Vaudeville was a
theatrical genre of
variety entertainment popular in the
United States and
Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill. Types of acts included popular and classical
musicians, dancers,
comedians,
trained animals,
magicians, female and male impersonators,
acrobats,
illustrated songs,
jugglers, one-act
plays or scenes from plays,
athletes, lecturing
celebrities, minstrels, and
movies. A vaudeville performer is often referred to as a
vaudevillian.
Vaudeville developed from many sources, including the
concert saloon, minstrelsy,
freak shows,
dime museums, and literary
burlesque. Called "the heart of American show business," vaudeville was one of the most popular types of entertainment in
North America for several decades.