Variety-Vaudeville Gallery III
Compiled by John Kenrick
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 Bert
Williams and George Walker, the vaudeville song and dance
team who starred in several groundbreaking black musicals, including In
Dahomey. |
 Vaudeville comedians
Joseph Weber and
Lew Fields turned their knockabout act into
a popular series of Broadway musicals and revues. Fields saw his children (Herb,
Dorothy & Joseph) succeed as lyricists and librettists in musical theatre
and film. |
 When vaudevillians performed a new song, music publishers would add
their photos to the sheet music covers. "Dinah" became a lasting classic,
even though vocalist Perle J. Frank (whose head shot appears in the lower
right hand corner) is forgotten today. Composer Harry Akst became the longtime
friend and accompanist to Al Jolson. |
 When E.F. Albee crushed the real
performers union, he took over their headquarters and turned it into the clubhouse for his
puppet union, National Variety Artists. This is a postcard view of the
grand lounge. The NVA was forced to abandon this building in the early 1930's. |