AudioMo Day 14 Bessie Smith

Many of the minstrels and vaudeville performers were poor or were born on the so-called wrong side of the tracks. 

Being able to sing and dance might help you and your family eat or have a place to live. And that could start in childhood or as a teenage. Survival was everything and with no social support system people did what they could do.

Bessie Smith lost her father and mother early in life. Some reports say an older sister took care of the siblings, other state it was an aunt. 

In either case, those who were old enough were expected to find ways to bring home some money.

Bessie, and two of her brothers Clarence and Andrew busked around the city getting those coins by singing and dancing on the street.

Bessie's life was complicated and I encourage you to check out the following resources:

Bessie Smith (ca. 1895–1937) was a blues and jazz singer from the Harlem Renaissance who is remembered at as the Empress of the Blues. 

From the Women and the American Story there is "Bessie Smith." The New York Historical, 

National Public Radio did a 2019 story about Bessie's influence on popular music.

AudioMo Day 13 Bessie Lamb and Her Genre of Music

This isn't getting any easier. There were multiple genres of music between 1870 to 1920. There was high brow, low brow, dirty also known as blue and then there is this specific genre which I really don't want to name. 

But I can show it to you on this blog.

And this is one of the more benign covers. Bessie is the means of introducing this type of songs that were popular and were sung on Vaudeville stages, bars and even in homes.

AudioMo is an international participation of folks that want to share what they can do with the audio format. This is a captioned audio for those folks that are deaf, hearing impaired or English is not their native language.

Day 12 - Shadow of the Crow

 This is an extract from a book about this time period:

During the post-Civil War era, black performers struggled with the dual burden of seeking paying roles in entertainment and presenting the black community with dignity. 

Minstrelsy was still a prominent form of entertainment in the early twentieth century. Black performers like Bert Williams and Ernest Hogan entered the space only to modernize and update it. 

They served as a bridge between the minstrel show and the growing popularity of vaudeville, an increasingly popular form of theater that included musical, dance, and comedic acts. Black stage entertainers like Williams and Hogan could blacken their faces, sing, and perform comedy revolving around ill-fated schemes.

But they also introduced performances which added a greater humanity into their characters. Productions by black producers like Bert Williams could also include discussions of anti-colonialism in Africa and critiques against further development of Jim Crow laws. 

This political critique was disguised as comedy for largely white audiences. These performances gave African Americans a fullness not often seen when white actors sought to “depict” African Americans in blackface.

Kenya Davis-Hayes, African American Representation on the Stage, Screen, and Airwaves (2025)

Audio Mo Day 10 and 11

 Just a quickie on the growing popularity of the two separate but unequal forms of vaudeville.

AudioMo is an international participation of folks that want to share what they can do with the audio format. This is a captioned audio for those folks that are deaf, hearing impaired or English is not their native language.

AudioMo Day 9 Butterbeans and Susie

Butterbeans and Susie worked for over 40 years with their comedy routine of marriage, jokes and dance numbers. 

They also had hit records that could have never been played on the radio. 

This is a moment with pioneers of comedy. AudioMo is an international participation of folks that want to share what they can do with the audio format. 

This is a captioned audio for those folks that are deaf, hearing impaired or English is not their native language.

AudioMo Day 8 TOBA and Black Vaudeville

There were segregation rules. There were theaters that did not allow black performers and certainly not black audiences. 

Sherman Dudley thought there has to be a better way. And then he created it.

This is an introduction to The Theatre Owners Booking Association aka TOBA and some of the pros and cons about the theater circuit for black performers and audiences.

If you like to know more, there is a 2023 book by Michelle R. Scott 2023 book about TOBA called Get the show on the road and ABS History video about Black Vaudeville on YouTube.

AudioMo Day 7 Birth of Vaudeville From Beer Hall to Stage

The American version of vaudeville grew out of beer halls. This is how it got started and the links to known performers and minstrel connections.

   

 If you want to know more, the University of Arizona has an excellent page on Vaudeville 

 The online version of Britannica has info about vaudeville, burlesque and the UK Tavern version of performing in alcohol establishments. 

AudioMo is an international participation of folks that want to share what they can do with the audio format. This is a captioned audio for those folks that are deaf, hearing impaired or English is not their native language.

AudioMo Day 6 Bert Williams Stagecraft Under Duress

Bert Williams worked in minstrel shows. When those shows started to fade in popularity, he was able to transition to vaudeville. This is an overview of his career and some of the challenges he faced. 

If you would like to learn more about Bert Williams here are some resources:

• There is a short bio page from Library of Congress 
• IMDB has a bio page and lists his four known movies. 
• Dartmouth University page on Bert Williams https://journeys.dartmouth.edu/bertwilliams/biography/

AudioMo is an international participation of folks that want to share what they can do with the audio format. 

This is a captioned audio for those folks that are deaf, hearing impaired or English is not their native language. 

AudioMo Day 5 Minstrel Show Roots of American Comedy

Folks like WC Fields, Abbot and Costello, Martin & Lewis all used element of holding an audience that was transmitted from minstrel shows and vaudeville. In this episode, the elements of comedy used in those shows.

For more info there is the The Jim Crow Museum at Ferris University.

AudioMo is an international participation of folks that want to share what they can do with the audio format. This is a captioned audio for those folks that are deaf, hearing impaired or English is not their native language.