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Sunday, February 19, 2012

Excuse Me, Can You Give Me Directions To Vaudeville?

"Take that first left on your right and drive until you pass the sign that is about 3 miles past the last sign before the first big oak tree (you can't miss it), until you are out of state. Then go back one mile to the trailer park near the burned-out street light (its gotta be night time of course), unless you get out of the car and its windy 'cause the pole sways, that's a dead giveaway that you are close. Stop the first Jewish person you see and ask him where to go, he will definitely know the rest of the way."
When I was a kid I thought vaudeville was a place, a town, somewhere in the Poconos, the Catskills, or New York for sure. And it had a big stage.But now, I stand corrected. And Wikipedia has done it for me. 
The origin of the term is obscure, but is often explained as being derived from the expression voix de ville, or "voice of the city." Another plausible etymology finds origins in the French Vau de Vire, a valley in Normandy noted for its style of satirical songs with topical themes. The term vaudeville, referring specifically to North American variety entertainment, came into common usage after 1871 with the formation of Sargent's Great Vaudeville Company of Louisville, Kentucky. It had little, if anything, to do with the Comédie en vaudeville of the French theatre. 
Read more here.




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