page_title: American Theatre in the 1920s
section_title: Vaudeville
hierarchical_section_title: American Theatre in the 1920s / Vaudeville
caption_attribution_description: Grand Theatre in Buffalo NY
context_page_description: In the 1920s, Theater in the United States and the Cinema of the United States were both increasingly active. Broadway was reaching its peak, classic theatre was working to be recognized, and the cinema business was growing as well. Within this decade, there were lots of changes within the social, economic, and legal environment in the United States, and these changes were often reflected into the art forms of the time period. In the '20s, theatre utilized jazz, vaudeville, straight plays, musicals, and movies.
context_section_description: Vaudeville in the 1920s was one of the largest forms of entertainment and was a rival to legitimate theatre. Vaudeville is a genre of theatre that encompassed a variety of entertainments and each act was unrelated to one another. Performers in Vaudeville specialized in one skill and repeated these skills at performances. Vaudeville was known for being more condensed in attempts to reaching out to the American middle class. Because of its theaters, affordable housing, receptive audience, and recreational activities, Los Angeles became a favorite city for vaudeville performers. This shift of theatre towards the West began the start of “vaudeville only” theatres. Vaudeville became a large part of every community in the early twentieth century America.  However, as the popularity of film grew, Vaudeville soon fell out of favor. Former Vaudeville stars, such as Charlie Chaplin and Burt Williams, followed the film route and became popular stars.
caption: Vaudeville Theater, Buffalo, NY
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