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A little help about vaudeville, please.

glynndah

glynndah

good little witch.
Joined
Jun 25, 2005
Posts
26,781
There's a idea floating around in my head about a traveling vaudeville revue. The setting will be the early part of the twentieth century somewhere in the mid-western United States. How would such a troupe travel from city to city? Horse and wagon? Train? Car?
 
In his book about his life with Gracie Allen, George Burns talks about traveling by train. When they could afford a sleeper berth, he made sure to take upper bunk to be the gentleman.
 
glynndah said:
There's a idea floating around in my head about a traveling vaudeville revue. The setting will be the early part of the twentieth century somewhere in the mid-western United States. How would such a troupe travel from city to city? Horse and wagon? Train? Car?
Click to expand...

Early 20th?

Train is most likely. The train companies laid on special services for circuses etc. Vaudeville wouldn't need quite as much impedimenta as a touring theatre company but moving their equipment in horse-drawn wagons would be slow and expensive.

Car? Cars didn't become reliable enough to carry loads of equipment until the late 20s/early 30s. By then long-distance trucks would be possible e.g Reo Speed Wagon. Later still Ford V8 trucks moved everything.
 
Thank you both. I was thinking train, too, but I didn't know for sure.
 
glynndah said:
There's a idea floating around in my head about a traveling vaudeville revue. The setting will be the early part of the twentieth century somewhere in the mid-western United States. How would such a troupe travel from city to city? Horse and wagon? Train? Car?
Click to expand...
What Og said. My reading is mostly about the UK, but I doubt the US was very different, the engineering wouldn't be much different, so train. Horse driven was past, internal combustion yet to come...
 
glynndah said:
Thank you both. I was thinking train, too, but I didn't know for sure.
Click to expand...

Vaudeville troops did primarily travel by train, but that limited access to "Vaudeville" to towns with railroad stations -- ie cities generally large enough to have theaters or opera houses.

Smaller cities did get various forms of entertainment, but the further from the railroad tracks, the lower the quality of the acts and the cheaper the mode of transport. The far hinterlands would have been served by "Medicine Shows" featuring the same sort of acts as "Vaudeville."

Depending on the needs of your story, your "Vaudeville troop" could degenerate into a "Medicine Show" and travel by "gypsy caravan" -- essentially a horse drawn RV -- or by bus. The availability of bus transportation -- even one owned by the promoter/manager -- would depend strongly on the time frame; inter-city roads and vehicle reliability wouldn't be up to the task until the inter-war years (ca 1930s).
 
Most Vaudeville performers were hired by booking agents for theater owners in what were called circuits and traveled by train. They'd perform in cities where the owners theaters were located like the Keith-Orpheum chain.

Two of my great-aunts were vaudeville entertainers for many years and I used to love hearing them tell stories about life on the road which was gruelling as they would have several play dates across wide areas of the country and were always on the move.

An excellent book on Vaudeville is titled 'No Applause-Just Throw Money' by Trav S.D. Amazon has it here:http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...s=Don't+Applause-Just+Throw+Money+by+Trav+S.D.
 
Weird Harold said:
Vaudeville troops did primarily travel by train, but that limited access to "Vaudeville" to towns with railroad stations -- ie cities generally large enough to have theaters or opera houses.

Smaller cities did get various forms of entertainment, but the further from the railroad tracks, the lower the quality of the acts and the cheaper the mode of transport. The far hinterlands would have been served by "Medicine Shows" featuring the same sort of acts as "Vaudeville."

Depending on the needs of your story, your "Vaudeville troop" could degenerate into a "Medicine Show" and travel by "gypsy caravan" -- essentially a horse drawn RV -- or by bus. The availability of bus transportation -- even one owned by the promoter/manager -- would depend strongly on the time frame; inter-city roads and vehicle reliability wouldn't be up to the task until the inter-war years (ca 1930s).
Click to expand...
I'm picturing the teens, mostly, and possibly a tent show setting rather than an opera house. I doubt much time in the story will actually be spent on the train. However, I was picturing the troupe as having about twenty players and the logistics of moving them around from place to place, along with all their gear, works better with a train than a caravan.

However, if the smut's good enough, I doubt too many readers will complain about an anachronism or two.
 
glynndah said:
I'm picturing the teens, mostly, and possibly a tent show setting rather than an opera house. I doubt much time in the story will actually be spent on the train. However, I was picturing the troupe as having about twenty players and the logistics of moving them around from place to place, along with all their gear, works better with a train than a caravan.

However, if the smut's good enough, I doubt too many readers will complain about an anachronism or two.
Click to expand...

The tent might not be that big a problem but living quarters, mess facilities, sanitation. Those require tents and equipment. Not to mention personal clothing, costumes, bedding, cots, ect, ect, ect, That takes a lot of room and loading and unloading time.

You might be better off with a caravan. Each act, couple could have their stuff and living quarters in a wagon, and then there are wagons for the tent and stuff.

Try researching circuses or carnivals around that time.
 
TxRad said:
The tent might not be that big a problem but living quarters, mess facilities, sanitation. Those require tents and equipment. Not to mention personal clothing, costumes, bedding, cots, ect, ect, ect, That takes a lot of room and loading and unloading time.

You might be better off with a caravan. Each act, couple could have their stuff and living quarters in a wagon, and then there are wagons for the tent and stuff.

Try researching circuses or carnivals around that time.
Click to expand...
Oh! I didn't think about each group in the troupe having their own caravan. I was trying to picture how it would work with just one wagon. A few of them could work out and would fit the setting better than a train.
 
glynndah said:
Oh! I didn't think about each group in the troupe having their own caravan. I was trying to picture how it would work with just one wagon. A few of them could work out and would fit the setting better than a train.
Click to expand...

Then you could hit the smaller towns with ease. The caravans would also give more privacy if needed for the hanky and the panky. Or you could do caravan swapping or hopping as the case may be. It adds to the number of possible scenes you could actually do. Either on the road or encamped. The possibilities become endless.
 
TxRad said:
Then you could hit the smaller towns with ease. The caravans would also give more privacy if needed for the hanky and the panky. Or you could do caravan swapping or hopping as the case may be. It adds to the number of possible scenes you could actually do. Either on the road or encamped. The possibilities become endless.
Click to expand...
Oh, this is a clean show, Tx. I'm shocked, shocked you would even think there could be the hanky and the panky going on. :catgrin:
 
glynndah said:
Oh, this is a clean show, Tx. I'm shocked, shocked you would even think there could be the hanky and the panky going on. :catgrin:
Click to expand...

Uh huh, and next you'll tell me flying monkeys never flew out... uh... from under Cloudy's bed. ;)
 
glynndah said:
There's a idea floating around in my head about a traveling vaudeville revue. The setting will be the early part of the twentieth century somewhere in the mid-western United States. How would such a troupe travel from city to city? Horse and wagon? Train? Car?
Click to expand...

This sounds (in your later discussion) like you are talking about a Chautauqua, not Vaudeville. Vaudeville traveled mostly in separate acts on trains and performed in theaters. Chautauqua was late nineteenth/early twentieth century and traveled in caravans and performed mostly in tents.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chautauqua
 
glynndah said:
I'm picturing the teens, mostly, and possibly a tent show setting rather than an opera house.
Click to expand...

That definitely sounds more like a Medicine Show than "Vaudeville." Or possibly the Sideshow of a traveling circus? The entertainment of either would include Vaudeville style acts along with the freak show and traveling museum of oddities and other attractions. True Vaudeville troops would seldom play tent shows; as TexRad noted, most vaudeville troops played strictly one corporation's establishments. If there wasn't someplace more permanent than a tent, they wouldn't be booked there (in your time frame.) 1880-1900, there were a lot of Boom Towns that had canvas opera houses (and saloons, whorehouses, hotels, etc) but that would have pretty much died out by the 1900-1914 time frame.
 
sr71plt said:
This sounds (in your later discussion) like you are talking about a Chautauqua, not Vaudeville. Vaudeville traveled mostly in separate acts on trains and performed in theaters. Chautauqua was late nineteenth/early twentieth century and traveled in caravans and performed mostly in tents.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chautauqua
Click to expand...

Weird Harold said:
That definitely sounds more like a Medicine Show than "Vaudeville." Or possibly the Sideshow of a traveling circus? The entertainment of either would include Vaudeville style acts along with the freak show and traveling museum of oddities and other attractions. True Vaudeville troops would seldom play tent shows; as TexRad noted, most vaudeville troops played strictly one corporation's establishments. If there wasn't someplace more permanent than a tent, they wouldn't be booked there (in your time frame.) 1880-1900, there were a lot of Boom Towns that had canvas opera houses (and saloons, whorehouses, hotels, etc) but that would have pretty much died out by the 1900-1914 time frame.
Click to expand...
Yes, vaudeville isn't quite the right term. I did a bit of research on the various entertainments during the time frame. As far as I've been able to tell, the Chautauqua circuit had an educational element to them, which doesn't quite fit. Sideshows were usually an adjunct of a circus or carnival and so far, no clowns or elephants are popping up in my little plot bunny farm. Medicine show seems to be the best fit. I'm now picturing Professor Marvel's wagon from The Wizard of Oz.

Thank you, everyone, for all the help. I'm sure I may be popping in again with more questions. Lighting the show comes to mind. I'm thinking kerosene lanterns...

A :kiss: from the good little witch.
 
glynndah said:
Yes, vaudeville isn't quite the right term. I did a bit of research on the various entertainments during the time frame. As far as I've been able to tell, the Chautauqua circuit had an educational element to them, which doesn't quite fit. Sideshows were usually an adjunct of a circus or carnival and so far, no clowns or elephants are popping up in my little plot bunny farm. Medicine show seems to be the best fit. I'm now picturing Professor Marvel's wagon from The Wizard of Oz.

Thank you, everyone, for all the help. I'm sure I may be popping in again with more questions. Lighting the show comes to mind. I'm thinking kerosene lanterns...

A :kiss: from the good little witch.
Click to expand...

Check out carbide lamps and spot lights. Much better lighting than kerosene.
 
Look at Limelights too.

Although superseded by electric spotlights in standard theatres by the 1890s, travelling shows would still be using them because mains electricity wouldn't be available in many locations.

In the UK, Showman's Traction Engines were used to generate electricity for circuses and travelling fairs but they were very expensive capital investments.

5090964290_653952cd4f_z.jpg


The Dynamo is mounted at the front and is driven by the belt to the flywheel.
 
oggbashan said:
Look at Limelights too.

Although superseded by electric spotlights in standard theatres by the 1890s, travelling shows would still be using them because mains electricity wouldn't be available in many locations.

In the UK, Showman's Traction Engines were used to generate electricity for circuses and travelling fairs but they were very expensive capital investments.

5090964290_653952cd4f_z.jpg


The Dynamo is mounted at the front and is driven by the belt to the flywheel.
Click to expand...
Wow! That looks so cool! However, it's a bit of an extravagance for my little troupe of performers.
 
Dont forget plays and actors. They were common during the 19th Century.
 
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