The New York
Public Library for the Performing Arts > Vaudeville
Nation
The Building Blocks
The building blocks of vaudeville are the geographical route of
theaters ("the circuit"), the order of the show ("bill"), and individual
performers' talents ("specialties") and how they presented them ("acts"). American
19th century performance had many popular entertainment
forms traveling around the country. Some had plots, but most were
variety shows featuring a series of acts. A manager selected these
acts, balancing music, dance, comedy, and other performers. As
vaudeville grew in popularity, the selection process was made centrally
by managers in New York or Chicago, with a system of agents, talent
scouts and theater managers similar to that of baseball. The performers
traveled from theater to theater, with contracts specifying everything
from billing and payments to the amount and weight of scenery and
rigging. They performed three to five times a day to audiences of
single men, women and families. Because a vaudeville bill was compiled
from un-related acts to entertain audiences in large areas of the
United States, it served the full diversity of the American public – as
performers and as audience – and provided more freedom for self-expression
of social and political commentary.
