Ashlie's work on Vaudeville

Hey everyone, below is a small example of what I have been working on. Only a few of my books are here, so I am just beginning to piece together what I am wanting to look at. 

I have been messing with where I wanted to start on my project, and spent a few hours this past week and weekend gathering sources and working on my research. I have acquired a few books,  one focusing on biographical profiles such as ones on Eva Tanguay, a famous Vaudevillian performer originally from Canada titled Queen of Vaudeville: The Story of Eva Tanguay by Andrew L. Erdman. I also have a small book titled Women Vaudeville Stars: Eighty Biographical Profiles by Armond Fields, with biographical profiles of other women who were involved in Vaudeville, such as Florence Mills, the first Black performer to be a headliner and have her own show on Broadway.

Some of the work I am looking at in a book titled A Pictorial History of Vaudeville by Bernard Sobel involves Blackface, such as looking at the famous Vaudevillian Al Johnson, also known as the Minstrel Man. He worked on the stage as an imitator, and is well known as the main character in The Jazz Singer, the first “talkie” film which was released in 1927.

Through these books, I have began to notice that almost half of the main lead performances, the ones that were at the top of the Bill, were women. From these, about half of them were immigrant or Yiddish performers. Many of these women were also some of the top-paid performers, with a few of them bringing in $500 a night.

Alongside the women, a few performers were “Negro”, although most of the Black performers were White males dressed in Blackface for imitation. Some of them, such as Florence Mills, Adelaide Hill, and Aunt Jemima ( Yes she was a real performer), were extremely well paid and loved, but most have never received any coverage since the end of the Vaudeville era. 

I am hoping to have a bit more soon once the rest of my books come in. 

Ashlie