Vaudeville
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Vaudeville is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which became popular in the United States and Canada from the early 1870s until the early 1930s.
A promotional poster for the Sandow Trocadero Vaudevilles (1894), showing dancers, clowns, trapeze artists, costumed dogs, singers and costumed actors
This 1913 how-to booklet for would-be vaudevillians was recently republished.
Marie Dressler in "Tillie the Scrub Lady"
Trixie Friganza Hayes
Minstrel show
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A minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of theater developed in the early 19th century. The shows were performed by mostly white actors wearing blackface makeup for the purpose o
Vaudeville
…and male impersonators, acrobats, clowns, mimes, illustrated songs, jugglers, athletes, lecturing celebrities, or scenes from plays, one-act plays, minstrels, and films. A vaudeville performer is often referred to as a vaudevillian. Vaudeville developed from many sources, including the concert saloon…
Detail from cover of The Celebrated Negro Melodies, as Sung by the Virginia Minstrels, 1843
Thomas D. Rice from sheet music cover of "Sich a Getting Up Stairs", 1830s
Sheet music cover for "Dandy Jim from Caroline", featuring Dan Emmett (center) and the other Virginia Minstrels, c. 1844
Poster for Haverly's United Mastodon Minstrels