List of vaudeville performers: L-Z
Encyclopedia
Sister list: List of vaudeville performers: A-K
This is a partial list of vaudeville performers. Those on this list appeared at least once on the American vaudeville
stage during its heyday between 1881 and 1932. The source in the citation included with each entry confirms their appearance and cites information in the performance notes section.
Vaudeville is a style of variety entertainment
predominant in North America in the late 19th century and early 20th century. A similar development in Britain was known as Music Hall
. Developing from many sources, including shows in saloons
, minstrelsy
, freak show
s, dime museum
s, British pantomime
s, and other popular forms of entertainment, vaudeville became one of the most popular types of entertainment in America. Vaudeville took the form of a series of separate, usually unrelated acts each featuring a different types of performance. These performances could ranges from musicians (both classical and popular), dancers, comedian
s, animal acts, magicians, female and male impersonator
s, to acrobat
s, one-act plays or scenes from plays, athletes lecturing celebrities, minstrels, or even short films.
While the initial origins of vaudeville are obscure, historians acknowledge that the opening of Tony Pastor
's Fourteenth Street Theatre in New York City on October 24, 1881 marks the beginning of American vaudeville. Pastor had refined the rough variety acts into something wholesome enough for women and children. Other theatre owners quickly picked up on Pastor's new style of vaudeville and theatres began springing up like weeds and would continue in a quick pace until the 1920s. Vaudeville kept the pace up as well reaching its height around 1915. These heights included an industrialization of the business of vaudeville. Following this climax, vaudeville began to struggle with competition from film and in the following decade, radio. These mediums competed not only for audiences, but talent as well. Towards the end of the 1920s, vaudeville theatres began to be converted to cinemas or closed altogether with entire circuits. After the blow dealt the world by the economic downturn of the Great Depression
, vaudeville's pulse quickly weakened. Just as historians mark the date of the "birth" of vaude, the date of its death is marked as well. New York's Palace Theatre
on Broadway
, was the palace of vaudeville; a place where only the greatest of vaude's performers performed. On November 16, 1932, the last vaudeville bill was played there and the Palace became a full-time movie house. Vaudeville did continue to struggle on, but it never again reached the heights attained in 1915.
This is a partial list of vaudeville performers. Those on this list appeared at least once on the American vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
stage during its heyday between 1881 and 1932. The source in the citation included with each entry confirms their appearance and cites information in the performance notes section.
Vaudeville is a style of variety entertainment
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
predominant in North America in the late 19th century and early 20th century. A similar development in Britain was known as Music Hall
Music hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
. Developing from many sources, including shows in saloons
Bar (establishment)
A bar is a business establishment that serves alcoholic drinks — beer, wine, liquor, and cocktails — for consumption on the premises.Bars provide stools or chairs that are placed at tables or counters for their patrons. Some bars have entertainment on a stage, such as a live band, comedians, go-go...
, minstrelsy
Minstrel show
The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an American entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the Civil War, black people in blackface....
, freak show
Freak show
A freak show is an exhibition of biological rarities, referred to as "freaks of nature". Typical features would be physically unusual humans, such as those uncommonly large or small, those with both male and female secondary sexual characteristics, people with other extraordinary diseases and...
s, dime museum
Dime museum
Dime museums were institutions that were briefly popular at the end of the 19th century in the United States. Designed as centers for entertainment and moral education for the working class , the museums were distinctly different from upper-middle class' cultural events...
s, British pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
s, and other popular forms of entertainment, vaudeville became one of the most popular types of entertainment in America. Vaudeville took the form of a series of separate, usually unrelated acts each featuring a different types of performance. These performances could ranges from musicians (both classical and popular), dancers, comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
s, animal acts, magicians, female and male impersonator
Drag king
Drag kings are mostly female performance artists who dress in masculine drag and personify male gender stereotypes as part of their performance. A typical drag king routine may incorporate dancing and singing, live as in the Momma's Boyz of San Francisco's performances or lip-synching...
s, to acrobat
Acrobatics
Acrobatics is the performance of extraordinary feats of balance, agility and motor coordination. It can be found in many of the performing arts, as well as many sports...
s, one-act plays or scenes from plays, athletes lecturing celebrities, minstrels, or even short films.
While the initial origins of vaudeville are obscure, historians acknowledge that the opening of Tony Pastor
Tony Pastor
Tony Pastor was an American impresario, variety performer and theatre owner who became one of the founding forces behind American vaudeville in the mid-to-late nineteenth century...
's Fourteenth Street Theatre in New York City on October 24, 1881 marks the beginning of American vaudeville. Pastor had refined the rough variety acts into something wholesome enough for women and children. Other theatre owners quickly picked up on Pastor's new style of vaudeville and theatres began springing up like weeds and would continue in a quick pace until the 1920s. Vaudeville kept the pace up as well reaching its height around 1915. These heights included an industrialization of the business of vaudeville. Following this climax, vaudeville began to struggle with competition from film and in the following decade, radio. These mediums competed not only for audiences, but talent as well. Towards the end of the 1920s, vaudeville theatres began to be converted to cinemas or closed altogether with entire circuits. After the blow dealt the world by the economic downturn of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, vaudeville's pulse quickly weakened. Just as historians mark the date of the "birth" of vaude, the date of its death is marked as well. New York's Palace Theatre
Palace Theatre, New York
The Palace Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 1564 Broadway in midtown-Manhattan.-History:Designed by architects Kirchoff & Rose, the theatre was built by Martin Beck a California vaudeville entrepreneur and Broadway impresario. The project experienced a number of business problems before...
on Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
, was the palace of vaudeville; a place where only the greatest of vaude's performers performed. On November 16, 1932, the last vaudeville bill was played there and the Palace became a full-time movie house. Vaudeville did continue to struggle on, but it never again reached the heights attained in 1915.
L
Name Vesta Victoria Lawrence - "Baby Victoria" | Birth Leeds Yorkshire 1873 | Death Hampstead London 1951 | Nationality British | Performance Notes Music Hall Singer Comediane film actress | Reference songs " Daddy wouldn't buy me a bow wow " |
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Wilton Lackaye | September 30, 1862 | August 22, 1932 | American | Actor. | |
Bert Lahr Bert Lahr Bert Lahr was an American actor and comedian. Lahr is remembered today for his roles as the Cowardly Lion and Kansas farmworker Zeke in The Wizard of Oz, but was also well-known for work in burlesque, vaudeville, and on Broadway.-Early life:Lahr was born in New York City, of German-Jewish heritage... |
August 13, 1895 | December 4, 1967 | American | Part of the comic act Lahr & Mercedes, a comic act. Later gained fame as an actor in films, most notably as the Cowardly Lion in the 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz The Wizard of Oz (1939 film) The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs... . |
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Bessie Lamb | c. 1878 | October 30, 1907 | American | Singer and mimic. Credited with bringing ragtime to vaudeville. | |
Professor Lamberti Professor Lamberti Professor Lamberti was an American vaudeville and burlesque performer active during the early part of the 20th century. He was billed as "the world's daffiest xylophonist".... |
January 9, 1892 | March 13, 1950 | American | Born Basil Garwood Lambert. A skilled xylophone Xylophone The xylophone is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets... player who entered vaudeville as a serious musician, but he soon added comic effects to his act. |
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Dorothy Lamour Dorothy Lamour Dorothy Lamour was an American film actress. She is best remembered for appearing in the Road to... movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope .-Early life:Lamour was born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton in New Orleans, Louisiana, the daughter of Carmen Louise Dorothy... |
December 10, 1914 | September 22, 1996 | American | Actress in a Fanchon & Marco revue. | |
Burt Lancaster Burt Lancaster Burton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile... |
November 2, 1913 | October 20, 1994 | American | Academy Award-winning actor, who started out in his teens an acrobat with Nick Cravat, Lang & Cravat. | |
Harry Langdon Harry Langdon Harry Philmore Langdon was an American comedian who appeared in vaudeville, silent films , and talkies. He was briefly partnered with Oliver Hardy.-Life and career:... |
June 15, 1884 | December 22, 1944 | American | Comedian who formed an act called "Johnny's New Car" with Rose Francis in 1903 and toured the Orpheum Circuit until finding greater success in silent films. | |
Lillie Langtry Lillie Langtry Lillie Langtry , usually spelled Lily Langtry when she was in the U.S., born Emilie Charlotte Le Breton, was a British actress born on the island of Jersey... |
October 13, 1853 | February 12, 1929 | British | Actress, widely known as the mistress of Edward VII. | |
Grace LaRue | June 14, 1895 | July 17, 1971 | American | Dancer and singer. | |
Jesse L. Lasky Jesse L. Lasky Jesse Louis Lasky, Sr. was a pioneer Hollywood film producer. He was a key founder of Paramount Pictures with Adolph Zukor, and father of screenwriter Jesse L... |
September 13, 1880 | January 13, 1958 | American | Actor who later co-founded Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still... with Adolph Zukor Adolph Zukor Adolph Zukor , born Adolph Cukor, was a film mogul and founder of Paramount Pictures.-Early life:... . |
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Alfred Latell | American | Animal impersonator. | |||
Sir Harry Lauder Harry Lauder Sir Henry Lauder , known professionally as Harry Lauder, was an international Scottish entertainer, described by Sir Winston Churchill as "Scotland's greatest ever ambassador!"-Early life:... |
August 4, 1870 | February 26, 1950 | Scottish | Singer and comedian from the British Music Hall Music hall Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts... who made 22 tours of the US. |
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Stan Laurel Stan Laurel Arthur Stanley "Stan" Jefferson , better known as Stan Laurel, was an English comic actor, writer and film director, famous as the first half of the comedy team Laurel and Hardy. His film acting career stretched between 1917 and 1951 and included a starring role in the Academy Award winning film... |
June 16, 1890 | February 23, 1965 | British | Music Hall comedian who toured America with the Karno Fred Karno Frederick John Westcott , best known by his stage name Fred Karno, was a theatre impresario of the British music hall. Karno is credited with inventing the custard-pie-in-the-face gag. Among the young comedians who worked for him were Charlie Chaplin and Arthur Jefferson, who later adopted the... Troupe and stayed behind, along with Charlie Chaplin Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I... to enter films. Later teamed with Oliver Hardy Oliver Hardy Oliver Hardy was an American comic actor famous as one half of Laurel and Hardy, the classic double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted nearly 30 years, from 1927 to 1955.-Early life:... (January 18, 1892 – August 7, 1957) to form Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy were one of the most popular and critically acclaimed comedy double acts of the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema... . |
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Joe Laurie, Jr. Joe Laurie, Jr. Joe Laurie, Jr. was a vaudeville monologist who later performed on Broadway.... |
1892 | April 29, 1954 | American | Monologist and comedian. | |
Al Lee Al Lee Al Lee was a Boston-born American actor, producer and manager in vaudeville and silent films.He married actress Lilyan Tashman in 1914, but the couple divorced in 1921. Tashman met Lee while working on a double act with Eddie Cantor... |
American | Comedian and "straight man" for Eddie Cantor Eddie Cantor Eddie Cantor was an American "illustrated song" performer, comedian, dancer, singer, actor and songwriter... . |
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Gypsy Rose Lee Gypsy Rose Lee Gypsy Rose Lee was an American burlesque entertainer famous for her striptease act. She was also an actress, author, and playwright whose 1957 memoir was made into the stage musical and film Gypsy.-Early life:... |
February 9, 1911 | April 26, 1970 | American | Dancer and actress. | |
Jane Jane Lee Jane Lee was a child star in silent motion pictures beginning in 1914. She was born in Glasgow, Scotland. Along with her sister, Katherine Lee, born 1909, she appeared in the original Neptune's Daughter filmed in 1914. In 1915 Jane appeared with Valeska Suratt in The Soul of Broadway at Fox Studios... and Kathryn Lee |
Scottish | Sister act with Jane (1912 - April 20, 1957) and Kathryn (b.1909). | |||
Lila Lee Lila Lee Lila Lee was a prominent screen actress of the early silent film era.-Early life:Lila Lee was born Augusta Wilhelmena Fredericka Appel in Union Hill, New Jersey into a middle-class family of German immigrants who relocated to New York City when Lila was quite young... |
July 25, 1901 | November 13, 1973 | American | Actress. | |
Richard LeGrand Richard LeGrand Richard LeGrand was an American actor who was best known for his comedy characters on radio.Born in Portland, Oregon, LeGrand was backstage working the artificial snow when he made his stage debut to substitute for a missing actor. He continued in theater, doing dramas, musical comedies, tent... |
August 29, 1882 | June 29, 1963 | American | Actor. | |
Lillian Leitzel Lillian Leitzel Lillian Leitzel was an acrobat and strongwoman for the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus.-Early life:... |
1891? | February 15, 1931 | Hungarian | ||
Charles LeMaire Charles LeMaire Charles LeMaire was an American costume designer. Despite his French sounding name, he was born in Chicago.LeMaire's early career was as a vaudeville performer, but he became a costume designer for such Broadway productions as Ziegfeld Follies and The Five O'Clock Girl. By 1925 he turned to the... |
1897 | 1985 | American | A former vaudeville performer, LeMaire began working on costumes for Broadway shows in 1921. While in New York, he designed costumes for the Ziegfeld Follies Ziegfeld Follies The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 through 1931. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air.... , George White's Scandals and Earl Carroll's Vanities. By the mid 1940s he was a costume exec and wardrobe director with Twentieth Century Fox where he was nominated for 13 Academy Awards Academy Awards An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers... and won 3. |
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Dan Leno Dan Leno Dan Leno , born George Wild Galvin, was an English comedian and actor, famous for appearing in music hall and dozens of comic plays, pantomimes, Victorian burlesques and musical comedies during the Victorian era... |
December 20, 1860 | October 31, 1904 | British | Considered one of the greatest British Music Hall Music hall Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts... comedians who first toured the US in 1897. |
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Eddie Leonard Eddie Leonard Eddie Leonard , born Lemuel Golden Toney, was a vaudevillian and a man considered the greatest American minstrel of his day, at a time when minstrel shows were still acceptable as entertainment. He performed in vaudeville for 45 years before that medium faded in the 1920s, and was known for such... |
October 18, 1883 | July 29, 1941 | American | Blackface minstrel. | |
Ruggero Leoncavallo Ruggero Leoncavallo Ruggero Leoncavallo was an Italian opera composer. His two-act work Pagliacci remains one of the most popular works in the repertory, appearing as number 20 on the Operabase list of the most-performed operas worldwide.-Biography:... |
April 23, 1857 | August 9, 1919 | Italian | Composer and conductor. Toured with an Italian symphony orchestra. | |
Mervyn LeRoy Mervyn LeRoy Mervyn LeRoy was an American film director, producer and sometime actor.-Early life:Born to Jewish parents in San Francisco, California, his family was financially ruined by the 1906 earthquake... |
October 15, 1900 | September 13, 1987 | American | Singer. Later a Hollywood director and producer. | |
Stella LeSaint Stella LeSaint Stella LeSaint was an American silent film actress.LeSaint started as an actress on the stage with the Florence Roberts company in San Francisco. She then moved on to vaudeville in New York City and formed the "Stella Razeto and Company" group... |
December 17, 1881 | September 21, 1948 | American | Actress with her own vaudeville troupe, Stella Razeto and Company. | |
Joan Leslie Joan Leslie Joan Leslie is a retired American film and television actress.-Early life:Leslie was born Joan Agnes Theresa Sadie Brodel in Detroit, Michigan, and raised Roman Catholic. She began performing as a singer at the age of nine as part of a vaudeville act with her two sisters; Betty and Mae Brodel... |
January 26, 1925 | American | Singer, began performing at the age of nine with her sisters in an act called, "The Three Brodels." She worked briefly as a model and by 1936 was in Hollywood as a child star billed as Joan Brodel. In 1940, she signed with Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,... as an ingenue. |
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Lew Leslie Lew Leslie Lew Leslie was a Broadway writer and producer. Although white, he was the first impressario to present black artists on stage... |
1886 | 1963 | American | Singer; and did a "patter act." | |
The Great Lester The Great Lester Harry Lester , born Maryan Czajkowski in Poland, best known by his stage name The Great Lester, was a seminal vaudeville ventriloquist.-Ventriloquist act:... |
1878 | American | Singer, pianist, comedian and actor. | ||
Ethel Levy | November 22, 1880 | February 27, 1955 | American | Actress and singer. Wife of George M. Cohan George M. Cohan George Michael Cohan , known professionally as George M. Cohan, was a major American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer, and producer.... from 1900-1906. |
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Ted Lewis Ted Lewis (musician) Theodore Leopold Friedman, better known as Ted Lewis , was an American entertainer, bandleader, singer, and musician. He led a band presenting a combination of jazz, hokey comedy, and schmaltzy sentimentality that was a hit with the American public. He was known by the moniker "Mr... |
June 6, 1890 | August 25, 1971 | American | Bandleader, clarinetist and singer known for using the phrase, "Is everybody happy?" He appeared in small-time vaudeville before 1917. He appeared in a singing duo ("Giesler & Lewis") and later toured with his dance band, appearing at the Palace in 1919, billed as "The Jazz King." He appeared at the Palace again in the late 1920s. | |
Tom Lewis | American | Comedian. | |||
Winnie Lightner Winnie Lightner Winnie Lightner was an American motion picture actress. Perhaps her most famous role was as a gold-digger named Mabel, in Gold Diggers of Broadway... |
September 17, 1900 | March 5, 1971 | American | Singer known as "The Song-a-Minute Girl." | |
Beatrice Lillie Beatrice Lillie Beatrice Gladys "Bea" Lillie was an actress and comedic performer. Following her 1920 marriage to Sir Robert Peel in England, she was known in private life as Lady Peel.-Early career:... |
May 29, 1894 | January 20, 1989 | Canadian | Comedienne, known for her absurd double entendres. | |
John Lind John Lind (female impersonator) John Lind , born with the surname Lindström, was a Swedish female impersonator, singer and dancer. Although mostly forgotten today, he toured the world in the early 20th century and was one of Sweden's most internationally famed artists.... |
1877 | 1940 | American | Female impersonator, often billed as "Lind?." | |
Little Jack Little Little Jack Little Jack Little , sometimes credited Little Jack Little, was a British-born American composer, singer, pianist , actor and songwriter whose songs were featured in several movies... |
May 28, 1900 | April 9, 1956 | British | Bandleader, singer and songwriter. | |
Little Tich Little Tich Harry Relph, , known on the stage as "Little Tich", was an English music hall comedian. He was noted for the characters of The Spanish Señora, The Gendarme and The Tax Collector, but his most popular routine was his Big Boot dance, which involved a pair of 28-inch boots, commonly called "slapshoes"... |
July 21, 1867 | February 10, 1928 | British | Comedian, patter-singer and dancer. | |
Mary Livingstone Mary Livingstone Mary Livingstone , was an American radio comedienne and the wife and radio partner of comedy great Jack Benny . Enlisted almost entirely by accident to perform on her husband's popular program, she proved a talented comedienne... |
June 23, 1905 | June 30, 1983 | American | Comedienne and wife of Jack Benny Jack Benny Jack Benny was an American comedian, vaudevillian, and actor for radio, television, and film... . |
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Alice Lloyd | October 20, 1873 | November 16, 1949 | British | Singer and sister of Marie Lloyd Marie Lloyd Matilda Alice Victoria Wood was an English music hall singer, best known as Marie Lloyd. Her ability to add lewdness to the most innocent of lyrics led to frequent clashes with the guardians of morality... . |
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Marie Lloyd Marie Lloyd Matilda Alice Victoria Wood was an English music hall singer, best known as Marie Lloyd. Her ability to add lewdness to the most innocent of lyrics led to frequent clashes with the guardians of morality... |
February 12, 1870 | October 7, 1922 | British | Singer. | |
Cecilia Loftus Cecilia Loftus Cecilia "Cissie" or "Cissy" Loftus was a Scottish actress, singer, mimic, vaudevillian and music hall performer in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.-Family:... |
October 22, 1876 | July 12, 1943 | British | Actress, mimic and singer. | |
Guy Lombardo Guy Lombardo Gaetano Alberto "Guy" Lombardo was a Canadian-American bandleader and violinist.Forming "The Royal Canadians" in 1924 with his brothers Carmen, Lebert, and Victor and other musicians from his hometown, Lombardo led the group to international success, billing themselves as creating "The Sweetest... |
June 19, 1902 | November 5, 1977 | Canadian | Bandleader, best known for his "Auld Lang Syne Auld Lang Syne "Auld Lang Syne" is a Scots poem written by Robert Burns in 1788 and set to the tune of a traditional folk song . It is well known in many countries, especially in the English-speaking world; its traditional use being to celebrate the start of the New Year at the stroke of midnight... " every New Year's Eve New Year's Eve New Year's Eve is observed annually on December 31, the final day of any given year in the Gregorian calendar. In modern societies, New Year's Eve is often celebrated at social gatherings, during which participants dance, eat, consume alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the... . |
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Long Track Sam | 1885 | Chinese | Magician and acrobat. | ||
Vincent Lopez Vincent Lopez Vincent Lopez was an American bandleader and pianist.Vincent Lopez was born of Portuguese immigrant parents in Brooklyn, New York and was leading his own dance band in New York City by 1917... |
December 30, 1895 | September 20, 1975 | American | Pianist and bandleader. | |
Montagu Love Montagu Love Montagu Love , also known as Montague Love, was an English screen, stage and vaudeville actor.Born Harry Montague Love in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, and educated in Great Britain, Love began his career as an artist and military correspondent. His first important job was as a London newspaper... |
March 15, 1877 | May 17, 1943 | British | Actor. | |
Edmund Lowe Edmund Lowe Edmund Dantes Lowe was an American actor. His formative experience began in vaudeville and silent film. He was born in San Jose, California.-Film career:... |
March 3, 1890 | April 21, 1971 | American | Actor. He later married vaudevillian, Lilyan Tashman Lilyan Tashman Lilyan Tashman was a Brooklyn-born Jewish American vaudeville, Broadway, and film actress. Tashman was best known for her supporting roles as tongue-in-cheek villainesses and the bitchy 'other woman'... . |
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Ed Lowry | February 1, 1898 | August 17, 1983 | American | Comedian and saxophonist. | |
Nick Lucas Nick Lucas Nick Lucas born Dominic Nicholas Anthony Lucanese was an American singer and pioneer jazz guitarist, remembered as "the grandfather of the jazz guitar", whose peak of popularity lasted from the mid-1920s to the early 1930s.-Career:In 1922, at the age of 25, he gained renown with his hit renditions... |
August 22, 1897 | July 28, 1982 | American | Singer and guitarist. | |
Sam Lucas Sam Lucas Sam Lucas was an African American actor, comedian, singer, and songwriter. His career began in blackface minstrelsy, but he later became one of the first African Americans to branch into more serious drama, with roles in seminal works such as The Creole Show and A Trip to Coontown... |
1850 | January 5, 1916 | American | Minstrel, actor, singer and comedian. He and his wife were among the first African-Americans to play vaudeville. |
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Name | Birth | Death | Nationality | Performance Notes | Reference |
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Moms Mabley Moms Mabley Jackie "Moms" Mabley, born Loretta Mary Aiken , was an American standup comedian and a pioneer of the so-called "Chitlin' Circuit" of African-American vaudeville.-Early years:... |
March 19, 1894 | May 23, 1975 | American | Comedienne billed as "The Funniest Woman in the World." | |
June MacCloy June MacCloy June MacCloy was an American actress and singer in the 1930s and 1940s.Born in Sturgis, Michigan, MacCloy moved to Toledo, Ohio as a child.-Theater:... |
June 2, 1909 | May 5, 2005 | American | Actress and singer who appeared in the Earl Carroll Earl Carroll Earl Carroll was an American theatrical producer, director, songwriter and composer born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.-Career:... Vanities and the George White Scandals. Later she appeared in vaudeville. |
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Jeanette MacDonald Jeanette MacDonald Jeanette MacDonald was an American singer and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier and Nelson Eddy... |
October 9, 1890 | September 27, 1944 | American | Singer and actress. | |
Machinson Sisters Machinson Sisters The Machinson Sisters were an early 20th century Vaudeville act originating in England. Their most famous performance was heavily influenced by an early similar act by the notorious Barrison Sisters... |
British | British take on the Barrison Sisters Barrison Sisters The Barrison Sisters were a risqué Vaudeville act who performed in the United States and Europe from about 1891 to 1900, advertised as The Wickedest Girls In the World.... . |
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Willard Mack Willard Mack Willard Mack was a Canadian-born actor, director, and playwright.Born Charles McLaughlin, in Morrisburg, Ontario, at an early age his family moved to Brooklyn, New York. After two years, they relocated to Cedar Rapids, Iowa where McLaughlin finished high school... |
September 18, 1873 | November 18, 1934 | Canadian | Actor. | |
Violet MacMillan Violet MacMillan Violet MacMillan , was an American actress in Broadway theatre productions, vaudeville, and silent motion pictures. She was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan.-Tiny feet:... |
March 4, 1887 | December 29, 1953 | American | Actress. | |
Fred MacMurray Fred MacMurray Frederick Martin "Fred" MacMurray was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 movies and a successful television series during a career that spanned nearly a half-century, from 1930 to the 1970s.... |
August 30, 1908 | November 5, 1991 | American | Actor, got his start by touring with the California Collegiates as a saxophonist. | |
Uncle Dave Macon Uncle Dave Macon Uncle Dave Macon , born David Harrison Macon—also known as "The Dixie Dewdrop"—was an American banjo player, singer, songwriter, and comedian... |
October 7, 1870 | March 22, 1952 | American | Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S... and booked him to tour the circuit in the South. > |
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Will Mahoney Will Mahoney William James Mahoney , better known as Will Mahoney, was an American-born vaudevillian best known for his stage success in Australia. He had extensive experience on the vaudeville circuit in the US, becoming the highest paid variety star in the country by the early 1930s. In 1938 he married Evie... |
February 5, 1894 | February 8, 1967 | American | Comedian and xylophonist. | |
Marjorie Main Marjorie Main Marjorie Main was an American character actress, mainly at MGM, perhaps best known for her role as Ma Kettle in a series of ten Ma and Pa Kettle movies.-Early life and career:... |
February 24, 1890 | April 10, 1975 | American | Actress and comedienne. Later a character actress in many films. | |
Boots Mallory Boots Mallory Patricia "Boots" Mallory was an American film actress, dancer and model.-Career:Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Mallory grew up in Mobile, Alabama, attended Murphy High School, and was working in the Lyric Theater as an usherette when the Ziegfeld Follies came to Mobile. Ziegfeld offered her a... |
October 22, 1913 | December 1, 1958 | American | Dancer and later a Ziegfeld girl. Mallory debuted in vaudeville as the banjo player for a girls' band at the age of 12. By the age of 16, she was working as a dancer and she made her screen debut in 1932. | |
Edna Malone Edna Malone Edna Margaret Malone was a Canadian dancer. Her married names included Edna Siegrest, Edna Spangler; her stage name was Peggy Malone.... |
February 1, 1899 | Canadian | Dancer. | ||
Leon Mandrake Leon Mandrake Leon Giglio , better known by his stage name Leon Mandrake, was an Italian-American magician, mentalist, illusionist, escapologist, ventriloquist and stunt performer known worldwide as Mandrake the Magician.... |
1911 | 1993 | Canadian | Magician. | |
Martha Mansfield Martha Mansfield Martha Mansfield was an American actress in silent films and vaudeville stage plays.-Early life and career:Born Martha Ehrlich in New York City to Maurice and Harriett Gibson Ehrlich... |
July 14, 1899 | November 30, 1923 | American | Actress. | |
Rabbit Maranville Rabbit Maranville Walter James Vincent Maranville , better known as Rabbit Maranville due to his speed and small stature , was a Major League Baseball shortstop. At the time of his retirement in 1935, he had played in a record 23 seasons in the National League, a mark which wasn't broken until 1986 by Pete Rose... |
November 11, 1891 | January 5, 1954 | American | Baseball player who appeared in vaudeville in an act with Eddy McHugh. | |
Fay Marbre | American | Singer and dancer. | |||
Marceline and Sea Lion | British | An act with a sea lion Sea Lion Sea lions are pinnipeds characterized by external ear-flaps, long fore-flippers, the ability to walk on all fours, and short thick hair. Together with the fur seal, they comprise the family Otariidae, or eared seals. There are six extant and one extinct species in five genera... and its trainer. The act appeared in the mid-1920s. |
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Pigmeat Markham Pigmeat Markham Dewey "Pigmeat" Markham was an African-American entertainer. Though best known as a comedian, Markham was also a singer, dancer, and actor... |
April 18, 1904 | December 31, 1981 | American | Comedian, singer, dancer and actor. | |
Rube Marquard Rube Marquard Richard William "Rube" Marquard was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball in the 1910s and early 1920s... |
October 9, 1886 | June 1, 1980 | American | Baseball player who appeared in vaudeville in 1911 with Annie Kent. He appeared twice with Blossom Seeley Blossom Seeley -Biography:Seeley was born Minnie Guyer, in San Francisco, California, USA. A top vaudeville headliner, she was known as the "Queen of Syncopation" and helped bring jazz and ragtime into the mainstream of American music. She introduced the Shelton Brooks classic "Some of These Days" in vaudeville... and later with Billy Dooley. |
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Sara Martin Sara Martin Sara Martin was an American blues singer, in her time one of the most popular of the classic blues singers. She was billed as "The Famous Moanin' Mama" and "The Colored Sophie Tucker"... |
June 18, 1884 | May 24, 1955 | American | Blues singer. Martin toured vaudeville in the Chicago Chicago Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles... area around 1915 and then New York in 1922. |
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Marx Brothers Marx Brothers The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in Vaudeville, Broadway, and motion pictures from the early 1900s to around 1950... |
American | Comic team of five brothers: Chico Marx Chico Marx Leonard "Chico" Marx was an American comedian and film star as part of the Marx Brothers. His persona in the act was that of a dim-witted albeit crafty con artist, seemingly of rural Italian origin, who wore shabby clothes, and sported a curly-haired wig and Tyrolean hat.As the first-born of the... (March 22, 1887 – October 11, 1961), Harpo Marx Harpo Marx Adolph "Harpo" Marx was an American comedian and film star. He was the second oldest of the Marx Brothers. His comic style was influenced by clown and pantomime traditions. He wore a curly reddish wig, and never spoke during performances... (November 23, 1888 – September 28, 1964), Groucho Marx Groucho Marx Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx was an American comedian and film star famed as a master of wit. His rapid-fire delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers. He made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third-born... (October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977), Gummo Marx Gummo Marx Milton "Gummo" Marx was an American vaudeville performer and theatrical agent. He was the fourth-born of the Marx Brothers. Born in New York City, he worked with his brothers on the vaudeville circuit, but left acting when he was drafted into the U.S... (October 23, 1893 – April 21, 1977) and Zeppo Marx Zeppo Marx Herbert Manfred "Zeppo" Marx was an American film star, musician, engineer, theatrical agent and businessman. He was the youngest of the five Marx Brothers. He appeared in the first five Marx Brothers feature films, from 1929 to 1933, but then left the act to start his second career as an... (February 25, 1901 – November 29, 1979).. |
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Will Maston | 1903 | 1975 | American | Dancer and singer. Toured with Sammy Davis, Sr. Sammy Davis, Sr. Samuel George "Sammy" Davis, Sr. was an American dancer and the father of Sammy Davis, Jr..-Birth and Personal Life:... , father of Sammy Davis, Jr. Sammy Davis, Jr. Samuel George "Sammy" Davis Jr. was an American entertainer and was also known for his impersonations of actors and other celebrities.... . |
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Christy Mathewson Christy Mathewson Christopher "Christy" Mathewson , nicknamed "Big Six", "The Christian Gentleman", or "Matty", was an American Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He played his entire career in what is known as the dead-ball era... |
August 12, 1880 | October 7, 1925 | American | Baseball player who appeared in vaudeville with catcher Chief Meyers Chief Meyers John Tortes "Chief" Meyers was a Major League Baseball catcher for the New York Giants, Boston Braves, and Brooklyn Robins from 1909 to 1917. He played on the early Giants teams under manager John McGraw and was the primary catcher for Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson... in an act with May Tulley called Curves. |
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Virginia Mayo Virginia Mayo Virginia Mayo was an American film actress.After a short career in vaudeville, Mayo progressed to films and during the 1940s established herself as a supporting player in such films as The Best Years of Our Lives and White Heat .Mayo remained an A-list actress into the mid-'50s, but then went... |
November 30, 1920 | January 17, 2005 | American | Actress. Appeared in an act with Andy Mayo. Best known for her roles in Warner Bros. film noirs such as White Heat White Heat White Heat may refer to:In film:* White Heat , a British film directed by Thomas Bentley* White Heat , an American film* White Heat, a 1949 film starring James CagneyIn music:... . |
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Winsor McCay Winsor McCay Winsor McCay was an American cartoonist and animator.A prolific artist, McCay's pioneering early animated films far outshone the work of his contemporaries, and set a standard followed by Walt Disney and others in later decades... |
September 26, 1867(?) | July 26, 1934 | American | Cartoonist and animator who toured vaudeville with his creation, Gertie the Dinosaur Gertie the Dinosaur Gertie the Dinosaur is a 1914 American animated short film by Winsor McCay. Although not the first feature-length animated film, as is sometimes thought, it was the first cartoon to feature a character with an appealing personality... . |
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Bessie McCoy | 1888 | August 16, 1931 | American | Singer and dancer known as "The Yama-Yama Girl." | |
Paul McCullough Paul McCullough Paul Johnston McCullough was an American actor who performed in a comedy team with Bobby Clark.Born in Springfield, Ohio, McCullough met Clark at a local YMCA when they were boys... |
1883 | March 25, 1936 | American | Comedian who teamed up with Bobby Clark Bobby Clark (comedian) Robert Edwin Clark , known as Bobby Clark, was a minstrel, vaudevillian, performer on stage, film, television and the circus.... . |
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Jimmy McFadden | American | Tap dancer. | |||
Owen McGiverney | May 4, 1884 | July 31, 1967 | British | Quick-change artist. | |
Terry McGovern Terry McGovern (boxer) Terrible Terry McGovern , born John Terrence McGovern in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, United States, was a boxer who held the world bantamweight and featherweight titles.-Professional career:... |
March 9, 1880 | February 22, 1918 | American | Boxer who held world bantamweight Bantamweight Bantamweight is usually a class in boxing for boxers who weigh above 115 pounds and up to 118 pounds . However, in Mixed Martial Arts it is 134-136 pounds . Wrestling also has similar weight classes including bantamweight... and featherweight Featherweight Featherweight is a weight class division in the sport of boxing. There are similarly named divisions under several Mixed Martial Arts organizations and in Greco-Roman wrestling.-Professional boxing:... titles. |
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Tex McGuire Tex McGuire Tex McGuire was an old-time music and hillbilly musician who played the guitar, banjo and dobro. He was born Marshall Everette McGuire in Monroe County, West Virginia and died in Low Moor, Virginia at the age of 83.... |
February 29, 1909 | August 2, 1992 | American | Guitar, banjo and dobro player. | |
McIntyre and Heath | American | Minstrel duo composed of James McIntyre (1857–1937) and Thomas Heath (1852–1938). | |||
Victor McLaglen Victor McLaglen Victor Andrew de Bier Everleigh McLaglen was an English boxer and World War I veteran who became a successful film actor.Towards the end of his life he was naturalised as a U.S. citizen.-Early life:... |
December 10, 1886 | November 7, 1959 | British-American | Academy Award-winning actor, appeared also as a boxer and acrobat. Later became famous in films working as a character actor mostly under John Ford John Ford John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath... 's direction. |
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Aimee Semple McPherson Aimee Semple McPherson Aimee Semple McPherson , also known as Sister Aimee, was a Canadian-American Los Angeles, California evangelist and media celebrity in the 1920s and 1930s. She founded the Foursquare Church... |
October 9, 1890 | September 27, 1944 | American | Evangelist. | |
Raquel Mellar | March 10, 1888 | July 26, 1962 | Spanish | Chanteuse. | |
Rose Melville | January 30, 1867 | October 8, 1946 | American | Singing-comedienne. | |
Adolphe Menjou Adolphe Menjou Adolphe Jean Menjou was an American actor. His career spanned both silent films and talkies, appearing in such films as The Sheik, A Woman of Paris, Morocco, and A Star is Born... |
February 18, 1890 | October 29, 1963 | American | Actor and comedian, later known as a character actor in films such as the original A Star Is Born A Star Is Born (1937 film) A Star Is Born is a 1937 Technicolor romantic drama film produced by David O. Selznick and directed by William A. Wellman, with a script by Wellman, Robert Carson, Dorothy Parker and Alan Campbell. It stars Janet Gaynor as an aspiring Hollywood actress, and Fredric March as an aging movie star who... . |
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Ethel Merman Ethel Merman Ethel Merman was an American actress and singer. Known primarily for her powerful voice and roles in musical theatre, she has been called "the undisputed First Lady of the musical comedy stage." Among the many standards introduced by Merman in Broadway musicals are "I Got Rhythm", "Everything's... |
January 16, 1909 | February 15, 1984 | American | Singer and actress, possibly the most the pre-eminent star in Broadway musicals. | |
Chief Meyers Chief Meyers John Tortes "Chief" Meyers was a Major League Baseball catcher for the New York Giants, Boston Braves, and Brooklyn Robins from 1909 to 1917. He played on the early Giants teams under manager John McGraw and was the primary catcher for Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson... |
July 29, 1880 | July 25, 1971 | American | Baseball player who appeared in vaudeville with catcher Chief Meyers Chief Meyers John Tortes "Chief" Meyers was a Major League Baseball catcher for the New York Giants, Boston Braves, and Brooklyn Robins from 1909 to 1917. He played on the early Giants teams under manager John McGraw and was the primary catcher for Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson... in an act with May Tulley called Curves. |
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Charles B. Middleton Charles B. Middleton Charles B. Middleton was an American stage and film actor. During a film career that began at age 46 and lasted almost 30 years, Charles Middleton appeared in nearly two hundred films as well as numerous plays... |
October 3, 1874 | April 22, 1949 | American | Character actor who often played commanding or villainous characters in films in the 1920s. | |
Lizzie Miles Lizzie Miles Lizzie Miles was the stage name taken by Elizabeth Mary Landreaux , an African American blues singer.-Career:... |
March 31, 1895 | March 17, 1963 | American | Blues singer. Toured the south in theatres and circuses. She also toured with minstrel shows. | |
Miller and Lyles | American | Comic duo and well known comic writers. Duo was composed of Flourney E. Miller (April 14, 1887 – June 6, 1971) and Aubrey L. Lyles (1884 - July 28, 1932). | |||
Emmett Miller Emmett Miller Emmett Miller was an American minstrel show performer and recording artist known for his falsetto, yodel-like voice. Little-remembered today, Miller was a major influence on many country music singers, including Hank Williams, Jimmie Rodgers, Milton Brown, Tommy Duncan, and Merle Haggard... |
February 2, 1900 | 1962 | American | Minstrel and singer noted for his yodel-like falsetto voice. | |
Marilyn Miller Marilyn Miller Marilyn Miller was one of the most popular Broadway musical stars of the 1920s and early 1930s. She was an accomplished tap dancer, singer and actress, but it was the combination of these talents that endeared her to audiences. On stage she usually played rags-to-riches Cinderella characters who... |
September 1, 1898 | April 7, 1936 | American | Dancer, starred in several Ziegfeld shows such as Sally, Sunny, and Rosalie where she played the all-American girl to full extent. Also appeared in numerous editions of the Ziegfeld Follies. | |
Mills Brothers Mills Brothers The Mills Brothers, sometimes billed as The Four Mills Brothers, were an American jazz and pop vocal quartet of the 20th century who made more than 2,000 recordings that combined sold more than 50 million copies, and garnered at least three dozen gold records... |
American | Vocal quartet with John Jr. (1911–1936) basso and guitarist, Herbert ( Apr. 1912 - April 12, 1989) tenor, Harry (August 19, 1913 – June 20, 1982) baritone, and Donald (April 29, 1915 – November 13, 1999) lead tenor. The famed vocal group began in small-time vaudeville and worked their way up to the big-time, appearing at the Palace the week of January 23, 1931. | |||
Florence Mills Florence Mills Florence Mills, born Florence Winfrey , known as the "Queen of Happiness," was an African American cabaret singer, dancer, and comedian known for her effervescent stage presence, delicate voice, and winsome, wide-eyed beauty.-Life and career:A daughter of former enslaved parents, Nellie and John... |
January 25, 1896 | November 1, 1927 | American | Comedienne, singer and dancer. | |
Borrah Minnevitch Borrah Minnevitch Borrah Minnevitch , born Bora Minjevic, was a notable harmonica player, actor, and leader of his group The Harmonica Rascals... and His Harmonica Rascals |
Russian | Borrah Minnevitch Borrah Minnevitch Borrah Minnevitch , born Bora Minjevic, was a notable harmonica player, actor, and leader of his group The Harmonica Rascals... put together this act with midget Midget A midget is a short person with relatively average bodily proportions in comparison with other human beings. The term is often improperly used to describe a person with the medical condition dwarfism. The two terms are often used synonymously because both terms originate as words defining small... s playing harmonica Harmonica The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes... s. This act is credited with popularizing the harmonica in America. |
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Rhea Mitchell Rhea Mitchell Rhea Mitchell was an American film actress who began her career during the silent film era. She earned the name of "the little stunt girl" because of her willingness to attempt thrilling scenes in motion pictures.... |
December 10, 1890 | September 16, 1957 | American | Actress. | |
Tom Mix Tom Mix Thomas Edwin "Tom" Mix was an American film actor and the star of many early Western movies. He made a reported 336 films between 1910 and 1935, all but nine of which were silent features... |
January 6, 1880 | October 12, 1940 | American | Sharpshooter who joined the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch Wild West Show in 1909. He appeared in Western films starting in 1910 and when he appeared at the Hippodrome in New York, 1928, he broke all attendance records. | |
Marshall Montgomery | 1886 | September 30, 1942 | American | Comic musician and ventriloquist. | |
Montrose and Allen | American | Comic duo consisting of Billy Allen and his wife, Belle Montrose Belle Montrose Belle Montrose, born Isabelle Donohue in Illinois, was an Irish-American actress and vaudeville performer... (April 23, 1886 – October 26, 1963). |
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Florence Moore Florence Moore Florence E. Moore was an American vaudeville, Broadway performer, and actress in silent films.Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Moore began singing in the choir of Saint Clement's Church, Philadelphia at the age of thirteen. She began touring with the stock company of her brother Frank Moore... |
1886 | March 23, 1935 | American | Singer-comedienne. First female emcee at the Palace Palace Theatre, New York The Palace Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 1564 Broadway in midtown-Manhattan.-History:Designed by architects Kirchoff & Rose, the theatre was built by Martin Beck a California vaudeville entrepreneur and Broadway impresario. The project experienced a number of business problems before... . |
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Tim Moore Tim Moore (comedian) Tim Moore was a celebrated American vaudevillian and comic actor of the first half of the 20th century. He gained his greatest recognition in the starring role of George "Kingfish" Stevens in the CBS television series, Amos 'n' Andy... |
December 9, 1887 | December 13, 1958 | American | Comedian and actor. Child act on the Keith Circuit, "The Gold Dust Twins" with Romeo Washburn, 1897 to 1899. Husband and wife team: Tim and Hester Moore, 1908 to 1915 (Southern Consolidated Circuit); and Tim and Gertie Moore, 1915 to 1927 (Dudley Circuit, Orpheum Circuit, Fuller Circuit, New Zealand, and TOBA circuit. Music hall tours of Great Britain on the Empire circuit; tours of New Zealand on the Fuller Circuit (1917-1919). "Tim Moore's Chicago Follies' tours on the TOBA circuit, 1921 to 1925. "Rarin' to Go," on the Columbia Burlesque Wheel, 1925 to 1927. | |
Victor Moore Victor Moore Victor Frederick Moore was an American actor of stage and screen, as well as a comedian, writer, and director.-Personal life:... |
February 24, 1876 | July 23, 1962 | American | Comedian, later became famous as a character actor on both stage and screen. | |
Polly Moran Polly Moran Polly Moran was an American actress and comedian.Born in Chicago, Illinois, Moran started out in vaudeville, and widely toured North America, as well as various other locations that included Europe and South Africa... |
June 28, 1883 | January 25, 1952 | American | Actress and comedienne, best known for her films opposite Marie Dressler. | |
Mantan Moreland Mantan Moreland Mantan Moreland was an American actor and comedian most popular in the 1930s and 1940s.-Career:Born in Monroe, Louisiana, Moreland began acting by the time he was an adolescent, reportedly running away to join the circus... |
September 3, 1902 | September 28, 1973 | American | Actor and comedian, performed on the "Chitlin Circuit" for many years. | |
Helen Morgan Helen Morgan Helen Morgan was an American singer and actress who worked in films and on the stage. A quintessential torch singer, she made a big splash in the Chicago club scene in the 1920s... |
August 2, 1900 | August 8, 1941 | American | Singer and actress, known for reinvigorating the torch song Torch song A torch song is a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love, either where one party is oblivious to the existence of the other, where one party has moved on, or where a romantic affair has affected the relationship... with her performance in Show Boat Show Boat Show Boat is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was originally produced in New York in 1927 and in London in 1928, and was based on the 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. The plot chronicles the lives of those living and working... and for leading a somewhat tragic life. |
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Clara Morris Clara Morris Clara Morris was an American actress.-Biography:Born in Toronto, Canada, her real name was Morrison. She was reared in Cleveland, Ohio, where at the Academy of Music she became a member of the ballet and afterward leading actress.She went to New York in 1870 as a member of Daly's company... |
March 17, 1849 | November 20, 1925 | Canadian | Actress. | |
Johnnie Morris Johnnie Morris (actor) Johnny Morris was an American comedian/actor who began his career in vaudeville and then worked as a comedian/supporting actor in the movies.... |
June 15, 1887 | October 7, 1969 | American | Comedian and actor. | |
Lily Morris Lily Morris Lily Morris , born Lilles Mary Crosby, was an English music hall performer, who specialized in comedic singing.... |
1884 | October 3, 1952 | British | Singing-comedienne. | |
Ernie Morrison Ernie Morrison Ernest Fredric "Ernie" Morrison was an American child actor who performed under the stage name "Sunshine Sammy"... |
December 20, 1912 | July 24, 1989 | American | Dancer. | |
Lee Morse Lee Morse Lee Morse was an US jazz and blues singer and songwriter whose most popular years were in the 1920s and early 1930s, although her career began around 1917 and continued until her death in 1954... |
1904 | December 16, 1954 | American | Blues singer known for her trademark yodeling. | |
Charles Morton Charles Morton Charles Morton , was an American actor.-Career:Born in Illinois, Charles Morton spent his adolescence in Madison, Wisconsin; receiving his education at Madison High School and the University of Wisconsin–Madison.He made his first stage appearance at the age of seven and later appeared in vaudeville,... |
January 28, 1907 | October 26, 1966 | American | Actor. | |
James J. Morton | December 25, 1861 | April 10, 1938 | American | Comedian known as "The Boy Comic." | |
Jelly Roll Morton Jelly Roll Morton Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe , known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and early jazz pianist, bandleader and composer.... |
September 20, 1885 | July 10, 1941 | American | Pianist, bandleader and composer, one of the founders of modern day jazz. | |
Mosconi Brothers | American | Dance duo consisting of brothers Louis (d. August 1, 1969) and Charles Mosconi (d. March 1, 1975). | |||
Bennie Moten Bennie Moten Bennie Moten was a noted American jazz pianist and band leader born in Kansas City, Missouri.He led the Kansas City Orchestra, the most important of the itinerant, blues-based orchestras active in the Midwest in the 1920s, and helped to develop the riffing style that would come to define many of... |
November 13, 1894 | April 2, 1935 | American | Jazz pianist and bandleader of Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra. Count Basie Count Basie William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years... was recruited to play piano with the band in 1929. Moten toured on the TOBA circuits. |
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Ona Munson Ona Munson Ona Munson was an American actress perhaps best known for her portrayal of prostitute Belle Watling in Gone with the Wind .- Career :... |
June 16, 1903 | February 11, 1955 | American | Singer and actress. | |
Billy Murray Billy Murray (singer) William Thomas "Billy" Murray was one of the most popular singers in the United States in the early decades of the 20th century... |
May 25, 1877 | August 17, 1954 | American | Singer. | |
J. Harold Murray J. Harold Murray .J. Harold Murray was an American baritone. For more than a decade, during the Roaring Twenties and the Depression Thirties, he contributed to the development of musical theater by bridging vaudeville, operetta and the modern American musical... |
February 17, 1891 | December 11, 1940 | American | Singer. | |
Jan Murray Jan Murray Jan Murray was an American stand-up comedian, actor, and game show host who made his name on the Borscht Belt.-Early life:Murray was born Murray Janofsky in The Bronx, New York City... |
October 4, 1916 | July 2, 2006 | American | Comedian, later known for his appearances on The Hollywood Squares and many TV variety shows. | |
Ken Murray Ken Murray (entertainer) Ken Murray was an American entertainer and author.-Vaudeville:Murray was born Kenneth Doncourt in New York City to a family of vaudeville performers. According to Murray's autobiography , he changed his name because he did not want to ride the coattails of his father's success; he wanted to make a... |
July 14, 1903 | October 12, 1988 | American | Actor and singer. Served as the emcee at the Palace Palace Theatre, New York The Palace Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 1564 Broadway in midtown-Manhattan.-History:Designed by architects Kirchoff & Rose, the theatre was built by Martin Beck a California vaudeville entrepreneur and Broadway impresario. The project experienced a number of business problems before... . |
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Alfred Naess Alfred Naess Karl Alfred Ingvald Næss was a Norwegian speedskater. He set the men's world record for 500 meter speed skating on February 5, 1893 at 49.4 seconds in Hamar, Norway. He then broke his own world record 21 days later on February 26, 1893 at 48.0 seconds, then lowered it to 47.0 seconds on February... |
April 26, 1877 | July 6, 1955 | Norwegian | Speedskater who toured with Austrian skater, Frieda Meyer (c. 1890 - 1976). | |
Conrad Nagel Conrad Nagel Conrad Nagel was an American screen actor and matinee idol of the silent film era and beyond. He was also a well-known television actor and radio performer.-Biography:... |
March 16, 1897 | February 24, 1970 | American | Actor, began as an acrobat in vaudeville but switched professions. Later became a matinee idol once signed to MGM. | |
John Nash | 1830 | 1901 | British | British Music Hall performer, first to tour the US. | |
Mary Nash Mary Nash -Early life:Nash was born on August 15, 1884 in Troy, New York, to parents Philip Nash, who worked for B. F. Keith Vaudeville Circuit, and Ellen Frances MacNamara. She was educated at the Convent of St. Anne in Montreal and trained for acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts... |
August 15, 1885 | December 3, 1976 | American | Actress. | |
Carrie Nation Carrie Nation Carrie Amelia Moore Nation was a member of the temperance movement, which opposed alcohol in pre-Prohibition America. She is particularly noteworthy for promoting her viewpoint through vandalism. On many occasions Nation would enter an alcohol-serving establishment and attack the bar with a hatchet... |
November 25, 1846 | June 9, 1911 | American | Leader in the Temperance movement Temperance movement A temperance movement is a social movement urging reduced use of alcoholic beverages. Temperance movements may criticize excessive alcohol use, promote complete abstinence , or pressure the government to enact anti-alcohol legislation or complete prohibition of alcohol.-Temperance movement by... . |
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Alla Nazimova Alla Nazimova Alla Nazimova , was a Russian American film and theatre actress, a screenwriter and film producer. She is perhaps best known as simply Nazimova, but also went under the name Alia Nasimoff.-Early life:... |
May 22, 1879 | July 14, 1945 | Russian | Actress, known for her flamboyant acting style and offscreen life. | |
Harriet Nelson Harriet Nelson Harriet Nelson was an American singer and actress. Nelson is best known for her role on the long-running sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.-Early life and career:... |
July 18, 1909 | October 2, 1994 | American | Singer and actress. Wife of Ozzie Nelson Ozzie Nelson Oswald George "Ozzie" Nelson was an American entertainer and band leader who originated and starred in The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet radio and television series with his wife and two sons.-Early life:... and mother of Ricky Nelson Ricky Nelson Eric Hilliard Nelson , better known as Ricky Nelson or Rick Nelson, was an American singer-songwriter, instrumentalist, and actor... . |
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Ozzie Nelson Ozzie Nelson Oswald George "Ozzie" Nelson was an American entertainer and band leader who originated and starred in The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet radio and television series with his wife and two sons.-Early life:... |
March 20, 1906 | June 3, 1975 | American | Bandleader for the Ozzie Nelson band. Husband of Harriet Nelson Harriet Nelson Harriet Nelson was an American singer and actress. Nelson is best known for her role on the long-running sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.-Early life and career:... (the band's singer) and father of Ricky Nelson Ricky Nelson Eric Hilliard Nelson , better known as Ricky Nelson or Rick Nelson, was an American singer-songwriter, instrumentalist, and actor... . |
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Evelyn Nesbit Evelyn Nesbit Evelyn Nesbit was an American artists' model and chorus girl, noted for her entanglement in the murder of her ex-lover, architect Stanford White, by her first husband, Harry Kendall Thaw.-Early life:... |
December 25, 1884 | January 17, 1967 | American | Dancer. Nesbit was the focal point of a love triangle between her lover, architect Stanford White Stanford White Stanford White was an American architect and partner in the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White, the frontrunner among Beaux-Arts firms. He designed a long series of houses for the rich and the very rich, and various public, institutional, and religious buildings, some of which can be found... and her husband, millionaire Harry K. Thaw Harry K. Thaw Harry Kendall Thaw was the son of coal and railroad baron William Thaw. He is best known for murdering the architect Stanford White at Madison Square Garden in 1906 in a jealous rage.- Early life:... . Following White's shooting death at the hands of Thaw, Nesbit became a popular attraction onstage. |
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Alfred Newman Alfred Newman Alfred Newman was an American composer, arranger, and conductor of music for films.In a career which spanned over forty years, Newman composed music for over two hundred films. He was one of the most respected film score composers of his time, and is today regarded as one of the greatest... |
March 17, 1900 | February 17, 1970 | American | Pianist. Later a film composer, conductor and music director. | |
Fred Niblo Fred Niblo Fred Niblo was an American pioneer film actor, director and producer.-Biography:He was born Frederick Liedtke in York, Nebraska, to a French mother and a father who had served as a captain in the American Civil War and was wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg... |
January 6, 1874 | November 11, 1948 | American | George M. Cohan George M. Cohan George Michael Cohan , known professionally as George M. Cohan, was a major American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer, and producer.... 's troupe and appeared in some of his Broadway shows. After marrying Cohan's sister, Josephine, Niblo moved to Hollywood where he worked with Thomas Ince Thomas H. Ince Thomas Harper Ince was an American silent film actor, director, screenwriter and producer of more than 100 films and pioneering studio mogul. Known as the "Father of the Western", he invented many mechanisms of professional movie production, introducing early Hollywood to the "assembly line"... as an actor and moved on to directing. His wife, Josephine died in 1916 under odd circumstances creating a feud between Cohan and Niblo. > |
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Nicholas Brothers Nicholas Brothers The Nicholas Brothers were a famous African American team of dancing brothers, Fayard and Harold . With their highly acrobatic technique , high level of artistry and daring innovations, they were considered by many the greatest tap dancers of their day... |
American | Tap dancers, brothers Fayard Fayard Nicholas Fayard Antonio Nicholas... ( October 20, 1914 – January 24, 2006) and Harold Harold Nicholas Harold Lloyd Nicholas was an American dancer specializing in tap. He was the younger half of the world famous tap dancing pair the Nicholas Brothers, known as two of the world's greatest dancers. His older brother was Fayard Nicholas... (March 27, 1921 – July 3, 2000). Found greater fame appearing in such movies as Stormy Weather Stormy Weather (1943 film) Stormy Weather is a 1943 American musical film produced and released by 20th Century Fox. The film is one of two major Hollywood musicals produced in 1943 with primarily African-American casts, the other being MGM's Cabin in the Sky, and is considered a time capsule showcasing some of the top... and Sun Valley Serenade Sun Valley Serenade Sun Valley Serenade is a 1941 musical film starring Sonja Henie, John Payne, Glenn Miller, Milton Berle, and Lynn Bari. It features The Glenn Miller Orchestra as well as dancing by The Nicholas Brothers and Dorothy Dandridge, performing "Chattanooga Choo Choo", which was nominated for an Academy... . |
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Alice Nielsen Alice Nielsen Alice Nielsen was a Broadway performer and operatic soprano who had her own opera company and starred in several Victor Herbert operettas.-Background:... |
1872 | 1943 | American | Operatic singer. | |
Marian Nixon Marian Nixon -Career:Born Marian Nissinen in Superior, Wisconsin, Nixon began her career as a teen working as a chorus dancer on the vaudeville circuit. She began appearing in bit part in films in 1922 and landed her first substantial role in the 1923 film Cupid's Fireman, opposite Buck Jones. The following... |
October 20, 1904 | February 13, 1983 | American | Former vaudeville chorus girl who entered films in 1922. | |
Karyl Norman | 1896 | July 23, 1947 | American | Female impersonator billed as "The Creole Fashion Plate." | |
Bobby North | February 2, 1884 | August 13, 1976 | American | Singer, dancer, actor and Jewish comedian. | |
Ruby Norton | American | Singer accompanied by Clarence Senna. | |||
Red Norvo Red Norvo Red Norvo was one of jazz's early vibraphonists, known as "Mr. Swing". He helped establish the xylophone, marimba and later the vibraphone as viable jazz instruments... |
March 31, 1908 | April 6, 1999 | American | Xylophonist with Paul Whiteman. | |
Jack Norworth Jack Norworth Jack Norworth was a U.S. songwriter, singer and vaudeville performer.Norworth is credited as co-writer of a number of Tin Pan Alley hits. He wrote the lyrics of the song "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" in 1908, his most long lasting hit. But it wasn't until 1940 that he actually witnessed a Major... |
January 5, 1879 | September 1, 1959 | American | Singer and actor. Husband of Nora Bayes Nora Bayes Nora Bayes was a popular American singer, comedienne and actress of the early 20th century.-Early life and career:... . |
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Annie Oakley Annie Oakley Annie Oakley , born Phoebe Ann Mosey, was an American sharpshooter and exhibition shooter. Oakley's amazing talent and timely rise to fame led to a starring role in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, which propelled her to become the first American female superstar.Oakley's most famous trick is perhaps... |
August 13, 1860 | November 3, 1926 | American | Famed sharpshooter, later the subject of the Broadway musical and film Annie Get Your Gun Annie Get Your Gun (musical) Annie Get Your Gun is a musical with lyrics and music written by Irving Berlin and a book by Herbert Fields and his sister Dorothy Fields. The story is a fictionalized version of the life of Annie Oakley , who was a sharpshooter from Ohio, and her husband, Frank Butler.The 1946 Broadway production... . |
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Buck O'Brien Buck O'Brien Thomas Joseph "Buck" O'Brien was a starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox.... |
May 9, 1882 | July 25, 1959 | American | Baseball player who appeared with the Boston Red Sox Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"... Quartette in 1912. The quartet included Hugh Bradley, Marty Hale and Bill Lyons. |
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Donald O'Connor Donald O'Connor Donald David Dixon Ronald O’Connor was an American dancer, singer, and actor who came to fame in a series of movies in which he co-starred alternately with Gloria Jean, Peggy Ryan, and Francis the Talking Mule... |
August 28, 1925 | September 27, 2003 | American | Actor and dancer, was a member of his family's vaudeville act. | |
Geoffrey O'Hara Geoffrey O'Hara Geoffrey O'Hara was a Canadian American composer, singer and music professor.O'Hara was born in Chatham, Ontario, Canada. He initially planned a military career. O'Hara entered the prestigious Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario at age 18 and he trained with the 1st Hussars... |
February 2, 1882 | January 31, 1967 | Canadian | Singer and songwriter. | |
Walter O'Keefe Walter O'Keefe Walter O'Keefe was an American songwriter, actor, syndicated columnist, Broadway composer, radio legend, screenwriter, musical arranger and TV host.... |
August 18, 1900 | June 26, 1983 | American | Singer and songwriter. | |
Chauncey Olcott | July 21, 1858 | March 18, 1932 | American | Actor, minstrel, and monologist. | |
Charley O'Leary Charley O'Leary Charles Timothy O'Leary was a Major League Baseball shortstop who played eleven seasons with the Detroit Tigers , St. Louis Cardinals , and St. Louis Browns .... |
October 15, 1882 | January 6, 1941 | American | Former baseball player who had an act with Germany Schaefer Germany Schaefer Herman A. "Germany" Schaefer was a second baseman in Major League Baseball who played fifteen seasons with the Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers, Washington Senators, Newark Pepper, New York Yankees, and Cleveland Indians.... . |
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Olsen and Johnson Olsen and Johnson John Sigvard "Ole" Olsen and Harold Ogden "Chic" Johnson were zany American comedians of vaudeville, radio, the Broadway stage, motion pictures and television. Their shows were noted for their crazy blackout gags and orchestrated mayhem... |
American | Comic duo with Ole Olsen Ole Olsen (comedian) John Sigvard "Ole" Olsen was an American vaudevillian and comedian.Born in Peru, Indiana, he graduated from Northwestern University in 1912 with a degree in music and hit the Vaudeville circuit... (November 6, 1892 – January 26, 1963) and Chic Johnson Chic Johnson Chic Johnson was the barrel-chested half of the Swedish-American comedy team of Olsen and Johnson, known for his strangely infectious, high-pitched laugh.-Background:... (March 15, 1891 – February 28, 1962). Biggest success came with the revue Hellzapoppin'. |
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Patrick H. O'Malley Jr. Patrick H. O'Malley Jr. Pat O'Malley was an American vaudeville and stage performer prior to starting a prolific film career at the age of sixteen.-Career:... |
September 3, 1890 | May 21, 1966 | American | Actor. | |
Nance O'Neill | 1874 | 1965 | American | Actress. | |
Original Creole Orchestra | American | Early jazz band also known as the Original Creole Band and the Original Creole Jass Band. The 11 member band included the founder, Bill Johnson (August 10, 1872 – December 3, 1972), on mandolin Mandolin A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single... and cornetist Freddie Keppard Freddie Keppard Freddie Keppard was an early jazz cornetist.Keppard was born in the Creole of Color community of downtown New Orleans, Louisiana. His older brother Louis Keppard was also a professional musician. Freddie played violin, mandolin, and accordion before switching to cornet... (February 27, 1890 – July 15, 1933). In 1916, Victor Victor Talking Machine Company The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American corporation, the leading American producer of phonographs and phonograph records and one of the leading phonograph companies in the world at the time. It was headquartered in Camden, New Jersey.... offered to record the orchestra, which would have made them the first jazz band to record, but they refused. |
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Michael O'Shea Michael O'Shea (actor) Michael O'Shea , was an American character actor whose career spanned from the 1940s-1960s. O'Shea was born in Hartford, Connecticut... |
March 17, 1906 | December 4, 1973 | American | Toured with Jack Johnson Jack Johnson (boxer) John Arthur Johnson , nicknamed the “Galveston Giant,” was an American boxer. At the height of the Jim Crow era, Johnson became the first African American world heavyweight boxing champion... 's vaudeville show in 1923 and worked on the legit stage. O'Shea worked as a leading man in films in the 1940s and 1950s. |
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Jack Osterman | April 8, 1902 | June 8, 1939 | American | Comedian known as the "Bad Boy of Broadway" In the 1920s Osterman was earning $1750 a week as a headliner and revue star. He played the Palace in March, 1924 and April, 1932. He also appeared in a number of musical comedies. | |
Jack Owens, The Cruising Crooner | October 17, 1912 | January 26, 1982 | American | Singer. |
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Earl Palmer Earl Palmer Earl Cyril Palmer was an American rock & roll and rhythm and blues drummer, and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.... |
October 25, 1924 | September 19, 2008 | American | Singer and dancer who toured in vaudeville with Ida Cox Ida Cox Ida Cox was an African American singer and vaudeville performer, best known for her blues performances and recordings... . In 1947, Palmer took up the drums and became a noted drummer. |
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Harry Palmer Harry Palmer (vaudeville actor) Harry Palmer was a vaudeville actor in the 1910s who was the inspiration for the musical film For Me and My Gal.Palmer was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1889. He grew up always wanted to act, and in 1909, at the age of 20, he made his vaudeville debut at the Palace Theater in Chicago... |
July 12, 1889 | October 5, 1972 | American | Actor and comedian in a comic duo with Jo Hayden, Palmer and Hayden. | |
Antonio Pantojas Antonio Pantojas Antonio Pantojas is an actor, comedian, dancer and a pioneer in the art of drag.-Early years:... |
November 25, 1948 | Puerto Rican | Actor, comedian, dancer, vaudeville performer, and female impersonator. | ||
Eddie Parkes | 1893 | July 24, 1985 | American | Song and dance man. | |
James Parrott James Parrott James Parrott , was an American actor and film director; and the younger brother of film comedian Charley Chase.-Early years:... |
August 2, 1898 | May 10, 1939 | American | Singer and comedian. | |
Tony Pastor Tony Pastor Tony Pastor was an American impresario, variety performer and theatre owner who became one of the founding forces behind American vaudeville in the mid-to-late nineteenth century... |
May 28, 1837 | August 26, 1908 | American | Singer and actor. Credited as one of the founders of vaudeville. | |
Isabella Patricola | 1886 | May 23, 1965 | American | Singer; at height of her fame billed simply as "Patricola" or as "Miss Patricola". Full name Isabel or Isabella Patricola. | |
Hank Patterson Hank Patterson Hank Patterson was an American actor and musician. He is most known for playing stableman Hank Miller on Gunsmoke and Fred Ziffel on Petticoat Junction and Green Acres.... |
October 9, 1888 | August 23, 1975 | American | Pianist and actor. | |
Pauline | 1874 | November 11, 1942 | American | Stage hypnotist who was billed simply as Pauline. | |
Edna Payne Edna Payne Edna Payne was an American silent screen motion picture actress.-Career:Her parents were both stage actors, so Payne began her career as a child in vaudeville, making her movie debut in Higgenses Versus Judsons . She played the lead in reel dramas, and later in a few reel westerns including The... |
December 5, 1891 | January 31, 1953 | American | Actress. | |
John Payne John Payne (actor) John Payne was an American film actor who is mainly remembered as a singer in 20th Century Fox musical films, and for his leading roles in Miracle on 34th Street and the NBC western television series The Restless Gun.-Background:Payne was born in Roanoke, Virginia... |
May 23, 1912 | December 6, 1989 | American | Singer, later became one of Fox Studio's frequent leading men in their movie musicals. | |
Eddie Peabody Eddie Peabody Captain Edwin Ellsworth Peabody was an American musical entertainer. His career spanned five decades and he was perhaps the most famous plectrum banjo player ever... |
February 19, 1902 | November 7, 1970 | American | Banjo player. | |
Jack Pearl Jack Pearl Jack Pearl, born Jack Perlman , was a vaudeville performer and a star of early radio.Born in New York, Pearl made an easy transition from vaudeville to broadfcasting when he introduced his character Baron Munchausen on The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air in 1932. His creation was loosely based on the... |
October 29, 1894 | December 25, 1984 | American | Comedian once teamed with Ben Bard Ben Bard Ben Bard was a movie actor, stage actor, and acting teacher. With comedian Jack Pearl, Bard worked in a comedy duo in vaudeville... . |
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Peerless Quartet Peerless Quartet The Peerless Quartet, , was a vocal group from the acoustic era . It was organised in 1904 as the Columbia Quartet. It remained active until 1928 and had many changes of personnel during that time, the one constant being Henry Burr... |
American | All-male vocal quartet. | |||
Joe Penner Joe Penner Joe Penner was an American 1930s-era vaudeville, radio and film comedian. He was an ethnic Hungarian born as József Pintér in Nagybecskerek, Austria-Hungary... |
January 5, 1879 | September 1, 1959 | Hungarian-American | Comedian, known for his catchphrase "Wanna buy a duck?". | |
Ann Pennington Ann Pennington (Ziegfeld star) This article is about Ann Pennington, the stage actress. For the Playboy model of the same name, go to Ann Pennington .Ann Pennington was an actress, dancer, and singer who starred on Broadway in the 1910s and 1920s, notably in the Ziegfeld Follies and George White's Scandals.She became famous for... |
December 23, 1892 | November 7, 1971 | American | Dancer known as "The Girl With the Dimpled Knees." | |
Jack Pepper Jack Pepper Jack Pepper was an American vaudeville dancer, singer, comedian, musician, and later in life a Dallas, Texas nightclub manager.... |
June 14, 1902 | April 1, 1979 | American | A juvenile comedian, Pepper appeared in vaudeville in the mid 1920s with his sisters, Helen and Winnie Mae and Frank Salt in an act called "Salt and Pepper." In 1929, Pepper made his film debut in an MGM short film. | |
Olga Petrova Olga Petrova Olga Petrova was an American actress, screenwriter and playwright. Born as Muriel Harding in England, she moved to the United States and became a star of vaudeville using the stage name Olga Petrova. Petrova starred in a number of films for Solax Studios and was Metro Pictures first diva, usually... |
May 10, 1884 | November 30, 1977 | British | Known for her undefinable act which might include acting, recitations or singing. | |
Molly Picon Molly Picon Molly Picon was an American actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a lyricist and dramatic storyteller.... |
June 1, 1898 | April 5, 1992 | American | Actress, known for her Yiddish songs and skits and close ties to the Jewish community. | |
Polaire Polaire Polaire was the stage name used by French singer and actress Émilie Marie Bouchaud .Born at Agha, Algiers, Algeria, according to her memoirs she was one of eleven children of whom only four - Emilie, her two brothers Edmond and Marcel, and a sister, Lucile - survived infancy... |
May 13, 1879 | October 14, 1939 | French | Singer and actress. | |
Daphne Pollard Daphne Pollard Daphne Pollard was an Australian actress in American films, mostly short comedies. She was also a vaudeville performer and dancer.-Diminutive stage star:... |
1892 | 1978 | Australian | Comedienne and actress. | |
Rosa Ponselle Rosa Ponselle Rosa Ponselle , was an American operatic soprano with a large, opulent voice. She sang mainly at the New York Metropolitan Opera and is generally considered by music critics to have been one of the greatest sopranos of the past 100 years.-Early life:She was born Rosa Ponzillo on January 22, 1897,... |
January 22, 1897 | May 25, 1981 | American | Operatic soprano. She toured with her sister, mezzo-soprano Carmella, as "Those Tailored Italian Girls." | |
Eleanor Powell Eleanor Powell Eleanor Torrey Powell was an American film actress and dancer of the 1930s and 1940s, known for her exuberant solo tap dancing.-Early life:... |
November 21, 1912 | February 11, 1982 | American | Dancer and actress who started with Gus Edwards Gus Edwards (songwriter) Gus Edwards was an American songwriter and vaudevillian. He also organised his own theatre companies and was a music publisher.-Early life:... . Later found greater fame after signing with MGM. |
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Evelyn Preer Evelyn Preer Evelyn Preer, born Evelyn Jarvis , was a pioneering African-American stage and screen actress and blues singer of the 1910s through the early 1930s. Evelyn was known within the black community as "The First Lady of the Screen."She was the first black actress to earn celebrity and popularity... |
July 16, 1896 | November 27, 1932 | American | Singer and actress. | |
George E. Price | January 5, 1900 | May 10, 1964 | American | Song and dance man. | |
Kate Price Kate Price (actress) Kate Price was an Irish-born American actress. She is perhaps best-remembered for playing the role of Mrs. Kelly in the comedy series, The Cohens and Kellys, made by Universal Pictures between 1926 and 1932. Price appeared in 296 motion pictures between 1910 and 1937.-Career:She was born Katherine... |
February 13, 1872 | January 4, 1943 | Irish | Actress who toured vaudeville with her husband, Joseph Price Ludwig. | |
Primrose and West Primrose and West Primrose and West was the name of a blackface song-and-dance team made up of partners George Primrose and William H. "Billy" West. They later went into the business of minstrel troupe ownership with a refined, high-class approach that signaled the final stage in the development of minstrelsy as a... |
American | Blackface song and dance team composed of George H. Primrose (November 12, 1852 – July 23, 1919) and Billy West. | |||
F. F. Proctor Frederick Freeman Proctor Frederick Freeman Proctor , aka F.F. Proctor, was a vaudeville impresario who pioneered the method of continuous vaudeville. He opened the Twenty-third Street Theatre in New York City... |
1851 | September 4, 1929 | American | Juggler. Later Proctor would be a major vaudeville impresario. | |
Eva Puck Eva Puck Eva Puck was a vaudeville headliner who later found success performing in Broadway musical comedies.-Early Life:... |
November 27, 1892 | October 25, 1979 | American | Singer-comedienne and dancer. | |
Mae Questel Mae Questel Mae Questel was an American actress and vocal artist best known for providing the voices for the animated characters, Betty Boop and Olive Oyl. She began in vaudeville, and played occasional small roles in films and television later in her career, most notably the role of Aunt Bethany in 1989's... |
September 13, 1908 | January 4, 1998 | American | Actress and comedienne, best known as the voices of Betty Boop Betty Boop Betty Boop is an animated cartoon character created by Max Fleischer, with help from animators including Grim Natwick. She originally appeared in the Talkartoon and Betty Boop film series, which were produced by Fleischer Studios and released by Paramount Pictures. She has also been featured in... and Olive Oyl Olive Oyl Olive Oyl is a cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar in 1919 for his comic strip Thimble Theatre. The strip was later renamed Popeye after the sailor character that became the most popular member of the cast; however Olive Oyl was a main character for 10 years before Popeye's 1929... . |
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Eddie Quillan Eddie Quillan Edward "Eddie" Quillan was an American film actor whose career began as a child on the vaudeville stages and silent film and continued through the age of television in the 1980s.-Vaudeville and silent films:... |
March 31, 1907 | January 19, 1990 | American | Actor with family act the age 7. |
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Jackie Rae Jackie Rae Jackie Rae, CM DFC was a Canadian singer, songwriter and television performer.He was born John Arthur Rae in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1922. Rae began performing at the age of three with his brother and sister on the vaudeville circuit in Canada... |
May 14, 1922 | October 5, 2006 | Canadian | Singer and songwriter, began performing with his brother, Saul Saul Rae Saul Forbes Rae was a Canadian diplomat during the Pearsonian era of Canadian foreign policy.Rae's father was born Goodman Cohen in Palanga, Lithuania. The Cohen family had moved to Scotland in the pogrom of the 1890s, and there Goodman met Helen McRae, the daughter of a draughtsman in the... (December 31, 1914 – January 9, 1999) and sister, Grace, at the age of three. The three performed as The Three Little Raes of Sunshine. |
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George Raft George Raft George Raft was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s... |
September 26, 1895 | November 24, 1980 | American | Actor, began as a dancer in the Orpheum and Keith circuits and in Texas Guinan's nightclub. | |
Ma Rainey Ma Rainey Ma Rainey was one of the earliest known American professional blues singers and one of the first generation of such singers to record. She was billed as The Mother of the Blues.... |
September 1882 | December 22, 1939 | American | Famed blues singer. | |
Esther Ralston Esther Ralston Esther Ralston was an American movie actress whose greatest popularity came during the silent era.-Early life and career:... |
September 17, 1902 | January 14, 1994 | American | Actress and comedienne who made her appearance in her parent's act at the age of 2. At 14, she made her screen debut and following a few small roles eventually became one of America's highest paid stars of the era. Appeared at the Palace the week of June 14, 1930. | |
Majorie Rambeau | July 15, 1889 | July 6, 1970 | American | Actress. | |
Sally Rand Sally Rand Sally Rand was a burlesque dancer and actress, most noted for her ostrich feather fan dance and balloon bubble dance. She also performed under the name Billie Beck.-Early life and career:... |
January 2, 1904 | August 31, 1979 | American | Dancer known for her famous fan dance which had Rand arrested several times, most notably at the 1933 World's Fair. Rand also danced with a bubble and dressed as Lady Godiva Lady Godiva Godiva , often referred to as Lady Godiva , was an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who, according to legend, rode naked through the streets of Coventry in order to gain a remission of the oppressive taxation imposed by her husband on his tenants... , horse and all. |
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Amanda Randolph Amanda Randolph Amanda Randolph was an American actress and singer. She was a native of Louisville, Kentucky, and was the older sister of actress Lillian Randolph. She was the first African-American performer to star in a regularly scheduled network television show, appearing in DuMont's The Laytons... |
February 2, 1896 | August 24, 1967 | American | Singer and comedienne best known for her television work. In Shuffle Along (1924) and one of the "Three Dixie Songbirds". | |
Doris Rankin Doris Rankin Doris Rankin was an American film actress and the younger daughter of actor McKee Rankin and an unnamed actress though Rankin was married to actress Kitty Blanchard. She was married to actor Lionel Barrymore from 1904-1923. Her older sister, Gladys Rankin, was married to Lionel's uncle Sidney Drew... |
1880 | 1946 | American | Actress who appeared in a tab sketch of How Do You Know? in 1925. She was the daughter of McKee Rankin and wife of Lionel Barrymore Lionel Barrymore Lionel Barrymore was an American actor of stage, screen and radio. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul... . |
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Albertina Rasch Albertina Rasch Albertina Rasch was a naturalized American dancer and choreographer.-Early life:Born in Vienna in 1891 to a family of Polish Jewish descent, Rasch studied at the Vienna State Opera Ballet school and became leading ballerina at the New York Hippodrome in... |
October 2, 1967 | Austrian | Dancer who headed a ballet troupe. | ||
Enrico Rastelli Enrico Rastelli Enrico Rastelli was an Italian juggler, acrobat and performer.-Biography:... |
December 19, 1896 | December 13, 1931 | Italian | Juggler and acrobat. | |
Don Raye Don Raye Don Raye , born Donald MacRae Wilhoite, Jr., in Washington, D.C., was an American vaudevillian and songwriter, best known for his songs for the Andrews Sisters such as "Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar", "The House of Blue Lights", "Just For A Thrill" and "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy."While known for... |
March 16, 1909 | January 29, 1985 | American | Song and dance man and songwriter. | |
Martha Raye Martha Raye Martha Raye was an American comic actress and standards singer who performed in movies, and later on television.... |
August 27, 1916 | October 19, 1994 | American | Comedienne and actress born in Butte, Montana where her vaudevillian parents had been stranded. Raye debuted with her parents at the age of 3 and by 13 was touring as a singer in a band. Raye first began working in film in 1935. | |
Ada Reeve Ada Reeve Ada Reeve was an English actress of both stage and film. Reeve began to perform in pantomime and music hall as a child. She gained fame in Edwardian musical comedies in the 1890s.... |
March 3, 1874 | September 25, 1966 | British | Light comedienne and singer. | |
Al Reeves | May 30, 1865 | February 26, 1940 | American | Singer and banjo player. | |
Wallace Reid Wallace Reid Wallace Reid was an actor in silent film referred to as "the screen's most perfect lover".-Early life:Born William Wallace Reid in St... |
April 15, 1891 | January 18, 1923 | American | Toured in a sketch called The Girl and the Ranger. | |
Francis Renault | c. 1893 | May 29, 1955 | American | Female impersonator billed as "The Original Slave of Fashion." | |
The Revelers The Revelers The Revelers were an American quintet popular in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The Revelers' recordings of "Dinah", "Old Man River", "Valencia", "Baby Face", "Blue Room", "The Birth of the Blues", "When Yuba Plays the Rumba on the Tuba", and many more, became popular in the United States and... |
American | All-male close harmony Close harmony Close harmony is an arrangement of the notes of chords within a narrow range. It is different from open harmony or voicing in that it uses each part on the closest harmonizing note , while the open voicing uses a broader pitch array expanding the harmonic range past the octave... group. |
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The Rhythm Boys The Rhythm Boys The Rhythm Boys were a male singing trio consisting of Bing Crosby, Harry Barris and Al Rinker. Crosby and Rinker began performing together in 1925 and were recruited by Paul Whiteman in late 1926. Pianist/singer/songwriter Barris joined the team in 1927. They made a number of recordings with the... |
May 2, 1901 | October 14, 1977 | American | Male singing trio consisting of Bing Crosby Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation.... (May 2, 1901 – October 14, 1977), Al Rinker Al Rinker Al Rinker began performing as a partner with Bing Crosby in 1925 and the two singers formed the Rhythm Boys, which singer/songwriter/pianist Harry Barris later joined. Barris wrote the songs Mississippi Mud, I Surrender, Dear, and Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams among others... (December 20, 1907 – June 11, 1982) and Harry Barris Harry Barris Harry Barris was an American popular singer and songwriter.Born in New York City, he was a member of the Rhythm Boys, a late 1920s singing trio which included Al Rinker and Bing Crosby, and was Crosby's entry into show business... (November 24, 1905 – December 13, 1962). The group began as a duo between Crosby and Rinker who called themselves "Two Boys and a Piano." The group began singing with Paul Whiteman Paul Whiteman Paul Samuel Whiteman was an American bandleader and orchestral director.Leader of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s, Whiteman's recordings were immensely successful, and press notices often referred to him as the "King of Jazz"... and his orchestra in 1926, nearly a year after the two young men joined forces. The duo became a trio in 1927 when pianist, singer and songwriter Barris joined them. The group disbanded when Crosby left to start a solo career in 1931. |
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Lieutenant Gitz Rice | March 5, 1891 | October 16, 1947 | Canadian | Singer and songwriter. | |
Buddy Rich Buddy Rich Bernard "Buddy" Rich was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. Rich was billed as "the world's greatest drummer" and was known for his virtuosic technique, power, groove, and speed.-Early life:... |
September 30, 1917 | April 2, 1987 | American | Drummer and bandleader who appeared in his parents vaudeville act before the age of 2. | |
Frank "Cannonball" Richards | American | Performer whose act involved taking heavy blows to his belly. | |||
Harry Richman Harry Richman Harry Richman was an American entertainer. He was a singer, actor, dancer, comedian, pianist, songwriter, bandleader, and night club performer, at his most popular in the 1920s and 1930s.... |
August 10, 1895 | November 3, 1972 | American | Song and dance man and songwriter. | |
Rin Tin Tin Rin Tin Tin Rin Tin Tin was the name given to a dog adopted from a WWI battlefield that went on to star in twenty-three Hollywood films. The name was subsequently given to several related German Shepherd dogs featured in fictional stories on film, radio and television.-Origins:The first of the line Rin Tin... |
c. September 10, 1918 | August 10, 1932 | German shepherd dog which had become famous in silent films and later in radio. Rin Tin Tin appeared at the Palace Palace Theatre, New York The Palace Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 1564 Broadway in midtown-Manhattan.-History:Designed by architects Kirchoff & Rose, the theatre was built by Martin Beck a California vaudeville entrepreneur and Broadway impresario. The project experienced a number of business problems before... in May 1930. |
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Blanche Ring Blanche Ring Blanche Ring , was an American singer and actress in Broadway theatre productions, musicals, and Hollywood motion pictures.... |
April 24, 1876 | January 13, 1961 | American | Singer, actress, and vaudeville favorite. | |
Thelma Ritter Thelma Ritter Thelma Ritter was an American supporting and character actress from the 1940s until her death in 1969.-Early life:... |
February 14, 1905 | February 5, 1969 | American | Actress. | |
Ritz Brothers Ritz Brothers The Ritz Brothers were an American comedy team who appeared in films, and as live performers from 1925 to the late 1960s.Although there were four brothers, the sons of Austrian-born haberdasher Max Joachim and his wife Pauline, only three of them performed together. There was also a sister,... |
American | Trio of brothers who danced and performed slapstick and acrobatic comedy. Their birth name was Joachim. The trio was composed of Al (August 27, 1901 – December 22, 1965), Harry ((October 4, 1904 – November 17, 1985) and Jimmy Ritz ((May 22, 1907 – March 29, 1986). They were managed by their brother, George. The brothers debuted at the Albee Theatre in Brooklyn in 1925. They were one of the top attractions of the era and appeared in Earl Carroll's Vanities. | |||
Edith Roberts Edith Roberts Edith Roberts was a silent film actress from New York City. She was a child performer in vaudeville before she came to Hollywood, California in 1915.... |
September 17, 1899 | August 20, 1935 | American | Actress. | |
Joe Roberts Joe Roberts Joe Roberts was an American comic actor, most notably in Buster Keaton's silent short films of the 1920s.... |
February 2, 1871 | October 28, 1923 | American | Actor who toured with his wife, Lillian Stuart Roberts, as part of a rowdy act called Roberts, Hays and Roberts. | |
George Robey George Robey Sir George Edward Wade , better known by his stage name, George Robey, was an English music hall comedian and star. He was marketed as the "Prime Minister of Mirth".-Early life:... |
September 20, 1869 | November 29, 1954 | British | British music hall actor and comedian. | |
A. Robins | c. 1886 | December 17, 1950 | American | Clown novelty act. Robins later performed under the name Banana Man. | |
Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson Bill Robinson Bill “Bojangles” Robinson was an American tap dancer and actor of stage and film. Audiences enjoyed his understated style, which eschewed the frenetic manner of the jitterbug in favor of cool and reserve; rarely did he use his upper body, relying instead on busy, inventive feet, and an expressive... |
May 25, 1878 | November 25, 1949 | American | Tap dancer, who heavily influenced Fred Astaire Fred Astaire Fred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute... and later appeared in many movie musicals for Fox, most notably opposite Shirley Temple Shirley Temple Shirley Temple Black , born Shirley Jane Temple, is an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, autobiographer, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia... . |
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Rock and White | American | Comic duo composed of William Rock (1875 - June 27, 1922) and Frances White (1898-24 February 1969). | |||
Blossom Rock Blossom Rock Edith Marie Blossom MacDonald , also known or credited as Blossom Rock, Blossom MacDonald or Marie Blake, was an American actress of stage and television... |
August 21, 1895 | January 14, 1978 | American | Singer and actress, sister of Jeanette MacDonald Jeanette MacDonald Jeanette MacDonald was an American singer and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier and Nelson Eddy... and who toured initially (as Marie MacDonald) with Eve Sully. Later known for her role as Grandmama Addams on TV's The Addams Family The Addams Family (TV series) The Addams Family is an American television series based on the characters in Charles Addams' New Yorker cartoons. The 30-minute series was shot in black-and-white and aired for two seasons in 64 installments on ABC from September 18, 1964, to April 8, 1966... . |
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George L. "Doc" Rockwell | 1890 | March 2, 1978 | American | Comedian billed as "Dr. Rockwell, Quack, Quack, Quack." | |
"Klondike Kate" Rockwell | 1873 | 1957 | American | Dancer. | |
Ginger Rogers Ginger Rogers Ginger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century.... |
July 16, 1911 | April 25, 1995 | American | Dancer, singer and actress first appearing with Eddie Foy's troupe in Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and... in 1925. Working as a dancer, she toured alone and later with husband, Jack Pepper Jack Pepper Jack Pepper was an American vaudeville dancer, singer, comedian, musician, and later in life a Dallas, Texas nightclub manager.... , as "Ginger and Pepper" in 1928. She sang with the Eddie Lowry Band in Chicago Chicago Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles... and the Paul Asch Orchestra in New York City. Rogers's first film appearance was in a 1930 film short for Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still... . |
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Will Rogers Will Rogers William "Will" Penn Adair Rogers was an American cowboy, comedian, humorist, social commentator, vaudeville performer, film actor, and one of the world's best-known celebrities in the 1920s and 1930s.... |
November 4, 1879 | August 15, 1935 | American | Actor, singer, comedian and social commentator. Appeared in numerous editions of the Ziegfeld Follies and was considered the highlight by many. | |
Ruth Roland Ruth Roland Ruth Roland was an American stage and film actress and film producer.-Early life and career:Born in San Francisco, California, her father managed a theatre and she became a child actress who went on to work in vaudeville... |
August 26, 1872 | September 22, 1937 | American | Actress and singer. Appeared at the Palace in March, 1930 in a playlet, "Wanted." | |
B. A. Rolfe | October 24, 1879 | April 23, 1956 | American | Cornetist and bandleader. | |
Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award... |
September 23, 1920 | American | Debuted in his parents vaudeville act as a midget at the age of 2 years as "Sonny Yule." Hired by an MGM talent scout n New York, the producers insisted that his mother dye his hair black and change his name to "Mickey Looney". Both of his parents disagreed and settled on Rooney. | ||
Pat Rooney, III | 1909 | November 5, 1975 | American | Comedian. | |
The Rooneys | American | Irish comic duo consisting of Pat Rooney, Jr. (July 4, 1880 – September 9, 1962) and his wife, Marion Bent (December 23, 1879 – July 28, 1940). | |||
Fred Rose Fred Rose (musician) Fred Rose was an American Hall of Fame songwriter and music publishing executive.-Biography:Born in Evansville, Indiana, Fred Rose started playing piano and singing as a small boy. In his teens, he moved to Chicago, Illinois where he worked in bars busking for tips, and finally vaudeville... |
August 24, 1897 | December 1, 1954 | American | Pianist, singer and songwriter of mostly country songs. Worked with Paul Whiteman Paul Whiteman Paul Samuel Whiteman was an American bandleader and orchestral director.Leader of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s, Whiteman's recordings were immensely successful, and press notices often referred to him as the "King of Jazz"... and His Orchestra. |
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Harry Rose | December 2, 1893 | December 10, 1962 | British | Comedian. | |
Julian Rose | 1879 | September 13, 1935 | British | Jewish comedian. | |
Baby Rose Marie Rose Marie Rose Marie is an American actress. As a child performer she had a successful singing career as Baby Rose Marie.... |
August 15, 1923 | American | Child star and singer, later found fame on TV's The Dick Van Dyke Show The Dick Van Dyke Show The Dick Van Dyke Show is an American television sitcom that initially aired on the Columbia Broadcasting System from October 3, 1961, until June 1, 1966. The show was created by Carl Reiner and starred Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore. It was produced by Reiner with Bill Persky and Sam Denoff.... and The Hollywood Squares |
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Edward Roseman Edward Roseman Edward Roseman , sometimes identified as Edward F. Roseman, was an American actor, primarily during the silent film era.The son of a pharmacist, Roseman was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, christened Ernest Frederick Roseman... |
May 14, 1875 | September 16, 1957 | American | Actor. | |
Lillian Roth Lillian Roth Lillian Roth was an American singer and actress.-Early life:Roth was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She was only 6 years old when her mother took her to Educational Pictures, where she became the company's trademark, symbolized by a living statue holding a lamp of knowledge... |
December 13, 1910 | May 2, 1980 | American | Toured with her sister, Ann as Lillian Roth & Co. or The Roth Kids from the age of 6. Roth starred in the Ziegfeld Midnight Frolics and Earl Carroll's Vanities, in the late 20s and 30s. Her autobiography I'll Cry Tomorrow I'll Cry Tomorrow I'll Cry Tomorrow is a biopic which tells the story of Lillian Roth, a Broadway star who rebels against the pressure of her domineering mother and reacts to the death of her fiancé by becoming an alcoholic... later became a feature film. |
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Adele Rowland | July 10, 1883 | August 8, 1971 | American | Singer. | |
Ruth Royce Ruth Royce Ruth Royce was a vaudeville and silent film actress from Versailles, Missouri.Royce appeared in the serial, The Vanishing Dagger , which starred Eddie Polo and C. Norman Hammond. In 1923 Royce, along with other Hollywood actors, participated in a vaudeville show at Universal City... |
February 6, 1893 | May 7, 1971 | American | Actress. | |
Ruth Roye | American | Ragtime singer. | |||
Benny Rubin Benny Rubin Benny Rubin was an American comedian and film actor. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Rubin made more than 200 radio, film and television appearances over a span of 50 years.-Radio and television:... |
February 2, 1899 | July 15, 1986 | American | Jewish dialect comedian. | |
David Rubinoff David Rubinoff David Rubinoff, also known as Dave Rubinoff, was a popular violinist who was heard during the 1930s and 1940s on various radio programs playing his $100,000 Stradivarius violin. He also performed in theaters, clubs and schools, and he gave several concerts at the White House during the 1940s... |
1897 | October 6, 1986 | Russian-American | Violinist. | |
Harry Ruby Harry Ruby Harry Ruby was a Jewish American songwriter and screenwriter.After failing in his early ambition to become a professional baseball player,... |
October 29, 1895 | February 23, 1974 | American | Pianist and songwriter. | |
Yvette Rugel | 1899 | American | Singer. | ||
Fred Russell Fred Russell (ventriloquist) Fred Russell was an English ventriloquist. Usually credited as being the first to use a knee-sitting figure, he is known as "The Father of Modern Ventriloquism".... |
September 29, 1862 | October 14, 1957 | British | Ventriloquist. Credited as "The Father of Modern Ventriloquism" as the first to use a dummy on his knee. His dummy was named "Coster Joe." | |
Lillian Russell Lillian Russell Lillian Russell was an American actress and singer. She became one of the most famous actresses and singers of the late 19th century and early 20th century, known for her beauty and style, as well as for her voice and stage presence.Russell was born in Iowa but raised in Chicago... |
December 4, 1861 | June 6, 1922 | American | Actress and singer. | |
Babe Ruth Babe Ruth George Herman Ruth, Jr. , best known as "Babe" Ruth and nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from 1914–1935... |
February 6, 1895 | August 16, 1948 | American | Baseball Hall of Famer who appeared in vaudeville with Wellinton Cross of Cross & Josephine in 1921. | |
Peggy Ryan Peggy Ryan Margaret O'Rene "Peggy" Ryan was an American dancer, best known for starring in a series of movie musicals at Universal Pictures with Donald O'Connor and Gloria Jean.... |
August 28, 1924 | October 30, 2004 | American | Child performer on the vaudeville stage and onscreen beginning at age 13. Ryan later appeared in movie musicals for Universal Studios Universal Studios Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios.... opposite Donald O'Connor. |
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Name | Birth | Death | Nationality | Performance Notes | Reference |
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Ruth St. Denis Ruth St. Denis Ruth St. Denis was an early modern dance pioneer.-Biography:Ruth St. Denis founded Adelphi University's dance program in 1938 which was one of the first dance departments in an American university... |
April 16, 1889 | July 21, 1968 | American | Dancer. | |
Marin Sais Marin Sais Marin Sais was an American motion picture actress whose career was most prolific during the silent film era of the 1910s and 1920s... |
January 20, 1879 | December 31, 1971 | American | Actress. | |
Charles "Chic" Sale Chic Sale Charles "Chic" Sale , was an American actor and vaudevillian. Named at birth Charles Partlow Sale, he was a son of Frank Orville and Lillie Belle Sale, and brother of writer, actress Virginia Sale-Wren.... |
August 25, 1885 | November 7, 1936 | American | Actor, monologist and writer. | |
Rae Samuels | 1886 | October 24, 1979 | American | Comic singer. | |
Fred Sanborn Fred Sanborn Fred Sanborn was an American vaudeville performer, actor, and musician. He was most notable as a member of Ted Healy's comedy troupe Ted Healy and his Southern Gentlemen .Sanborn appeared frequently in the group's early stage acts... |
November 23, 1899 | March 9, 1961 | American | Drummer, xylophonist and stooge. | |
Elvera Sanchez Elvera Sanchez Elvera Sanchez was an American dancer and the mother of Sammy Davis, Jr.Sammy Davis, Jr. often stated that his mother was Puerto Rican and born in San Juan... |
September 1, 1905 | September 2, 2000 | American | Dancer. | |
Eugen Sandow Eugen Sandow Eugen Sandow , born Friedrich Wilhelm Müller, was a Prussian pioneering bodybuilder in the 19th century and is often referred to as the "Father of Modern Bodybuilding".-Early life:... |
April 2, 1867 | October 14, 1925 | German | Strong man Strongman (circus) The circus strongman is one of many acts found in a modern circus. The strongman demonstrates great strength, power and agility to the audience. The strongman and strongwomen were very popular attractions in the circus in the 19th century.... , who was managed by Florenz Ziegfeld and appeared at the 1893 Columbian Exposition. |
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O. K. Sato O. K. Sato O. K. Sato was an American vaudeville performer who flourished in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His act was notable for its juggling of the comedic style and may be described as helping define the so-called "tramp" juggling style epitomized by W. C. Fields... |
??? | March 23, 1921 | American | Juggler | |
Jimmy Savo Jimmy Savo Jimmy Savo was an American Vaudeville, Broadway, nightclub, film and television performer, comedian, juggler, and mime artist.... |
1895 | September 6, 1960 | American | Pantomimist. | |
Bert Savoy | c. 1888 | June 26, 1923 | American | Female impersonator with "straight man" Jay Brennan. His lines and mannerisms may have influenced Mae West Mae West Mae West was an American actress, playwright, screenwriter and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades.... . |
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Germany Schaefer Germany Schaefer Herman A. "Germany" Schaefer was a second baseman in Major League Baseball who played fifteen seasons with the Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers, Washington Senators, Newark Pepper, New York Yankees, and Cleveland Indians.... |
February 4, 1877 | May 16, 1919 | American | Former basbeball player who had an act with Charley O'Leary Charley O'Leary Charles Timothy O'Leary was a Major League Baseball shortstop who played eleven seasons with the Detroit Tigers , St. Louis Cardinals , and St. Louis Browns .... . |
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Fritzi Scheff Fritzi Scheff Fritzi Scheff was an American actress and vocalist.-Biography:Born in Vienna, Austria, she studied at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt and made her début in Munich in the title röle of Martha... |
August 30, 1879 | April 8, 1954 | Austrian | Actress and singer. | |
Ernestine Schumann-Heink Ernestine Schumann-Heink Ernestine Schumann-Heink was a celebrated Austrian, later American, operatic contralto, noted for the size, beauty, tonal richness, flexibility and wide range of her voice.- Early life:... |
June 15, 1861 | November 17, 1936 | German | Operatic contralto. | |
Malcolm Scott Malcolm Scott Malcolm Fox Scott , was an Australian politician and government minister.Scott was born in Western Australia and was a farmer and had extensive mining interests before entering parliament.... |
March 7, 1872 | September 7, 1929 | British | Female impersonator billed as "The Woman Who Knows." | |
Fred F. Sears Fred F. Sears Frederick Francis Sears was an American film actor and director. Though a marginalized figure in 1950s cinema, he created 52 feature films in a number of genres for Columbia Pictures from 1949 to 1957, before his death at the age of 44.... |
1913 | 1957 | American | Dancer on the Radio-Keith-Orpheum (RKO) circuit. Later, Sears would become a film director for Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies... . |
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Rolfe Sedan Rolfe Sedan Rolfe Sedan was an American character actor.Born Edward Sedan in New York City, his mother was a Broadway theatre fashion designer and his father a symphony conductor.... |
January 20, 1896 | September 16, 1982 | American | Actor. | |
Blossom Seeley Blossom Seeley -Biography:Seeley was born Minnie Guyer, in San Francisco, California, USA. A top vaudeville headliner, she was known as the "Queen of Syncopation" and helped bring jazz and ragtime into the mainstream of American music. She introduced the Shelton Brooks classic "Some of These Days" in vaudeville... |
July 16, 1891 | April 17, 1974 | American | Singer. | |
William Selig William Selig William Nicholas Selig was a pioneer of the American motion picture industry.-Biography:Selig was raised in Chicago. He worked as a vaudeville performer and produced a traveling minstrel show in San Francisco while still in his late teens. One of the actors was Bert Williams, who went on to become... |
March 14, 1864 | July 15, 1948 | American | Actor. | |
Larry Semon Larry Semon Lawrence "Larry" Semon was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter during the silent film era. In his day, Semon was considered a major movie comedian, but he is now remembered mainly for working with both Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy before they started working together.He is also... |
July 16, 1889 | October 8, 1928 | American | One of the highest-paid film comedians of the 1920s, Semon also directed many of the films he starred in. After problems with the Vitagraph studio in 1922, he began working as a comedian on the vaudeville stage. | |
Ted Shapiro Ted Shapiro Ted Shapiro was a United States popular music composer, pianist, and sheet music publisher.Shapiro was born in New York City. He became a Tin Pan Alley songwriter and accompanied notable star vaudeville singers of the day, including Nora Bayes and Eva Tanguay. In 1921 he was hired as accompanist... |
October 31, 1899 | March 26, 1980 | American | Pianist and songwriter. | |
Wini Shaw Wini Shaw Wini Shaw , sometimes credited as Winifred Shaw, was an American actress, dancer and singer. Although credited with a 1910 year of birth, she was actually born in 1907 as per the Social Security Death Index under her married name Wini O'Malley .-Early life:She was born as Winifred Lei Momi in San... |
February 25, 1910 | May 2, 1982 | American | Actress in her parent's vaudeville act. | |
Ella Shields Ella Shields Ella Shields was a music hall singer and male-impersonator. Her famous signature song, "Burlington Bertie from Bow", written by her manager and first husband, William Hargreaves, was an immediate hit. Though American-born, Ella achieved her greatest success in England.-Biography:Ella Shields was... |
September 26, 1879 | August 5, 1952 | American-British | Male impersonator and singer. | |
Ethel Shutta Ethel Shutta Ethel Shutta was an American actress and singer, who came to prominence through her performances on Jack Benny's radio show, her role in the early Eddie Cantor musical Whoopee!, and her Broadway comeback in Follies at the age of 74.By age 7, she was known as "the little girl with the big voice"... |
December 1, 1896 | February 5, 1976 | American | Actress and later Ziegfeld Girl who toured with her mother, Augusta, and her brother, Jack, as The Three Shuttas. | |
Martinus Sieveking Martinus Sieveking Martinus Sieveking was a classical composer and pianist. He was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands.A pupil of Julius Röntgen, he was the accompanist of the Lamoureux Orchestra in Paris. Though some of his many charming compositions are best described as salon music, he also wrote inventive serious... |
March 24, 1867 | November 26, 1950 | Dutch | Pianist and composer who toured with Eugen Sandow Eugen Sandow Eugen Sandow , born Friedrich Wilhelm Müller, was a Prussian pioneering bodybuilder in the 19th century and is often referred to as the "Father of Modern Bodybuilding".-Early life:... . |
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Phil Silvers Phil Silvers Phil Silvers was an American entertainer and comedy actor, known as "The King of Chutzpah." He is best known for starring in The Phil Silvers Show, a 1950s sitcom set on a U.S... |
May 11, 1911 | November 1, 1985 | American | Minsky's Minsky's Minsky's is a musical by Bob Martin , Charles Strouse , and Susan Birkenhead , and is loosely based on the 1968 movie The Night They Raided Minsky's.... in 1934, he made in feature film debut in 1940. He appeared in Broadway and on TV in the 1950s where he won and Emmy Award Emmy Award An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various... . > |
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Howard Simms Howard Simms Howard Sims , also known as "Sandman", was a tap dancer in vaudeville. He acquired his name from the sand he sprinkled on the floor to amplify the sound of his steps when he danced. In his senior years, Sims appeared at the famous Apollo Theater, comedically ushering failed acts offstage with a... |
American | Tap dancer. | |||
Penny Singleton Penny Singleton Penny Singleton was an American film actress. Born Marianna Dorothy Agnes Letitia McNulty in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania she was the daughter of an Irish-American newspaperman Benny McNulty — from whom she received the nickname "Penny" because she was "as bright as a penny".During her sixty... |
September 15, 1908 | November 12, 2003 | American | Actress and comedienne, later found fame playing Blondie Blondie (film) Blondie is a 1938 movie directed by Frank Strayer, based on the comic strip of the same name. The screenplay was written by Chic Young and Richard Flournoy.... in a series of films and voicing Jane Jetson. |
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Singer's Midgets | mostly Austrian and Hungarian | A troupe of midgets under the management of Leo Singer Leo Singer Leopold von Singer was the manager of the Singer Midgets, a popular vaudeville group in the first half of the twentieth century.Singer was born to a prominent family in Vienna, Austria... (d. March 5, 1951). Best known for playing some of the Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz The Wizard of Oz (1939 film) The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs... . |
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Noble Sissle Noble Sissle Noble Sissle was an American jazz composer, lyricist, bandleader, singer and playwright.-Early life:... and Eubie Blake Eubie Blake James Hubert Blake was an American composer, lyricist, and pianist of ragtime, jazz, and popular music. In 1921, Blake and long-time collaborator Noble Sissle wrote the Broadway musical Shuffle Along, one of the first Broadway musicals to be written and directed by African Americans... |
American | Shuffle Along Shuffle Along Shuffle Along is the first major successful African American musical. Written by Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles, with music and lyrics by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, the musical premiered on Broadway in 1921.-Plot:... . > |
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Red Skelton Red Skelton Richard Bernard "Red" Skelton was an American comedian who is best known as a top radio and television star from 1937 to 1971. Skelton's show business career began in his teens as a circus clown and went on to vaudeville, Broadway, films, radio, TV, night clubs and casinos, all while pursuing... |
July 18, 1913 | September 17, 1997 | American | Comedian, who later found fame on both the big and small screen. | |
Tod Sloan Tod Sloan (jockey) James Forman "Tod" Sloan was an American thoroughbred horse racing jockey. He was elected to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1955.-Early life and U.S. racing career:... |
August 10, 1874 | December 21, 1933 | American | Former thoroughbred racing jockey who briefly starred in a one-man vaudeville show with a monologue written by George M. Cohan George M. Cohan George Michael Cohan , known professionally as George M. Cohan, was a major American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer, and producer.... . Legend has it that Cohan's musical, Little Johnny Jones Little Johnny Jones For the blues pianist, see Little Johnny Jones Little Johnny Jones is a musical by George M. Cohan. The show introduced Cohan's tunes "Give My Regards to Broadway" and "The Yankee Doodle Boy." The "Yankee Doodle" character was inspired by real-life Hall of Fame jockey Tod Sloan.-Background:The... is based on Sloan's life story. Tod's brother was Cassius Sloan, sister Mary L. Sloan (Blanche Sloan, aerialist), and his father was Fremont Sloan. |
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Phillips Smalley Phillips Smalley Wendell Phillips Smalley was a prolific American silent film director and actor.Born in Brooklyn, New York, Smalley began his career in vaudeville and acted in more than 200 films between 1910 until his death in 1939... |
August 7, 1875 | May 2, 1939 | American | Actor. | |
Roy Smeck Roy Smeck Roy Smeck was an American musician. His skill on the banjo, guitar, steel guitar, and especially the ukulele earned him the nickname "Wizard of the Strings."-Background:... |
February 6, 1900 | April 5, 1994 | American | Guitar, banjo, ukelele and Hawaiian guitar virtuoso. | |
Smith and Dale Smith & Dale Smith and Dale were a famous American vaudeville comedy duo. The two performed together for more than 70 years.-Early life and work:Joe Smith and Charlie Dale grew up in the Jewish ghettos of New York City... |
American | Comic duo of Charles Marks (September 6, 1881 – November 16, 1971) and Joseph Sultzer (February 16, 1884 – February 22, 1981). | |||
Ada "Bricktop" Smith | August 14, 1894 | February 1, 1984 | American | Singer and dancer. | |
Bessie Smith Bessie Smith Bessie Smith was an American blues singer.Sometimes referred to as The Empress of the Blues, Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s... |
April 15, 1894 | September 26, 1937 | American | Legendary blues singer. Smith was ranked as the top performer on the T.O.B.A. circuit in the 1920s. | |
Chris Smith Chris Smith (composer) Chris Smith was an American composer and performer.Smith was born in Charleston, South Carolina; he started traveling with Medicine Shows when young and went into Vaudeville where he performed in an acts with Elmer Bowman and Jimmy Durante... |
October 12, 1879 | October 4, 1949 | American | Musician. Songwriter of "Ballin' the Jack." | |
Clara Smith Clara Smith Clara Smith was an American classic female blues singer. She was billed as the "Queen of the Moaners", although Smith actually had a lighter and sweeter voice than her contemporaries and main competitors.-Career:... |
c. 1894 | February 2, 1935 | American | Blues singer. Smith began working in vaudeville around 1910 and by 1918 was one of the biggest names on the TOBA circuit. | |
"Whispering" Jack Smith | May 31, 1898 | May 13, 1950 | American | Singer known for his "whispering" style of singing. | |
Kate Smith Kate Smith Kathryn Elizabeth "Kate" Smith was an American Popular singer, best known for her rendition of Irving Berlin's "God Bless America". Smith had a radio, television, and recording career spanning five decades, which reached its pinnacle in the 1940s.Smith was born in Greenville, Virginia... |
May 1, 1907 | June 17, 1986 | American | Singer, known for her renditions of "God Bless America God Bless America "God Bless America" is an American patriotic song written by Irving Berlin in 1918 and revised by him in 1938. The later version has notably been recorded by Kate Smith, becoming her signature song .... " and "When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain" and for her "Hello, everybody!". |
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Mamie Smith Mamie Smith -External links:* African American Registry* with photos* with .ram files of her early recordings* NPR special on the selection on "Crazy Blues" to the 2005... |
May 26, 1883 | September 16, 1946 | American | Blues singer. Smith toured nationally as "Mamie Smith and Her Jazz Hounds", in the 1920s. | |
Pinetop Smith Pinetop Smith Clarence Smith, better known as Pinetop Smith or Pine Top Smith was an American boogie-woogie style blues pianist... |
June 11, 1904 | March 15, 1929 | American | Jazz pianist. | |
Trixie Smith Trixie Smith Trixie Smith was an African American blues singer, recording artist, vaudeville entertainer, and actress. She made four dozen recordings.-Biography:... |
1895 | September 21, 1943 | American | Blues singer. Toured the TOBA circuits from 1918. | |
Willie "The Lion" Smith | November 25, 1897 | April 18, 1973 | American | Jazz pianist. | |
John Philip Sousa John Philip Sousa John Philip Sousa was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era, known particularly for American military and patriotic marches. Because of his mastery of march composition, he is known as "The March King" or the "American March King" due to his British counterpart Kenneth J.... |
November 6, 1854 | March 6, 1932 | American | Composer and band conductor. | |
Eddie South Eddie South Eddie South was an American jazz violinist.-Biography:South was a classical violin prodigy who switched to jazz because of limited opportunities for African-American musicians, and started his career playing in vaudeville and jazz orchestras with Freddie Keppard, Jimmy Wade, Charles Elgar, and... |
November 27, 1904 | April 25, 1962 | American | Jazz violinist. | |
Elsie Southgate Elsie Southgate Elsie Southgate was a British violinist.Aged 10 she won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, and made her first concert appearance with the Queen's Hall Orchestra, under Sir Henry Wood in 1905... |
1890 | 1946 | British | Violinist, billed as "The Royal Violinist." | |
Leora Spellman Leora Spellman Leora Spellman was an American vaudeville performer and stage and film actor.Born Leora Theresa Spellmyer in Bonne Terre, Missouri she began singing on stage as a child and as a young lady began working in vaudeville where she met and married fellow performer Charles Middleton... |
July 13, 1890 | September 4, 1945 | American | Singer and actress. | |
Victoria Spivey Victoria Spivey Victoria Spivey was an American blues singer and songwriter. She is best known for her recordings of "Dope Head Blues" and "Organ Grinder Blues", and Spivey variously worked with her sister, Addie "Sweet Pease" Spivey, and with Bob Dylan, Lonnie Johnson, Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Clarence... |
October 5, 1906 | 1976 | American | Blues singer. | |
George Stallings George Stallings George Tweedy Stallings was an American manager and player in Major League Baseball. His most famous achievement – leading the Boston Braves from last place in mid-July to the National League championship and a World Series sweep of the powerful Philadelphia Athletics – resulted in a nickname he... |
November 17, 1867 | May 13, 1929 | American | Baseball player who appeared in vaudeville as a monologist. | |
Aileen Stanley Aileen Stanley Aileen Stanley, born Maude Elsie Aileen Muggeridge , was a popular American singer.-Early life:... |
1897 | March 24, 1982 | American | Singer. Had an act with her brother, Stanley & Aileen. | |
John Steel John Steel (singer) John W. Steel was an American tenor. He was featured in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1919 and 1920 and Irving Berlin's Music Box Revues of 1922 and 1923.-Early life:... |
1895 | 1971 | American | Singer. | |
Julius Steger | March 4, 1870 | February 25, 1959 | American | Actor in a playlet he wrote himself, The Fifth Commandment. | |
Harry Steppe Harry Steppe Harry Steppe Harry Steppe Harry Steppe (born Abraham Stepner, March 16, 1888 – November 22, 1934 was a Jewish-American actor, musical comedy performer, headliner comedian, writer, librettist, director and producer, who toured North America working in Vaudeville and Burlesque. Steppe performed at... |
March 1888 | November 22, 1943 | Russian-American | Actor, Jewish dialect comedian and hobo clown. | |
Cal Stewart Cal Stewart Cal Stewart was a pioneer in vaudeville and early sound recordings. He is best remembered for his comic monologues in which he played "Uncle Josh" Weathersby, a resident of a mythical New England farming town called "Punkin Center."Born in Charlotte County, Virginia in 1856, Stewart spent his... |
1856 | 1919 | American | Comic monologist. | |
Dorothy Stickney Dorothy Stickney Dorothy Stickney was a Broadway actress best known for appearing in the long running Life with Father.Born in Dickinson, North Dakota, Stickney attended the North Western Dramatic School in Minneapolis, Minnesota... |
June 21, 1896 | June 2, 1998 | American | Singer and dancer. | |
Frank Stokes | December 1887 or January 1888 | September 12, 1955 | American | Singer, blues musician and blackface minstrel. | |
Fred Stone Fred Stone Fred Andrew Stone was an American actor. Stone began his career as a performer in circuses and minstrel shows, went on to act on vaudeville, and became a star on Broadway and in feature films, which earned him a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.-Biography:He was particularly famous for appearing... |
August 19, 1873 | March 6, 1959 | American | Acrobat, tightrope walker, minstrel, and actor. | |
Charley Straight Charley Straight Charles Theodore Straight , better known as Charley Straight, was an American pianist, bandleader and composer. He started his career in 1909 accompanying singer Gene Greene in Vaudeville. In 1916 he began working at the Imperial Piano Roll Company in Chicago were he recorded dozens of piano rolls... |
January 16, 1891 | September 22, 1940 | American | Pianist, bandleader and composer. | |
Gabby Street Gabby Street Charles Evard “Gabby” Street , also nicknamed "The Old Sarge", was an American catcher, manager, coach and radio broadcaster in Major League Baseball during the first half of the 20th century. As a catcher, he participated in one of the most publicized baseball stunts of the century's first decade.... |
September 30, 1882 | February 6, 1951 | American | Baseball player who appeared in vaude. | |
Dana Suesse Dana Suesse Dana Suesse , full name Nadine Dana Suesse, was an American musician, composer and lyricist.-Biography:While still a child, Suesse toured the Midwest vaudeville circuits with an act centered on dancing and piano playing. During the recital, she would ask the audience for a theme, and then proceed... |
December 3, 1909 | October 16, 1987 | American | Dancer, songwriter, lyricist and pianist. | |
Anne Sullivan Anne Sullivan Johanna "Anne" Mansfield Sullivan Macy , also known as Annie Sullivan, was an American teacher best known as the instructor and companion of Helen Keller.-Early life:Sullivan was born on April 14, 1866 in Feeding Hills, Massachusetts... |
April 14, 1866 | October 20, 1926 | American | Teacher to Helen Keller Helen Keller Helen Adams Keller was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.... who appeared with her when she lectured. |
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Gus Sun | October 7, 1868 | October 1, 1959 | American | Juggler and minstrel. Later, the owner of the Gus Sun Circuit. | |
Valeska Suratt | June 22, 1882 | July 2, 1962 | American | Actress. | |
Mack Swain Mack Swain Mack Swain was an American actor and vaudevillian, prolific throughout the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s.-Film career:... |
February 16, 1876 | August 25, 1935 | American | Comedian who later appeared in Mack Sennett Mack Sennett Mack Sennett was a Canadian-born American director and was known as the innovator of slapstick comedy in film. During his lifetime he was known at times as the "King of Comedy"... 's Keystone comedies. |
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Blanche Sweet | June 18, 1896 | September 6, 1986 | American | Actress, Appeared with her parent's vaudeville act at the age of 18 months. She was billed as "Baby Blanche" or "Sweet Little Blanche." |
T-U-V
Name | Birth | Death | Nationality | Performance Notes | Reference |
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Chief Tahachee Chief Tahachee (actor) Chief Tahachee was an Old Settler Cherokee Indian who was an author, a stage actor, a film extra, and a vaudeville performer.... |
March 4, 1904 | June 9, 1978 | American | Actor. | |
Taliaferro Sisters | American | Sister act with Edith Edith Taliaferro Edith Taliaferro was a popular Broadway actress of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She was active on the stage until 1935 and she had roles in three silent films. She is best known for her 1913 performance in Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm... (December 21, 1893 – March 2, 1958) and her sister, Mabel Taliaferro Mabel Taliaferro Mabel "Nell" Taliaferro was an American stage, and a silent screen actress, known as the Sweetheart of American Movies... (May 21, 1887 – January 24, 1979). |
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Eva Tanguay Eva Tanguay Eva Tanguay was a Canadian-born singer and entertainer who billed herself as "the girl who made vaudeville famous".-Early life:... |
August 1, 1878 | January 11, 1947 | Canadian | Singer. | |
Julius Tannen Julius Tannen Julius Tannen was a comedian – or monologist, as those of his era were known – who had a long and successful career in vaudeville. He was known to stage audiences for his witty improvisations and creative word games... |
May 16, 1880 | January 3, 1965 | American | Monologist. | |
Lilyan Tashman Lilyan Tashman Lilyan Tashman was a Brooklyn-born Jewish American vaudeville, Broadway, and film actress. Tashman was best known for her supporting roles as tongue-in-cheek villainesses and the bitchy 'other woman'... |
October 23, 1899 | March 21, 1934 | American | Actor, singer and dancer. Started out as a principle actress for Gus Edwards Gus Edwards (songwriter) Gus Edwards was an American songwriter and vaudevillian. He also organised his own theatre companies and was a music publisher.-Early life:... and ended up as a Ziegfeld Ziegfeld Follies The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 through 1931. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air.... girl. |
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Dub Taylor Dub Taylor Walter Clarence Taylor, Jr. , better known as Dub Taylor, was an American actor who worked extensively in Westerns, but also in comedy from the 1940s into the 1990s.-Early life:... |
February 26, 1907 | October 3, 1994 | American | Actor. | |
Eva Taylor | January 22, 1895 | October 31, 1977 | American | Singer and dancer. Was a "pickaninny Pickaninny Pickaninny is a term in English which refers to children of black descent or a racial caricature thereof. It is a pidgin word form, which may be derived from the Portuguese pequenino . In the Creole English of Surinam the word for a child is pikin ningre... " or "pick" for Phina and Her Picks (later Josephine Gassman and Her Pickaninnies). |
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Tell Taylor Tell Taylor William "Tell" Taylor was a United States songwriter. By far his biggest hit was "Down by the Old Mill Stream" from 1910, one of the most commercially successful Tin Pan Alley publications of the era. The song was published by Forster Music Publishing Company of Chicago. Taylor was born in... |
October 14, 1876 | November 24, 1937 | American | Singer and songwriter. | |
Lou Tellegen Lou Tellegen Lou Tellegen was a Dutch-born silent film and stage actor, director and screenwriter. -Early life:... |
November 26, 1881 | October 29, 1934 | Dutch | Actor who appeared in a sketch from his play, Blind Youth. | |
Fay Templeton Fay Templeton Fay Templeton was an American stage actress.Her parents were actors/vaudevillians and she followed in their footsteps, making her Broadway debut in 1900. She continued to appear there until 1934... |
December 25, 1865 | October 3, 1939 | American | Actress and singer. | |
Dame Ellen Terry Ellen Terry Dame Ellen Terry, GBE was an English stage actress who became the leading Shakespearean actress in Britain. Among the members of her famous family is her great nephew, John Gielgud.... |
February 27, 1847 | July 21, 1928 | British | Actress who also appeared with her sister, Kate Terry. | |
Denman Thompson Denman Thompson Henry Denman Thompson was an American playwright and theatre actor.Rufus Thompson, a carpenter, and his wife Anne Hathaway Baxter moved in 1831 from West Swanzey, New Hampshire to Girard, Pennsylvania, where their son Henry Denman Thompson was born... |
October 15, 1833 | May 11, 1991 | American | Actor. | |
Lydia Thompson Lydia Thompson Lydia Thompson, born Eliza Hodges Thompson , was an English dancer, actress and theatrical producer.... |
February 19, 1836 | November 17, 1908 | American | Actress. | |
Bonnie Thornton | c. 1871 | March 13, 1920 | American | Singer known as "The Original Tutti-Frutti Girl." | |
Richard Thorpe Richard Thorpe Richard Thorpe was an American film director.Born Rollo Smolt Thorpe in Hutchinson, Kansas, he began his entertainment career performing in vaudeville and onstage. In 1921 he began in motion pictures as an actor and directed his first silent film in 1923. He went on to direct more than one hundred... |
24 Febreuary 1896 | January 13, 1961 | American | Singer and actor. Later in Hollywood films. | |
Howard Thurston Howard Thurston Howard Thurston was a stage magician from Columbus, Ohio.-Life:Thurston had the largest traveling magic show for the time, requiring more than eight entire train cars to transport his props across the country... |
July 20, 1869 | April 13, 1936 | American | Magician. | |
Dox Thrash Dox Thrash Dox Thrash was an African-American artist.-Early life:He was born in Griffin, Georgia, on March 22, 1893. He was the second of four children in his family. Thrash left home at the age of fifteen in search of work up north... |
1893 | 1965 | American | Actor. | |
Three Stooges Three Stooges The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy act of the early to mid–20th century best known for their numerous short subject films. Their hallmark was physical farce and extreme slapstick. In films, the Stooges were commonly known by their first names: "Moe, Larry, and Curly" and "Moe,... |
American | A comic trio consisting of brothers Moe Moe Howard Moses Harry Horwitz , known professionally as Moe Howard, was an American actor and comedian best known as the leader of The Three Stooges, the farce comedy team who starred in motion pictures and television for four decades... (June 19, 1897 – May 4, 1975) and Shemp Howard (March 4, 1895 – November 22, 1955), and friend Larry Fine Larry Fine (actor) Louis Feinberg , known professionally as Larry Fine, was an American comedian and actor, who is best known as a member of the comedy act The Three Stooges.-Early life:... (October 5, 1902 – January 24, 1975). |
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Three X Sisters Three X Sisters The Three X Sisters were an American all-girl harmony singing trio, initially known as The Hamilton Sisters and Fordyce. They were on stage singing together as early as 1922, and formed their trio in 1924, which was composed of Pearl Santos , Violet Hamilton , and Jessie Fordyce .The trio... |
American | Harmony singing trio consisting of Pearl Santos, Violet Hamilton, and Jessie Fordyce. | |||
"Big Bill" Tilden Bill Tilden William Tatem Tilden II , nicknamed "Big Bill," is often considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time. An American tennis player who was the World No. 1 player for seven years, he won 14 Majors including ten Grand Slams and four Pro Slams. Bill Tilden dominated the world of... |
February 10, 1893 | June 5, 1953 | American | Tennis player and monologist. | |
Vesta Tilley Vesta Tilley Matilda Alice Powles , was an English male impersonator. At the age of 11, she adopted the stage name Vesta Tilley becoming the most famous and well paid music hall male impersonator of her day... |
May 13, 1864 | September 16, 1962 | British | Male impersonator. | |
Tim and Irene | American | Comic duo composed of Tim Ryan Tim Ryan (actor) Tim Ryan was an American performer who is probably best known today as a film actor. Ryan and his wife, Irene who later played Granny on The Beverly Hillbillies, were a show business team that performed on Broadway, film and radio... (July 5, 1889 – October 22, 1956) and his wife, Irene Ryan Irene Ryan Irene Ryan was an American actress, one of the few entertainers who found success in vaudeville, radio, film, television and Broadway.... (October 17, 1902 – April 26, 1973). |
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Herman Timberg | 1892 | April 16, 1952 | American | Comedy monologist who would often exit the stage on all fours and perform trick violin playing. | |
Joe Tinker Joe Tinker Joseph Bert Tinker was a Major League Baseball player and manager. He is best known for his years with the Chicago Cubs dynasty which won four pennants between 1906 and 1910; and for his feud with double play partner Johnny Evers. Tinker was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in... |
July 27, 1880 | July 27, 1948 | American | Baseball player who appeared in vaudeville around 1911. | |
Frank Tinney | March 29, 1878 | November 28, 1940 | American | Blackface comic who would perform trick violin playing. | |
Lydia Yeamans Titus Lydia Yeamans Titus Lydia Yeamans Titus was an Australian singer and actress of the stage and motion pictures. She was the daughter of Edward Yeamans, a circus clown and Annie Yeamans. Her mother was a noted stage performer on two continents as well as having traveled to Japan, China, Java and the Philippines... |
1866 | December 30, 1929 | American | Character actress and singer. | |
Eddie Tolan Eddie Tolan Thomas Edward "Eddie" Tolan , nicknamed the "Midnight Express", was an American track and field athlete who compete in the Sprints. He set world records in the 100 yard dash and 100 meters event and Olympic records in the 100 meters and 200 meters events... |
September 29, 1908 | July 30 or 31, 1967 | American | Sprinter who appeared briefly with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. | |
Rudy Toombs Rudy Toombs Rudolph "Rudy" Toombs , born in Monroe, Louisiana, was an American black songwriter who wrote "Teardrops from My Eyes", Ruth Brown's first number one R&B successful song... |
1914 | November 28, 1962 | American | Song and dance man. | |
Raquel Torres Raquel Torres Raquel Torres was a Mexican-born American film actress. Her sister was actress Renee Torres.... |
1908 | 1987 | Mexican | Actress. | |
Toto | 1888 | December 15, 1938 | Swiss | Clown who performed with his dog, Whisky. | |
Patsy Touhey Patsy Touhey Patrick James Touhey was a celebrated player of the uilleann pipes. His innovative technique and phrasing, his travels back and forth across America to play on the variety and vaudeville stage, and his recordings made his style influential among Irish-American pipers... |
1865 | 1923 | Irish-American | Player of the uilleann pipes Uilleann pipes The uilleann pipes or //; ) are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland, their current name, earlier known in English as "union pipes", is a part translation of the Irish-language term píobaí uilleann , from their method of inflation.The bag of the uilleann pipes is inflated by means of a... . |
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Arthur Tracy Arthur Tracy Arthur Tracy was an American vocalist, billed as The Street Singer. His performances in theatre, films and radio, along with his recordings, brought him international fame in the 1930s... |
June 25, 1899 | October 5, 1997 | Russian-American | Singer (baritone) of sentimental songs. | |
Doris Eaton Travis Doris Eaton Travis Doris Eaton Travis was a Broadway and film performer, dance instructor, and author. She was also the last surviving Ziegfeld girl.Travis began performing onstage as a young child, and made her Broadway debut at the age of 13... |
March 14, 1904 | American | Singer, dancer and Ziegfeld girl. | ||
Sophie Tucker Sophie Tucker Sophie Tucker was a Russian/Ukrainian-born American singer and actress. Known for her stentorian delivery of comical and risqué songs, she was one of the most popular entertainers in America during the first half of the 20th century... |
January 13, 1884 | February 9, 1966 | American | Singer, known as "The Last of the Red Hot Mamas." | |
Ben Turpin Ben Turpin Ben Turpin was a cross-eyed American comedian and actor, best remembered for his work in silent films.-Personal life:... |
September 19, 1869 | July 1, 1940 | American | Comedian. | |
Lurene Tuttle Lurene Tuttle Lurene Tuttle was a character actress, who made transitions from vaudeville to radio, to films and television. Her most enduring impact was as one of network radio's most versatile actresses... |
August 29, 1906 | May 28, 1986 | American | Actress. | |
Two Black Crows Two Black Crows The Two Black Crows was a blackface comedy act popular in the 1920s and 30s. The duo appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, on radio, comedy records, and in film features and shorts.... |
American | Blackface comedy duo that starred Charles Mack (1888–1934) and others including John Swor, Bert Swor and George Moran (1881–1949). The duo name changed with each new partner, so Mack began using the name Moran & Mack (The Two Black Crows). | |||
Myrtle Vail Myrtle Vail Myrtle Vail , sometimes credited as Myrtle Damerel, was an American actress and writer who was a radio fixture from 1932-1946 thanks to the popular soap opera Myrt & Marge, playing the elder half of the title as well as having created and written the show.-Radio Show:Vail thought of the idea while... |
January 7, 1888 | September 18, 1978 | American | Tap dancer. | |
Rudolph Valentino Rudolph Valentino Rudolph Valentino was an Italian actor, and early pop icon. A sex symbol of the 1920s, Valentino was known as the "Latin Lover". He starred in several well-known silent films including The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Sheik, Blood and Sand, The Eagle and Son of the Sheik... |
May 6, 1895 | August 23, 1926 | Italian | Ballroom dancer with Bonnie Glass, former dance partner of Clifton Webb Clifton Webb Clifton Webb was an American actor, dancer, and singer known for his Oscar-nominated roles in such films as Laura, The Razor's Edge, and Sitting Pretty... 's. Later became a major "matinee idol" in silent films. |
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Rudy Vallee Rudy Vallée Rudy Vallée was an American singer, actor, bandleader, and entertainer.-Early life:Born Hubert Prior Vallée in Island Pond, Vermont, the son of Charles Alphonse and Catherine Lynch Vallée... |
July 28, 1901 | July 3, 1986 | American | Singer, actor and bandleader. | |
Egbert Van Alstyne Egbert Van Alstyne Egbert Anson Van Alstyne was a United States songwriter and pianist. Van Alstyne was the composer of a number of popular and ragtime tunes from the early 20th century.He was born in Marengo, Illinois... |
March 4, 1978 | July 9, 1951 | American | Pianist and songwriter. One of his most well-known songs is "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree." | |
Van and Schenck Van and Schenck Van and Schenck were popular United States entertainers in the 1910s and 1920s: Gus Van , baritone and Joe Schenck , tenor. They were vaudeville stars and made appearances in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1918, 1919, 1920 and 1921... |
August 12, 1886 | March 12, 1968 | American | Comic and musical duo composed of Gus Van (August 12, 1886 – March 12, 1968) and Joe Schenck (c. 1891 - June 28, 1930). | |
Woody Van Dyke | March 21, 1889 | February 5, 1943 | American | Child actor, later became renown for directing such films as Trader Horn Trader Horn Alfred Aloysius "Trader" Horn was an ivory trader in central Africa. He wrote a book, Trader Horn: A Young Man's Astounding Adventures in 19th-Century Equatorial Africa , detailing his journeys into jungles teeming with buffalo, gorillas, man-eating leopards, serpents and "savages"... , Tarzan the Ape Man and The Thin Man The Thin Man The Thin Man is a detective novel by Dashiell Hammett, originally published in Redbook. Although he never wrote a sequel, the book became the basis for a successful six-part film series which also began in 1934 with The Thin Man and starred William Powell and Myrna Loy... . |
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Frank Van Hoven | 1887 | December 1929 | American | Magician. | |
Billy B. Van Billy B. Van Billy B. Van was a prominent entertainer in the early decades of the 1900s. He was a star, progressively, in minstrel shows, vaudeville, burlesque, the New York stage, and movies. At the same time under another name he was a well known dairy farmer and agriculturist. And, at the same time he was... |
August 3, 1871 | November 16, 1950 | American | Comedian. | |
Clarice Vance Clarice Vance Clarice Vance née Clara Etta Black , "The Southern Singer" was an American vaudeville personality from the late 19th century to about 1917.-Early life and marriage:... |
March 14, 1871 | August 24, 1961 | American | Singer. | |
Gertrude Vanderbilt | 1880 | December 18, 1960 | American | Singer and dancer. | |
Vasco | 1871 | May 9, 1925 | British | Magician. | |
Dai Vernon Dai Vernon Dai Vernon , aka The Professor, was a Canadian magician. His expert sleight-of-hand technique and extensive knowledge garnered him respect among fellow magicians. His influence was considerable in the magic world, and he was a mentor to numerous famous magicians... |
June 11, 1894 | 1992 | Canadian | Magician known for his card tricks. | |
Jules Vernon Jules Vernon Jules Vernon was born Walter Lester Pope Knyvette, in East India, as the son of an English officer in the army... |
April 2, 1867 | May 17, 1937 | British | Ventriloquist. | |
Vesta Victoria Vesta Victoria Vesta Victoria was an English music hall singer and comedian. Although born in Leeds, Yorkshire, Vesta adopted a Cockney persona on stage... |
November 26, 1873 | April 7, 1951 | British | Singer. | |
Nedra Volz Nedra Volz Nedra Volz was an American film and television actress.-Early life and career:Born Nedra Gordonier in Montrose, Iowa, she began her career in the family tent show, and appeared in vaudeville as a toddler... |
June 18, 1908 | January 20, 2003 | American | Actress who appeared as Baby Nedra. | |
Harry Von Tilzer Harry Von Tilzer Harry Von Tilzer was a very popular United States songwriter.-Biography:Von Tilzer was born in Goshen, Indiana under the name Aaron Gumbinsky which he shortened to Harry Gumm. He ran away and joined a traveling circus at age 14, where he took his new name by adding 'Von' to his mother's maiden... |
July 8, 1872 | January 10, 1946 | American | Pianist and songwriter. Among some of his most well-known sonsg are "Wait 'til the Sun Shines Nellie" and "Bird in a Gilded Cage." |
W-X-Y-Z
Name | Birth | Death | Nationality | Performance Notes | Reference |
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Ted Waldman | February 12, 1899 | February 1, 1987 | American | Harmonica player. | |
Fats Waller Fats Waller Fats Waller , born Thomas Wright Waller, was a jazz pianist, organist, composer, singer, and comedic entertainer... |
May 21, 1904 | December 15, 1943 | American | Pianist and songwriter. Waller toured in vaudeville as an accompanist beginning around 1919. Among his many songs are "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Honeysuckle Rose." | |
Dorothy Walters Dorothy Walters Dorothy Walters was an actress of the Broadway stage and Hollywood silent motion pictures. She was born in Houston, Texas and began her stage career as a whistler... |
1877 | April 17, 1934 | American | Actress. | |
Henry B. Walthall Henry B. Walthall Henry Brazeale Walthall was an American film actor.-Career:Walthall began his career as a stage actor, appearing on Broadway in a supporting role in William Vaughn Moody's The Great Divide in 1906–1908. His career in movies began in 1908, in the film Rescued from an Eagle's Nest, which also... |
March 16, 1878 | June 17, 1936 | American | Actor. | |
Florence Walton | 1890 | January 7, 1981 | American | Dancer. | |
Fannie Ward Fannie Ward Fannie Ward was an American actress of stage and screen, known for comedic roles as well as The Cheat, a sexually–charged 1915 silent film directed by Cecil B. DeMille.... |
June 22, 1872 | January 27, 1952 | American | Actress. | |
Frederick Warde Frederick Warde Frederick Barkham Warde was an English Shakesperian actor who relocated to the United States in the late 19th century.In the late 1870s he partnered with actor Maurice Barrymore and the two agreed to tour plays around the United States. Warde would have one section of the country while Barrymore... |
February 23, 1851 | February 17, 1935 | British | Shakespearean actor, monologist and actor in playlets. | |
David Warfield David Warfield David Warfield was an American stage actor, born in San Francisco, California. His first connection with the theatre was as an usher. He made his first stage appearance in 1888 in The Ticket-of-Leave Man. Two years later he went to New York City, where he appeared at the Casino Theatre and at... |
1866 | 1951 | American | Actor. | |
Fred Waring Fred Waring Fredrick Malcolm Waring was a popular musician, bandleader and radio-television personality, sometimes referred to as "America's Singing Master" and "The Man Who Taught America How to Sing." He was also a promoter, financial backer and namesake of the Waring Blendor, the first modern electric... |
June 9, 1900 | July 29, 1984 | American | Bandleader of the band Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians | |
George Dewey Washington | May 1, 1898 | American | Singer. | ||
Ethel Waters Ethel Waters Ethel Waters was an American blues, jazz and gospel vocalist and actress. She frequently performed jazz, big band, and pop music, on the Broadway stage and in concerts, although she began her career in the 1920s singing blues.Her best-known recordings includes, "Dinah", "Birmingham Bertha",... |
October 31, 1896 | September 1, 1977 | American | Singer and actress. Waters made a very easy transition from vaudeville to nightclubs. Waters is credited with making the song, "Stormy Weather (song)" popular. | |
Donald "Monk" Watson | American | Actor. | |||
Kitty & Fanny Watson | American | Comic sister act with Kitty (1886 - March 3, 1967) and Fanny Watson (1885 - May 17, 1970). | |||
Ned Wayburn Ned Wayburn Ned Wayburn, born Edward Claudius Weyburn, was a choreographer. He was born in Pennsylvania but spent much of his childhood in Chicago where he was introduced to theater and studied classical piano. At the age of 21, he abandoned his family’s tradition of manufacturing and began teaching at the... |
March 30, 1874 | September 2, 1942 | American | Singer and dancer. | |
Guy Weadick Guy Weadick Guy Weadick was an American performer and promoter. Today, he is best known as the founder of the Calgary Stampede in Alberta, Canada.- Early years :Weadick was born in 1885, in Rochester, New York.... |
1885 | 1953 | American | Wild West performer and, with his wife (Weadick and LaDue), creator of the "Stampede Act." | |
Clifton Webb Clifton Webb Clifton Webb was an American actor, dancer, and singer known for his Oscar-nominated roles in such films as Laura, The Razor's Edge, and Sitting Pretty... |
November 19, 1889 | October 13, 1966 | American | Actor and dancer partnered in the 1920s with Mary Hay. The Webb and Hay played the Palace in January 1929. | |
Weber Joe Weber (vaudevillian) Joe Weber born Joseph Morris Weber was a vaudevillian who, along with Lew Fields, formed the comedy team of Weber and Fields.... and Fields Lew Fields Lew Fields , born as Moses Schoenfeld, was an American actor, comedian, vaudeville star, theatre manager and producer.... |
German-American | Comic duo composed of Lew Fields Lew Fields Lew Fields , born as Moses Schoenfeld, was an American actor, comedian, vaudeville star, theatre manager and producer.... (January 1, 1867 – July 20, 1941) and Joe Weber (August 11, 1867 – May 10, 1942). |
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Ben Welch | ? | September 2, 1926 | American | Jewish comic. | |
Niles Welch Niles Welch Niles Welch, also known as Niles Welsh, was an American performer on Broadway, and a leading man in a number of silent and early talking motion pictures from the early 1910s through the 1930s.... |
July 29, 1888 | November 21, 1976 | American | Actor. | |
Señor Wences Señor Wences Wenceslao Moreno , better known as Señor Wences, was a Spanish ventriloquist. His popularity grew with his frequent appearances on CBS-TV's Ed Sullivan Show in the 1950s and 1960s.-Early life:... |
April 17, 1896 | April 20, 1999 | Spanish-American | Ventriloquist, best known for his appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show The Ed Sullivan Show The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan.... . |
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Mae West Mae West Mae West was an American actress, playwright, screenwriter and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades.... |
August 17, 1893 | November 22, 1980 | American | Actress and comedienne, known for breaking the mold with her taboo performances on both stage and screen. | |
Roland West Roland West For the basketball player, see Roland West Roland West was a Hollywood director known for his innovative film noir movies of the 1920s and early 1930s.-Biography:... |
February 20, 1885 | May 31, 1952 | American | Actor. | |
Wheeler and Woolsey | American | Comic duo with Bert Wheeler (April 7, 1895 – January 18, 1968) and Robert Woolsey (August 14, 1888 – October 31, 1938). | |||
Albert Whelan Albert Whelan Albert Whelan , was an Australian popular singer and entertainer, who was prominent in the English music hall during the first half of the 20th century.... |
May 5, 1875 | February 19, 1961 | Australian | Eccentric dancer. | |
Dan White Dan White (actor) Dan White was an American actor, well known for appearing in several Western films.-Early life:Dan White was born to George and Orpha White in Falmouth, Florida, one of twelve siblings. The Whites moved to Lakeland during World War I. By age 14, White was in show business... |
March 25, 1908 | July 7, 1980 | American | Actor. | |
George White | 1890 | October 10, 1968 | Canadian-American | Dancer. | |
Sammy White Sammy White (actor) Sammy White was an American vaudeville song-and-dance comedian who appeared in a few films. He was born in Providence, Rhode Island. He appeared with Lew Clayton, as Clayton and White, in the Broadway show Schubert Gaieties of 1919.With his first wife, Eva Puck, White appeared in vaudeville as... |
1894 | 1960 | American | Song and dance comedian. | |
Thelma White Thelma White Thelma White was an American radio and film actress. White is best known for her role in the 1936 exploitation film Reefer Madness.-Early life and career:... |
December 4, 1910 | January 11, 2005 | American | Dancer with The White Sisters and later as a Ziegfeld girl. | |
Paul Whiteman Paul Whiteman Paul Samuel Whiteman was an American bandleader and orchestral director.Leader of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s, Whiteman's recordings were immensely successful, and press notices often referred to him as the "King of Jazz"... |
March 28, 1890 | December 29, 1967 | American | Bandleader. | |
Annabelle Whitford | 1878 | November 30, 1961 | American | Modern dancer. | |
Whiting and Burt | American | Song and dance duo consisting of George Whiting (August 6, 1884 – December 18, 1943) and Sadie Burt (? - December 6, 1966). | |||
Marshall P. Wilder Marshall P. Wilder Marshall P. Wilder was a famous actor, monologist, humorist and sketch artist who was one of the first persons with a disability to become a celebrity on his own terms.-Early life:... |
September 19, 1859 | January 10, 1915 | American | Hunchbacked Kyphosis Kyphosis , also called roundback or Kelso's hunchback, is a condition of over-curvature of the thoracic vertebrae... dwarf Dwarfism Dwarfism is short stature resulting from a medical condition. It is sometimes defined as an adult height of less than 4 feet 10 inches , although this definition is problematic because short stature in itself is not a disorder.... monologist. |
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Jess Willard Jess Willard Jess Willard was a world heavyweight boxing champion. He won the heavyweight title from Jack Johnson in April 1915 and lost it to Jack Dempsey in July 1919.... |
December 29, 1881 | December 15, 1968 | Spanish-American | Boxer and actor. | |
Bert Williams Bert Williams Egbert Austin "Bert" Williams was one of the preeminent entertainers of the Vaudeville era and one of the most popular comedians for all audiences of his time. He was by far the best-selling black recording artist before 1920... |
November 12, 1874 | March 4, 1922 | British West Indian | Actor, pantomimist and singer. | |
Bransby Williams Bransby Williams Bransby Williams was a British actor, comedian and monologist. He became known as "The Irving of the Music Halls".-Early years:... |
1870 | 1961 | British | Actor, comedian and monologist. | |
Clarence Williams | October 8, 1898 | November 6, 1965 | American | Minstrel, singer and pianist. | |
Herb Williams | 1884 | October 1, 1936 | American | Comedian. | |
Jay Williams Jay Williams (author) Jay Williams was an American author born in Buffalo, New York, the son of Max and Lillian Jacobson. He cited the experience of growing up as the son of a vaudeville show producer as leading him to pursue his acting career as early as college... |
May 31, 1914 | July 12, 1978 | American | Comedian. | |
Nat M. Wills Nat M. Wills Nat M. Wills , was a popular stage star, vaudeville entertainer, and recording artist at the beginning of the 20th century... |
July 11, 1873 | December 9, 1917 | American | "The Happy Tramp" monologist. | |
Edith Wilson Edith Wilson (singer) Edith Wilson was an American blues singer and vaudeville performer.-Biography:Born Edith Goodall in Louisville, Kentucky, Wilson's first professional experience came in 1919 in Louisville's Park Theater. Lena Wilson and her brother, Danny, performed in Louisville; Edith married Danny and joined... |
1906 | March 30, 1981 | American | Blues singer. | |
Francis Wilson Francis Wilson (actor) Francis Wilson was an American actor, born in Philadelphia.-Career:He began his career in a minstrel show, but by 1878 was playing at the Chestnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, and the next year appeared in M'liss with Annie Pixley... |
February 7, 1854 | October 7, 1935 | American | Minstrel and comedian. | |
Walter Winchell Walter Winchell Walter Winchell was an American newspaper and radio gossip commentator.-Professional career:Born Walter Weinschel in New York City, he left school in the sixth grade and started performing in a vaudeville troupe known as Gus Edwards' "Newsboys Sextet."His career in journalism was begun by posting... |
April 7, 1897 | February 20, 1972 | American | Actor and singer. | |
Charles Winninger Charles Winninger Charles Winninger was an American stage and film actor, most often cast in comedies or musicals, but equally at home in drama.-Biography:He began as a vaudeville actor... |
May 26, 1884 | January 27, 1969 | American | Trapeze artist and actor with his family's act, the Winninger Family Concert Co. | |
Basil Wolverton Basil Wolverton Basil Wolverton was an American cartoonist, illustrator, comic book writer-artist and professed "Producer of Preposterous Pictures of Peculiar People who Prowl this Perplexing Planet", whose many publishers included Marvel Comics and Mad.His unique, humorously grotesque drawings have elicited a... |
July 9, 1909 | December 31, 1978 | American | Actor. | |
Daisy Wood Daisy Wood Daisy Violet Rose Wood , was an English Music hall singer.-Life and career:The fifth of nine children, the oldest being Matilda Alice Victoria Wood , performing under the stage name Marie Lloyd. Seven of the siblings took up stage careers... |
September 15, 1877 | October 19, 1961 | British | Singer and sister to Marie Lloyd Marie Lloyd Matilda Alice Victoria Wood was an English music hall singer, best known as Marie Lloyd. Her ability to add lewdness to the most innocent of lyrics led to frequent clashes with the guardians of morality... . |
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Wee Georgie Wood Wee Georgie Wood George Wood, better known as Wee Georgie Wood, was a British actor and comedian who appeared in films, plays and music hall revues. Wood, who was a midget, worked most his professional life in the guise of a child, appearing in comic and sentimental sketches. He also wrote a column in the weekly... |
December 17, 1895 | February 19, 1979 | British | Midget Midget A midget is a short person with relatively average bodily proportions in comparison with other human beings. The term is often improperly used to describe a person with the medical condition dwarfism. The two terms are often used synonymously because both terms originate as words defining small... comedian who played children. |
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Bessie Wynn | 1876 | July 8, 1968 | American | "The Lady Dainty of Vaudeville" singer. | |
Ed Wynn Ed Wynn Ed Wynn was a popular American comedian and actor noted for his Perfect Fool comedy character, his pioneering radio show of the 1930s, and his later career as a dramatic actor.... |
November 9, 1886 | June 19, 1966 | American | Comedian and actor. Known as "The Perfect Fool." | |
Clara Kimball Young Clara Kimball Young Clara Kimball Young was an American film actress, who was highly regarded and publicly popular in the early silent film era.-Early life:... |
September 6, 1890 | October 15, 1960 | American | Actress who appeared in a sketch called "The Adorable Wife." Headlined at the Palace, April, 1925. | |
Lester Young Lester Young Lester Willis Young , nicknamed "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. He also played trumpet, violin, and drums.... |
August 27, 1909 | March 15, 1959 | American | Clarinetist and saxophonist. | |
Margaret Young Margaret Young Margaret Young was a popular singer and comedienne in the United States in the 1920s.-Recording career:... |
1900 | May 3, 1969 | American | Singer. | |
Henny Youngman Henny Youngman Henry "Henny" Youngman was a British-born American comedian and violinist famous for "one-liners", short, simple jokes usually delivered rapid-fire... |
March 16, 1906 | February 24, 1998 | British-American | Comedian, bandleader and violinist. | |
Joe Yule Joe Yule Ninnian Joseph Ewell was a Scottish vaudeville comedian who starred in many films as a character actor. He was noted for his role in the "Jiggs and Maggie" film series.... |
April 30, 1894 | March 30, 1950 | Scottish | Comedian and father to Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award... . |
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George Zucco George Zucco George Desylla Zucco was an English character actor who appeared, almost always in supporting roles, in 96 films during a career spanning two decades, from 1931 to 1951. He is fondly remembered for his roles in classic horror films.-Early life:Zucco was born in Manchester, England... |
January 11, 1886 | May 28, 1960 | British | Character actor who toured with his wife, Frances in a satirical sketch about suffragettes. | |
Yetta Zwerling Yetta Zwerling Yetta Zwerling Silverman Yiddish movie star during the 1930s and 1940s.-Early life:Zwerling was born in Kalievo, near Lemberg, Galicia, Austria-Hungary ; her father had a fruit business and was also a klezmer... |
December 25, 1889 | January 17, 1982 | Austrian | Actress, performed primarily in Yiddish vaudeville and on the British Music Hall stage. Once she perfected her stage Yiddish, Zwerling worked in Yiddish theatre and in the 1930s in Yiddish film. |