page_title: Gorman Brothers
section_title: Vaudeville
hierarchical_section_title: Gorman Brothers / Vaudeville
caption_attribution_description: English: Gormans 1916 Vancouver
context_page_description: The Gorman Brothers, Billy and Eddie Gorman, were a pair of vaudevillian entertainers and songwriters from Chicago, IL, who performed across the United States and Canada from the early 1910s to the early 1930s. The Gormans expanded their act to radio, doing weekly broadcasts in the late 1920s. The brothers used local news stories to create songs for their act. During their show-business career, Billy and Eddie Gorman also contributed music and lyrics to several published and recorded songs.
context_section_description: The Gorman Brothers wrote all-original songs for their acts, often drawing from news events of the day that were relevant to the locations they played. A feature article on their work described how they would get up in the morning, go to the editorial room of the local newspaper, and, "As the news copy comes from the telegraph operators, the vaudevillians cast their respective eagle eyes over it and select five or six items for jingling purposes." Another source explained,"...the men subscribe to the local newspaper for about three weeks before they arrive at the town where they are scheduled to play. In this manner, they are able to word the news stories to fit their music."
  Credited with such names as "the boys with a thousand songs", "the singing reporters", and "the kings of character singing", they entertained in many cities across the U.S. and Canada. They were rarely the headliners, but the entertainment sections of the newspapers frequently reviewed their performances. Below are a few examples:
  
  Early in 1932, the Gorman Brothers' names stopped appearing in the newspapers. Vaudeville had met its end as an art form by then, with the introduction of talking movies, and the impact on the economy from the Great Depression. The brothers did not appear to have made a transition to the silver screen. and there is no known footage of them performing their acts.
caption: Gorman Brothers, The Vancouver Daily World, 1916
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