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“The Golden Calf”: Noted English Actresses in American Vaudeville, 1904–1916

1992; Bowling Green State University; Volume: 15; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/j.1542-734x.1992.00061.x

2162-5735

Leigh Woods,

Music History and Culture

Vaudeville began as a popular American form, with roots in barrooms before audiences of generally unsophisticated tastes.By the time it reached its zenith as a popular form during the first two decades of this century, however, it showed a pronounced taste for foreign attractions rather than for the native ones that earlier had anchored its broad accessibility.In these years just after the turn of the century, notable foreign actors from the English-speaking theatre made their ways into vaudeville, aligning the form, though usually in fleeting and superficial ways, with the glamor and prestige the contemporary stage enjoyed.This pattern bespeaks the willingness to borrow and the permutable profile that have characterized many forms of popular entertainment.Maurice Barrymore (father to Ethel, Lionel and John) foreshadowed what would become the wave of the future when, in 1897, he became the first important actor to enter vaudeville.His appeal in vaudeville was enhanced by his status, speech, and manners as a British expatriate.The majority of the most important stage stars who followed Barrymore into vaudeville were, in fact, actressesa sign, probably, of the prominence of women among vaudeville audiences.This would make sense in a form known for "continuous" performances, in which one (or more) matinees comprised the standard daily offering.Such repeated and continuous performances, together with some of the newest and best-appointed theatres of the day, helped supply producers with the kind of money necessary to entice stars of the stage into vaudeville.Four English actresses active in vaudeville in the years following the turn-of-the-century were especially noteworthy.The sequence and manner in which these women appeared in American vaudeville suggest the flavor of the form at its most visible time and some of the changes it underwent in the space of little more than a decade.