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Vaudeville, Old and New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America, 2 volumes

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All that you could ever want to know about vaudeville is contained in a monumental two-volume work, Vaudeville Old and New: an Encyclopedia of Variety Performers. It surpasses anything previously written about the American equivalent of British music hall and will stand as the major reference work on the subject for many years to come.

Given its scope, there are entries about entertainers whose names will mean nothing to the average British reader. But that is more than offset by the comprehensiveness the authors bring to all they touch. It is fascinating, for instance, to get an American take on British artistes who became big stars in the U.S., the likes of Vesta Victoria and Alice Lloyd. We learn more about such top-liners as Al Jolson and Danny Kaye and find the answers to all manner of questions. What was so special about Fanny Brice? What brought Sid Caesar's career to a halt? And who knew that the distinguished commentator, Walter Winchell, started out in vaudeville?

The books' essays about burlesque and music hall are as good as you'll likely to get and the fine writing evinces some deft and delicate touches: a description of Beatrice Lillie, for instance, is as "a treasured English tea-rose with thorns" is spot on. The "new" in the title is no false promise. The encyclopedia is bang up-to-date with entries on Britain's Chris Simmons, for example.

The extensive knowledge and deep love of vaudeville by the author, Frank Cullen [working with Florence Hackman and Donald McNeilly], shine through in each of these tomes' 1,300 magnificent pages.

Richard Anthony Baker

Frank Cullen, longtime publisher and head writer of the Vaudeville Times magazine, has finally published his 2 volume biographical encyclopedia of vaudeville. For those who don't know, vaudeville was the main form of live entertainment in America from 1880 to 1930 and it continued even as late at the 1960s. This book carefully catalogues who was who in vaudeville, tells the major reason they became famous or were important, and offers biographies and descriptions of everything connected with the subject.
Along with the work of Professor Anthony Slide, these tomes by Frank Cullen constitute the most important documentation of this major form of American popular culture. Vaudeville is rapidly being forgotten today as its participants die off and younger audiences cannot even recognize the term. Cullen's work honors the performers and offers invaluable insights into what the experience was like.
The book is well written and, like vaudeville itself, immensely entertaining, whether you are reading about familiar stars such as Al Jolson or the completely forgotten ones such as the great Eddie Leonard. There is nothing to complain about in this effort-- if you want to know all about vaudeville, this is the magnum opus. It is lavishly illustrated and has about it that aura of love and care that comes when a writer is totally engrossed in his subject matter and approaches it with honesty, integrity and admiration.
Of course I have to tell you that I am biased because I'm in the book. I once was in "the show business" in vaudeville and there are only a few of us still alive who made it into the Cullen opus. But those of us who are left can assure you, dear reader, that all those vaudevillians who are encapsulated within would be proud of this book. It costs a good bit but it's got everything you need to know about a subject that once was close to the hearts of so many Americans. What's really fun is watching old movies on Turner, admiring the work of stars such as Eddie Cantor, Ruth Etting, or Trixie Friganza, and then keeping these volumes by your bed to look up the bios! Of course at my age that passes for high adventure! So, thanks, Frank, and good night Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are. If you know the meaning of that last phrase you'll love this book. If you don't you should read it anyway.

This is from my review published in "In The Groove" Magazine - April 2007
Frank Cullen LOVES Vaudeville in all it's forms, whether it's the baggy pants comics of burlesque, the "specialty acts" like strongman or eccentric dancers who graced the stages of New York and around the circuits in the 1920s, or the singers who went on to make some of the most popular records of their day. This passion is obvious in the recent publication of the huge two-volume 1300-page compilation Vaudeville Old & New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America (Routledge). Now in his 70s, Cullen saw his first Laurel & Hardy film at the age of nine and was hooked. (Yes, Laurel and Hardy both appeared on the vaudeville stage early in their careers and Cullen devotes six pages to them.). He started reading and watching and listening in his high school years and had a brief acting career as well. In the mid-1980s he formed the American Vaudeville Museum in CT and began publishing the quarterly Vaudeville Times (which I mentioned here last year). Now relocated to New Mexico, Cullen has put his energies into this fascinating book. The peak years for "Vaudeville" were 1905-1925, with over 2,000 theaters around the US. As many as 50,000 performers were in the business during that period. Obviously, not all are in the book but a good mix of the known and the "lesser known" are here. Record collectors will recognize many of them. There are the recording Bakers (Belle, Josephine and Phil) as well as the Smiths (Mamie, Bessie and Kate). Other recording artists covered in much detail include, Eddie Cantor, Sissle & Blake and Moran & Mack. The performers are listed alphabetical from A (Abbott a& Costello) to Z (Zetts Weekly, a rival to Variety, published in 1921). There are sections devoted to each of the "circuits" and the impresarios as well. Photos of the performers and sheet music covers are on many pages. In fact, you'll find a lot of performers who you've only known from sheet music covers. The very handy Bibliography and a 30-page Index, make the book even more useful. Whether you start from the beginning and read it straight through, or use to look up an artist you found on a recording, you'll find this book a great resource. It's a tribute to the hard work and passion of the author. Highly recommended!

Steve Ramm "Anything Phonographic"

A monumental and definitive encyclopadia by an outstanding theater historian. This tome is everything you wanted to know about vaudeville and its performers. It is destined to become the bible for historians and researchers of early American popular theater.

Frank Cullen's knowledge and articulation of the facts of vaudeville, old and new, is a welcome and needed addition to a genre sadly overlooked by the public. Vaudeville was America's first national pasttime and laid the foundation for the world of entertainment in our contenporary culture.

Nicely laid out, easy to read, ample photographs and humor make the two-volume set a must for libraries, archives and theater buffs, or anyone who has an interest in American social history.

This massive two volume work is without a doubt the greatest tribute to vaudeville and its performers ever written. It brings back to life an important aspect of show business that has almost been forgotten.

In this book you relive the lives and stories of a group of hard working entertainers, many of whom went on to give birth to the motion pictures, radio, and television industries. Most of the stars of the years between 1925 and 1960 got their start in vaudeville.

You won't read this book in one night, but it could provide a thousand nights of some of the greatest entertainment you've ever experienced.

If you love show business and all of it's aspects, then you will absolutely love this masterful work. It may just be what is needed to help resurrect the spirit of a long deceased tradition.

Book my be useful for academics, or written research. I was looking for visual research, and had read that this book is "lavishly illustrated". Though it has some illustrations, they are few and far between.

This is an excellent addition to the often underappreciated and underwritten field of show biz history. But I've found some curious oversights that should have been corrected. For instance, Al Shean, of Gallagher of Shean, was said to have reprised the team's signature song in only one movie, Atlantic City (1944). How could the far more prominent Judy Garland vehicle, Ziegfeld Girl (MGM, 1941) be overlooked, where Al Shean reprised the number with Charles Winninger standing in for Gallagher? Also, in the Eddie Cantor entry, it's said that Cantor's film debut was a 1913 experimental film for Edison. Is this being confused with the 1922 experimental sound film Cantor did for inventor Lee De Forest (which isn't mentioned)? No reference book is perfect, but I just had to point this out. Plus, with the current popularity of the Jazz Singer DVD with all the Vitaphone shorts, I'm surprised that a consummate vaudeville performer like Adele Rowland isn't listed. But that's minor quibbling; I'm just glad a set of volumes as this is available, and I wish there was another set planned to include more of the alleged 50,000 performers who made up the world of vaudeville!

I was excited about reading this book. The first bio I turned to was that of my favorite, Buster Keaton. After reading a bit of the bio, I put the book down and returned it back to the library where I got it. The information listed in there was wrong. They had a couple of facts that were not true, so that left me feeling very disappointed. If that one bio was filled with misinformation, how many others are?