Sime Silverman, Thomas J. Gray, William C. Lengel, Miss Nellie Revell, the “big sister of vaudeville,” and a host of others whose names space does not permit my naming again here, but whose work is evidenced in the following pages.  To Alexander Black, the man who made the first picture play twenty-one years ago, I owe thanks for points in the discussion of dramatic values.  And for many helpful suggestions, and his kindly editing, I wish to express my gratitude to Dr. J. Berg Esenwein.  To these “friends indeed” belongs whatever merit this book possesses.

Brett page
Brooklyn, new York
August 25, 1915

INTRODUCTION

It falls to the lot of few men in these days to blaze a new trail in Bookland.  This Mr. Brett Page has done, with firmness and precision, and with a joy in every stroke that will beget in countless readers that answering joy which is the reward of both him who guides and him who follows.  There is but one word for a work so penetrating, so eductive, so clear—­and that word is masterly.  Let no one believe the modest assertion that “Writing for Vaudeville” is “less an original offering than a compilation.”  I have seen it grow and re-grow, section by section, and never have I known an author give more care to the development of his theme in an original way.  Mr. Page has worked with fidelity to the convictions gained while himself writing professionally, yet with deference for the opinions of past masters in this field.  The result is a book quite unexcelled among manuals of instruction, for authority, full statement, analysis of the sort that leads the reader to see what essentials he must build into his own structures, and sympathetic helpfulness throughout.  I count it an honor to have been the editorial sponsor for a pioneer book which will be soon known everywhere.

J. BERG ESENWEIN

WRITING FOR VAUDEVILLE

CHAPTER I

THE WHY OF THE VAUDEVILLE ACT

1.  The Rise of Vaudeville

A French workman who lived in the Valley of the Vire in the fourteenth or fifteenth century, is said to be vaudeville’s grandparent.  Of course, the child of his brain bears not even a remote resemblance to its descendant of to-day, yet the line is unbroken and the relationship clearer than many of the family trees of the royal houses.  The French workman’s name was Oliver Bassel, or Olivier Basselin, and in his way he was a poet.  He composed and sang certain sprightly songs which struck the popular fancy and achieved a reputation not only in his own town but throughout the country.