Summary of Kliph Nesteroff's The Comedians

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview: #1 In the early twentieth century, the United States had around 5,000 vaudeville theaters. They were controlled by a small group of moguls who were extremely wealthy and sought only to maximize profit. They intimidated their competitors into submission.#2 The Orpheum circuit had been Keith-Albee s largest competitor, with theaters in Calgary, Champaign, Davenport, Decatur, Denver, Des Moines, Duluth, Fresno, Kansas City, Lincoln, Los Angeles, Madison, Memphis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Oakland, Omaha, Portland, Rockford, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Seattle and Sioux City.#3 Vaudeville was a rough life, and many of the acts lived in boardinghouses or did odd jobs to subsidize their meager incomes. Some comics were in demand not for their act, but for their connections.#4 The burlesque and vaudeville comedy scenes were completely separate from each other, and burlesque relied on stock routines and characters. The most common burlesque comedy conventions were racial caricature and rampaging husbands.