For some mysterious technical reason the last entry can not be edited. So here is the additional information intended to appear there. The correct town name for the June 1 Burlesque Reunion of 2002 is Helendale/Silver Lakes, Calif.

Also of current burlesque interest is the Kit Kat Follies that will be held April 20 at the Palace Theatre in downtown Los Angeles.

Finally, it should be noted that the last link included in the potpourri of vaudeville and burlesque websites, "Burlesque Hall of Fame," is reasonably inoffensive, in the same way runway artists like Gypsy Rose Lee didn't reveal all that much of their charms. Still, it's probably a good idea young weblog readers -- should any happen to drop in -- NOT click on it. Parents AND weblog management would just as soon they didn't. However, the vaudeville sites are informative and great reading -- so you can knock yourself out on those.

As for the adults in the cast, the hall of fame is, like all the vaudeville sites presented, is provided solely for the purposes of historical and cultural education.

"Gypsy" is about vaudeville and burlesque, the colorful step-children of so-called "legitimate" theater (i.e., safe from police raids). From roughly 1870 to 1930, vaudeville was the most popular form of entertainment in the U.S. and Canada. Many incorrectly assume that burlesque was a seamy off-shoot of vaudeville. In fact, vaudeville gerw out of burlesque. Both presented a series of individual "variety acts," with vaudeville -- generally pronounced "vawd' vil," but also pronounced "vohd' vil" in the continental style -- ultimately staging the most professional shows. The shows were in the nature of "revues." The most spectacular revues included the Folies Bergere in Paris and the Ziegfield Follies on New York's Great White Way, aka, Broadway. Even today one can see a remnant of the elaborate chorus lines of the grand follies at Radio City Music Hall in Rockefeller Center on Fifth Avenue in New York. The celebrated "Rockettes" dance troupe may well be the world's most famous chorus line. If you haven't seen them, think of the June Taylor Dancers featured on the Jackie Gleason. Then, too, there are all those acts playing Las Vegas, but that is a world apart from vaudeville. Vaudeville, after all, was by and large family entertainment with kids welcome -- at least at the matinees.

And vaudeville is not entirely dead. There appears to be a resurgence of interest in vaudeville and live theater. Moreover, several websites on the Internet advertise "New Age" vaudeville acts.

Stars and star acts that began in their careers in vaudeville included Charlie Chaplin, Will Rogers, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, W.C. Fields, Houdini, Bessie Smith, Buster Keaton, Mae West, Jackie Gleason, Senor Wences, Laurel and Hardy, Abbot and Costello and Burns and Allen, to mention a few.

Burlesque, which turned more and more to striptease acts to hold the interest of primarily male audiences who with the advent of sound motion pictures were fleeing the live theaters for darkened movie houses.

Burlesque houses, or the tonier "houses of burlesque," as they preferred to be called survived into the 1960s in the large Eastern cities. "Burly-qs" (as they were also know, were still quite active in Baltimore, Md., in thelate 1950s and early 1960s. The Gaiety Theater was the premier venue in the bustling dowtown redlight district, with headliners such as Tempest Storm and, yes, Gypsy Rose Lee gracing the marquee.

Burlesque survives, despite the ubiquity of triple-XXX porn theaters and Bada Bing Club-style topless dance places. Why, even as the Ponderosa Theater Company players are belting out "Gypsy" a Burlesque Reunion 2002 will be underway in Helena.Silver Lakes, Calif. Promoters promise it will be of "epic proportions," so to speak.

Baltimore audiences were still so familiar with vaudeville and burlesque in the late 50s and early 60s that tthey were still in the habit of applauding when the show was over, even at movies where the actors couldn't appreciate the show approval.

After all, tradition dies hard. Probably the nearest local artifact of the vaudeville era is in Sacramento. The Crest Theater at K and 10th streets began as The Empress vaudeville theater. The restored interior is said to be close to what it was like when hopeful, hardworking artists were singing and dancing their hearts out in acts that must have looked and sounded much like Baby June and Her Newsboys. Live acts are still sometimes featured at the Crest.

Here are a few links to learn more about the vaudeville, burlesque and the lore of theatercraft in general:

Vaudeville Theaters
Vintage Vaudeville
American Variety Stage
Vaudeville Homepage
Burlesque Hall of Fame
posted by Tom Nadeau @ 7:09 PM  

Wednesday we sailed through the whole play again. The actors now have their lines committed to memory and are beginning to hone their interpretation and expression of the characters they portray, with “beginning” being the operative word here. Doing this requires some negotiating with the other players in the cast.

Take “Weber,” a minor character with 15 lines in what works out to be the third scene of the first act (although the actual script has it as the fourth scene.)

“The part where we enter? Maybe we could have me saying, ‘No!’ first, and then you saying to the kids, ‘Go play in the alley,'” he said to Jayne White. White agreed. After doing it, he reconsidered. Something was off in the timing. Maybe the original playwright knew what he was doing? White's patience will be tested when Weber next time says, "Let's change it back."

Both Weber and director Bob Heckman added bits of body language, movement and stage positioning to what Weber does. All of Heckman’s suggestions worked. Only one of nuances Weber dreamed up did. So, OK, maybe directors do know best.

Even from this little exposure at this amateur level of theatercraft it is easy to see that the process of creating a believable, workable, audience-pleasing character on stage is an arduous and profound learning experience. It involves considering and making some high-stakes intellectual and emotional choices. Wrong choices mean no applause, which, like night the day, is followed by personal disappointment tinged with public humiliation, since 700 or 800 people may have heard you mess up that way.)

Such pressure to achieve the best possible portrayal possible has to intellectually challenge even the smallest bit player in the teensiest hometowniest play the world over. Except maybe for Dolph Lungren, or Pamela Anderson, or Dennis Hopper now that he’s sleepwalking through six or eight quick-buck movie roles a year.

Monday we went through the whole play again working at as fast a pace as possible, in part to make sure the kiddie players got home at a reasonable hour on a school night.

The dog was back. The live lamb had yet to materialize. We would learn later that the dog was out – “Not good for a puppy to be handled by so many people” – and the lamb had been revised to stuffed due to sanitation concerns. Ahem.

Fascinating to watch the dancers rehearse each other, share tips, suggestions and criticisms with each other. There’s a boy and a girl who seem to best pals. The boy, Kyle, is a big kid, maybe 17 or so, but light on his feet with the kind of unexpected grace sometimes found in large people. Jackie Gleason, that genius of so many arts, was a good example.

The girl’s name is unknown, but she, too, is big-framed. I believe she is cast as a boy. In any case, she seems to be studying the tricks the other dances, especially this Kyle, have developed an. Each week she seems to be more confident, fluid and adventurous.

The situation with the really young kids in the “Jocko’s Kids” scene is problematic. Except for the “balloon” girl, none as yet have any “business” to do but stand stump like on the stage as furniture or props. Perhaps when the choreographer comes on board, which should be next week, they’ll get something more to do.

The guy playing Jocko is pretty good. His name is Connor Somethingorother and his son, Jasper – one of those ‘chips off the old block” genetic replicas – is in the play, too. Both seem to be natural actors. More genetic replication, perhaps. Connor is a gentleman of some avoirdupois and fits the character of Jocko in all respects – except for his big bushy beard. Jocko is basically a clown in vaudeville hosting a rigged kiddie show, SO how many clowns can you name that wore beards> Even the stubble on Emmett Kelly was painted on.

By Monday most of the actors in the first act have their lines down OK. A couple of “Line!” cue calls, but surprisingly few, really.

When you stop and think about it, stage actors must have prodigious memories, or an arsenal of mnemonic techniques. (Film actors do not really count here. They do their parts in short takes and as many times as it takes to get each scene right. They have a different set of problems I’ll go into later.)

Take a role “Rose,” played in this show by Jayne White. She probably speaks or sings more lines than all the other actors in the play combined. Since the play is likely to run an hour 90 or 105 minutes, that means she’s probably speaking or singing lines at the brisk pace required to keep a play moving. Imagine memorizing a section of text so long it would take you 50 minutes to repeat. Moreover your recitation has to be as close to perfect as possible, because missed lines would not only through you off, but whatever actors you might be working with at the time of the fluff.

Add to this the requirement that everything you say or sing has to be perfectly timed, arranged and styled as to make the subtleties of the intended message be fully expressed.

Before there was written language, tribal histories and human stories and myths were handed down from generation to generation through oral traditions. Each generation presumably add to it. Besides the factual material that had to be memorized and conveyed, there were all those jokes, ghost stories and tall tales to impart. Each had to be crafted for maximum crowd-pleasing impact. After all, every human being likes applause – and maybe even a rousing, “Encore!” once in a while.

It must be from this ancient tradition and craft that actors must spring.

On Friday night we went back through the whole play, both acts front to back.

"As fast as you can. I'd like to get out of here by nine o'clock if we can," director Bob Heckman said.

Connor Whosiewhatsit was back as "Jocko." His part had been read by Tim Van Zant, who plays "Herbie" -- a minor point, which confused some. In the movie version, Jocko and Herbie are one and the same, if I recall correctly. After a spat with the management of the Los Angeles theater over how fixed the kid talent show is, he quits showbiz as a performer and remakes himself as a candy butcher.

This explains why Herbie recognizes Rose and can vouch for the girls' act, when they meet at the Weber Theater.

Heckman seems to have split the role in two. It remains up to the individual playgoer to decide whether this creates a significant continuity problem.

Most of the actors now have their lines committed to memory and have ditched their scripts. A few haven't, but Heckman has aptly counseled them that they won't be able to read from the scripts while dancing and singing at forthcoming rehearsals.

The little Jocko girls aren't doing much. Someone should be telling them what to do, maybe how to improvise some jostling and rhubarbing (1) as background for the main action going on. Otherwise, they're just furniture -- and nervous, uncertain furniture at that. The theory of the scene is that the little girls are there for competitive auditions only to discover that the outcome is rigged. Into this steps Rose and her girls. They further complicate, with Rose mau-mauing the bandleader and demanding her daughters get a full audition.

There is also some confusion over the movements of Weber, Rose and Herbie. Weber enters stage left arguing with Rose on his way to - somewhere, logically someplace stage right. However, when he stops to talk to Rose, Herbie enters stage right and after the ensuing business about putting the act in the show Weber reverses direction and exits stage left. It's a complicated move, considering how the actors are presently situated. It would make more sense for Weber to continue to wherever he was originally headed stage right and return from stage right for the capper and then exit stage left to his "office" where he presumably started being nagged by Rose.

As for their position on the stage during their colloquy, Weber should be slightly upstage from Rose (to his left, so when Herbie enters, Rose can give a visual cue to Weber to notice Herbie. That would permit them both to see Herbie when he comes on, thus smoothing the operation out.

In the rehearsal Friday, Ginny Carter, "Tessie the Texas Twirler," brought along, Benji, the borrowed 11-week-old Pomeranian puppy cast to play "Chowzie," the lapdog Rose carries when she makes her "Sing out, Louise! Entrance in the first act.

The little dog must have showbusiness in his genes, being named after a movie star dog, and getting a part on stage even before he's found a permanent home.

"Chowzie" was the unwittting cause of some laughter. The first time the little girls playing the "Newsboys" got to sing their song all the way through, they were singing in that high, squeaky voice Mother Nature gives to all preadolescent girls. One remarked, kindly, "If they sing any higher, they'll have to bring in dogs to hear them."

As if on cue, in came Carter toting Benji. Ah, synchronicity.

Anyway, Benji/"Chowzie" played his part like a trouper. Never once did he squirm, yap, nip or pee on Jayne White.

This show is also livestock intensive. A live lamb is expected to be used in a later scene in which Louise gets a newborn lamb for a birthday present and a song to sing to it.

The show has so many animals, if it were a movie, the guild would require Heckman to hire a wrangler. (2)

(1) If background noise is called for in a movie or a stage play, it is important that the words not distract the audience from what the main characters are saying. To accomplish the actors in the crowd are traditionally told to say, "rhubarb." It's an onomatopoeic murmuring sound unlikely to be recognized by the audience.

(2) Originally from westerns, a film crew worker who takes care of all the animals used in a production, not just horses and cattle. Movies with dogs-only are an exception. The animal then is called the dog trainer or "handler."