vaude·ville /'vod, vil/ noun
a type of entertainment popular chiefly in North America in the early 20th century, featuring a variety of short acts such as slapstick comedians, acrobats, magicians, jugglers, and song & dance performers. Vaudeville’s origins can be traced to European style Variéte shows, British Music Hall, and American Burlesque, minstrel and medicine shows.

Without realizing it, my youth was spent preparing for a career that would harken back to another era. My father lived and worked in New York City in the late 1920s. If he had a spare dime and a spare moment he could be found watching Vaudeville shows, and because I was such a willing student he taught me many of the slapstick routines he had memorized.

I was born and raised in a Canadian prairie city that was, at one time, a hub of entertainment. The various Vaudeville circuits of North America converged in my home town. Entrepreneur Alexander Pantages once said, “all my acts originate in Winnipeg and move around the circuit.” If an act died in Winnipeg it didn’t go on the road.

Two decades before I was born, Winnipeg’s numerous grand and lavishly gilded theaters presented all the greats; Al Jolson, Stan Laurel, Will Rogers, Paul Robeson, Laurence Olivier, Sophy Tucker, Harry Houdini, Jimmy Durante, Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Burns and Allan, and Buster Keaton.  Groucho Marx first met Charlie Chaplin here in “The Chicago of the North.” 

Vaudeville is said to have originated in 1880 and had run its course by 1930, but its demise was slower in Winnipeg. A few local and touring novelty acts were still plying their trade in the 1960s and early 70s, and I feel privileged to have shared the stage with, and learned from them. 

The 1880s impresario B. F. Keith, often referred to as the father of Vaudeville, posted signs backstage ordering performers to eliminate "vulgarity and suggestiveness in words, action, and costume under fine of instant discharge." My Inventive Music and Comedy shows follow that simple directive.
Al Simmons