Vaudeville melodies : popular musicians and mass entertainment in American culture, 1870-1929 / Nicholas Gebhardt.

Author
Gebhardt, Nicholas [Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/​Created
  • Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2017.
  • ©2017
Description
xii, 179 pages ; 23 cm

Availability

Copies in the Library

Location Call Number Status Location Service Notes
Mendel Music Library - Stacks PN1968.U5 G43 2017 Browse related items Request

    Details

    Subject(s)
    Summary note
    If you enjoy popular music and culture today, you have vaudeville to thank. From the 1870s until the 1920s, vaudeville was the dominant context for popular entertainment in the United States, laying the groundwork for the music industry we know today. Nicholas Gebhardt introduces us to the performers, managers, and audiences who turned disjointed variety show acts into a phenomenally successful business. First introduced in the late nineteenth century, by 1915 vaudeville was being performed across the globe, incorporating thousands of performers from every branch of show business. Its astronomical success relied on a huge network of theatres, each part of a circuit and administered from centralized booking offices. Gebhardt shows us how vaudeville transformed relationships among performers, managers, and audiences, and argues that these changes affected popular music culture in ways we are still seeing today. Drawing on firsthand accounts, Gebhardt explores the practices by which vaudeville performers came to understand what it meant to entertain an audience, the conditions in which they worked, the institutions they relied upon, and the values they imagined were essential to their success.
    Bibliographic references
    Includes bibliographical references (pages 145-172) and index.
    Contents
    • That's entertainment
    • There's no business like show business
    • Rites of passage
    • Elementary structures
    • Show me the money
    • On with the show
    • In search of an audience
    • Vaudeville melodies
    • Nothing succeeds like success
    • Applause.
    ISBN
    • 9780226448558 ((hardcover ; : alkaline paper))
    • 022644855X ((hardcover ; : alkaline paper))
    • 9780226448695 ((paperback ; : alkaline paper))
    • 022644869X ((paperback ; : alkaline paper))
    • 022644872X
    • 9780226448725
    LCCN
    2016034775
    OCLC
    955275242
    Other standard number
    • 40026973593
    Statement on language in description
    Princeton University Library aims to describe library materials in a manner that is respectful to the individuals and communities who create, use, and are represented in the collections we manage. Read more...
    Other views
    Staff view

    Supplementary Information