ABSTRACT
The word “vaudeville” may have originated as the French “voix de ville,” or “street songs” of the Vire Valley (Vaux de Vire), France. In America, vaudeville was first called “variety” and signaled a collection of unrelated acts, a continuous talent show of performances, that could be drawn from the circus or the elocution class or the tavern. It served many of the same functions as the popular music hall in Britain in the same time period. Vaudevillians played in barns and tents, in “free and easies” and honky-tonks, and in schoolhouses and grand theaters. During the 19th century, frontier communities were more than willing to attend any kind of entertainment, and audiences were untroubled by the sometimes bizarre juxtapositions of performances on a single evening’s bill.
