Caden Hughey
Pronouns:
Research Mentor(s): Vincent Longo
Co-Presenter:
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Film, Television, and Media / LSA
Presentation Date: April 20
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: Session 6 – 4:40pm – 5:30 pm
Room: League Ballroom
Authors: Caden Hughey
Presenter: 72
Abstract
Vaudeville acts and live stage performances were common in movie theaters across the United States prior to the early 1930s. These performances, however, diminished in frequency by the beginning of the decade, with much research attesting that the entertainment form “died†entirely. There is a lack of concrete answers on what exactly caused this decline, as well as insufficient research concretely documenting its ebbs and flows. Consequently, my team’s research reconsiders the understanding that live performance in movie theaters was “killed off†in an abrupt and near-absolute manner post-1930s and why it matters. We are using databases of trade magazines, including Variety and Billboard, from 1948 – 1955 to search for information within articles that pertain to fluctuations in stage performance frequency, particularly those that provide reasoning for the changes – be it competition between studios, high/low film grosses, or audience reactions. I specifically have focused on the studios of Paramount and Loew, and the decisions they made regarding vaudeville programming during the era. We have found evidence from within various trade magazine articles that in the years of 1948 and 1949, some theatres suspended their presentations of stage performances, while others were just beginning to show live acts. It is the case that the performances increased in frequency following a divestiture of theatre chains, increasing competition between now-independent theatres. Additionally, vaudeville revivals during this period can be attributed to a lack of enticing films to show. We have also used Google Sheets to catalog programs from issues of Variety from the year 1948, making note of the location and name of theaters that continued booking live acts, as well trace the performers they programmed. We are using this data to create a detailed visualization of the changing prevalence of stage shows over the course of the year. This evidence thus far supports the aforementioned hypothesis that the decline in vaudeville performance was far from instantaneous, and shows that there were many factors leading to the rises and ultimate fall of vaudeville in the 50s, far later than previously accounted for.
Arts and Humanities, Interdisciplinary
