Lecture Notes: Entertainment in Late 19th Century America (Live Performance, Parks, Vaudeville, and Early Sports)
Entertainment in Late 19th Century America
- Entertainment relied almost entirely on live performances because there were no movies, television, or internet yet; audiences experienced entertainment in real time, in city venues, or at parks and tents.
- Entertainment options reflected urbanization and the rise of mass crowds in American cities; most forms required going to a show rather than viewing from home.
- Policy note from instructor: students watch the video but do not rely on it for notes; most content mirrors lecture notes and the textbook.
Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show
- Buffalo Bill (an entrepreneur in entertainment) popularized Wild West themes in the East, creating a traveling show.
- Shows featured live performers on horseback performing rope tricks and acrobatics; riders could stand on galloping horses and perform somersaults.
- Weapons experts and sharpshooters also featured; Annie Oakley became a famous performer known for extraordinary marksmanship.
- Oakley’s acts included:
- Assistant (husband) tossing a poker card into the air; Oakley shooting the card near its heart from a distance.
- Husband smoking a cigarette; Oakley standing at a distance with a rifle aimed backward, using a mirror, and shooting the cigarette off his mouth.
- Cultural note: the Buffalo Bills name inspired the NFL team name Buffalo Bills, reflecting the enduring association with Western entertainment.
- Annie Oakley showcased exceptional gun skills; her acts highlighted precision and showmanship.
- The acts illustrate early celebrity status of entertainers in touring shows and the sensational appeal of gunplay in popular entertainment.
Amusement Parks and the Coney Island Experience
- Amusement parks emerged as major entertainment venues similar to today’s Disney World and fairgrounds.
- Coney Island (Long Island, near NYC) was the most famous early amusement destination; still open after more than a century.
- Attractions included:
- Roller coasters, Ferris wheels, and merry-go-rounds.
- Roller coasters were often wooden, loud, and rickety, providing a rugged thrill and a sense of novelty.
- The experience was designed to attract large crowds from urban centers who could travel to such destinations for leisure.
The Chautauqua Movement and Moving Pictures
- Chautauqua Camp (Chautauqua movement) served as a summer program for adults with sermons, lectures, and other activities.
- A notable feature was the introduction of a tent attraction where attendees paid for admission and were presented with the first basic moving pictures, effectively an early form of cinema.
- The tent represented the commercialization of what many would come to recognize as the movie industry; participants witnessed a preview of moving pictures and recognized its potential for mass entertainment.
- This experience helped spark the idea that film could become a large-scale industry in the 20th century.
Freak Shows
- Freak shows were a popular but controversial form of entertainment, featuring individuals with extraordinary physical traits.
- Examples included:
- Conjoined twins, the bearded lady, and Tom Thumb (a very short stature performer).
- The presence of such acts reflects historical attitudes toward spectacle, curiosity, and the commodification of human difference.
Vaudeville: A Broad Talent Stage
- Vaudeville served as America’s equivalent of a wide-ranging talent showcase (often described as an early version of America’s Got Talent).
- Acts varied across genres: singing, magic, comedy, acrobatics, and more.
- Notable, if odd, acts included:
- A performer with a singing duck; the duck would appear to sing when the performer squeezed it.
- A very graphic act where a performer drank a pitcher of water, claimed to have swallowed it, and then regurgitated the water to extinguish a flame in a controlled setup.
- A sword-swallowing act, which could be a dangerous or illusion-based performance.
- Vaudeville thrived through the 1890s into the 1920s and 1930s, indicating a long era of diverse stage entertainment before cinema dominated.
- Baseball emerged as a dominant American pastime in the late 19th century; it fueled the construction of large ballparks in major cities.
- Iconic venues mentioned include Fenway Park (Boston) and Wrigley Field (Chicago).
- Many of these early stadiums are still standing today, showcasing the lasting legacy of early professional baseball.
- American football began as a college sport without a professional league in the 1800s and faced early violence and safety concerns.
- The sport was so dangerous (late 19th century) that there were fatalities; debates about banning the sport arose.
- Teddy Roosevelt played a crucial role in encouraging helmet use and safety reforms, effectively helping to save the sport and influencing its modern safety standards.
- Basketball was invented during this period by James Naismith; it joined the set of popular sports alongside tennis and boxing.
- Professional leagues in many sports (notably baseball) were segregated; Black and White athletes did not compete together in professional leagues until much later in the 20th century.
- All forms of major entertainment tended to require urban venues; live sports and performances were not as accessible in rural areas (e.g., farms in Kansas or Idaho) as they were in large cities.
Connections, Implications, and Reflections
- Entertainment served as a social and cultural glue in rapidly growing urban centers, reflecting and shaping American identity during a period of rapid modernization.
- The shift from live stage performances to mass media forms (cinema, later television) began with early moving pictures in venues like the Chautauqua tent, signaling a future transformation of how entertainment would be consumed.
- The era showcased a spectrum of entertainment ethics and economic practices, from celebrated virtuosity (Annie Oakley, vaudeville acts) to controversial spectacle (freak shows), prompting ongoing discussions about exploitation, sensationalism, and spectacle in American culture.
- The development of professional leagues and large venues helped normalize organized entertainment as a staple of urban life and laid groundwork for the modern entertainment and sports industries.
- The Teddy Roosevelt era highlighted how policy and safety reforms in sports can have lasting national impact on culture, health, and the popularity of a game.
Key Takeaways for the Exam
- Live performance was the backbone of entertainment before movies, TV, and the internet; audiences paid to attend in-person shows.
- Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show popularized Western-themed performance and introduced or popularized acts of skill, horsemanship, and marksmanship.
- Annie Oakley became a symbol of precision shooting, contributing to the era’s dramatic, larger-than-life stage personas.
- Amusement parks (especially Coney Island) embodied early mass leisure culture, featuring rolling rides, wooden roller coasters, and social crowds.
- The Chautauqua movement introduced tent-based entertainment that included the moving pictures, foreshadowing the birth of the film industry.
- Freak shows and vaudeville illustrated the era’s appetite for diverse, often sensational, live acts and the breadth of popular performance genres.
- Baseball dominated American sports culture and spurred the construction of iconic stadiums; football’s early period faced safety concerns that shaped its evolution; Roosevelt’s intervention helped modernize the sport.
- Basketball’s invention added to a diverse sports landscape; racial integration in professional sports lagged behind, reflecting broader social dynamics of the era.
Notable Names and Terms to Remember
- Buffalo Bill (William F. Cody)
- Annie Oakley
- Coney Island
- Chautauqua movement
- Vaudeville
- Tom Thumb
- Teddy Roosevelt
- Fenway Park, Wrigley Field
- James Naismith
- Early 20th-century decades referenced: 1920s ext{ and } 1930s
- Time reference: entertainment rooted in the 100+ year tradition of urban amusements