The Trailblazers: Vaudeville, Music Hall and Hibernian Varieties

Abstract

It is a widely accepted fact that stand-up comedy as we understand it today has its roots in the vaudeville tradition of America and in the music hall tradition of the UK and Ireland. In America, by the 1850s, popular entertainments included the attractions of concert saloons, ‘free-and-easies’ and music halls.1 These places offered such varieties as “minstrelsy, burlesque, music, dance and sexual play in a confusion of combinations.”2 With that, different establishments often catered to different sections of the community, with high-end concert saloons catering for wealthier men, while ‘lesser’ music halls catered for both the working class and those of lower stations in life. However, by the beginning of the 1860s these entertainment houses were to undergo significant changes in how they conducted their business. Those moral ‘reformers’ (alongside others) of popular entertainments were on the move. Their objective was to take both music hall and variety from notorious respectable venues, to sanitise “the environment by removing prostitutes and liquor and ensuring ‘chaste’ performance, and to invite women and children by offering matinees and reduced admission.”3 Tony Pastor is chiefly recognised as the man who managed the transformation to new-found respectability.4 Initially, he created entertainments for “working-class Irish and German families.” His attractions included matinees with half price for children and free admission for ladies on Fridays if accompanied by a man.