For decades during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, vaudeville was a primary means of spreading mainstream entertainment in the United States. Vaudeville came before the establishment of a popular dramatic theater movement on Broadway (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1), and before movies, radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2), and then television gained footholds on American popular culture. Vaudeville programs consisted of groups of diverse performers—including singers, dancers, actors, comedians, jugglers, acrobats, animal acts, and magicians—who were hired by talent bookers to tour through regions of the country, performing live, on what was known as the vaudeville "circuit."

The term vaudeville was derived from one of two sources. The first source was the French Val de Vire (or Vau de Vire), the valley of the Vire River in Normandy. The valley was famed for the comic songs...