to communities across
the country. Later, coincident with
the rise of vaudeville, Keith Vawter
of Cedar Rapids,
Iowa, capitalized on the popularity by
establishing circuits of
traveling Chautauqua troupes that
presented
a mixture of lectures, theater and
novelty entertainment.
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American
popular entertainment was becoming
civilized and big-time, but
the best was just beginning. In 1881
Tony Pastor, a veteran of
variety and beer hall show business
for 15 years, opened "Tony
Pastor's Fourteenth Street
Theater" in New York City.
The
precursor of vaudeville was the first
attempt to take common music hall
entertainment out of the saloons and,
in the spirit of Chautauqua, remove it
from the alcoholic and bawdy
atmosphere that spawned it.
The
final step toward vaudeville began
in 1883 when a circus and tent
show performer, Benjamin Franklin
Keith, opened a "dime
museum" in Boston. This was a
form of live and exhibited
entertainment appealing to families.
Keith's first innovation was to
present his shows continuously. Its
popularity was so great that, in March
of 1894 he opened his first
B.F. Keith's Theater and coined the
word 'vaudeville.'
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