Blacks and Vaudeville: PBS documentary
interviewPBS two-hour documentary on “Vaudeville”: the segment on Blacks and Vaudeville (19 min).
Beginning in the 1880s and through the 1920s, vaudeville was home to more than 25,000 performers, and was the most popular form of entertainment in America. From the local small-town stage to New York’s Palace Theater, vaudeville was an essential part of every community.
Clips and interviews with:
- Pat Rooney
- Mel Watkins
- June Taylor
- Carson Robinson’s Pioneers
- The Duncan Sisters
- Eunice Wilson and the Five Racketeers
- Bobby Short
- Robert Townsend
- Dewey “Pigmeat” Markham
- Leonard Reed
- Stump and Stumpy
- Moms Mabley
- Ethel Waters
- Reed and Bryant
- June Havoc
- Nicholas Brothers (Harold and Fayard)
- Eubie Blake
- Bert Williams
- Jack LaMaire
- Al Hirschfeld