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.

AudioMo Day 4 - George Washington's President's House

A detour into 2026 with the current actions regarding the President's House in Philadelphia. George Washington had slaves. 

Lots of them. But due to an White House executive order, the exhibit was removed. 

The more interesting story is about Ona Judge. If you would like more info abut Ona, and a more accurate history here is what I have for you:

On the Mount Vernon website is the story about Ona Judge. https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/ona-judge 

Shush, don't tell anybody but some of the exhibit is still on the National Parks website. https://www.nps.gov/inde/planyourvisit/presidentshousesite.htm 

And the Encyclopedia of Virginia has more information about his ownership activities. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/washington-george-and-slavery/ 

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 3 - Black Minstrels

It didn't take long for slaves and free black folks to want to get in on the action. They knew that they could do it. But they faced laws, slave codes and other barriers to performance. 

This is the TLDR version of how the ancestors broke into the industry.

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 Two History Behind Stephen Foster's Old Black Joe

Stephen Foster was a songwriter. He had two styles of composition. One for the minstrel stage where he wrote in a stereotypical style and one for the parlor or for family occasions. 

Old Black Joe was created for the singing in the parlor audience.

     

 

If you would like to see the poem/song lyrics, there is a version of it on the Poetry Foundation's website. 

If you would like to know more about Stephen Foster, the Library of Congress has a biography of the songwriter. 

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 2026 As the Crow Flies

There are things that are happening in the US that are troublesome. Some say unprecedented. 

I say it has been there all the time. It is a river of fecal matter that bubbles up with pride at least two or more times in a century.

It stains everything. Especially in the realm of entertainment.

For this year's AudioMo contribution, I want to look at the African American, Black and Melanated performers that survived, became successful or created new art forms despite all kinds of obstacles.

You see, entertainment in America is a good reflection of what happens in society at any given point in time. Starting with entertainment, we have to start by looking at minstrel shows and vaudeville.

Newspapers and the funny pages too. Night clubs, how the isms moved into movies and radio and television and the new dirty veins of for profit AI videos. 

If you are of a delicate nature and don't like your history sanitized. This is probably not for you.

Go elsewhere. As the crow flies...and the birthing of Jim Crow 2.0

AudioMo 2026 - Day 1a What is a Minstrel Show?

For those of you that don't know, AudioMo is a world wide participation of people using their voices to share where they are, what they are interested in and sometimes people that are inspired to be sound collectors. It's whatever you want it to be.

My contributions is to create a visual audiogram with captions for people that are hard of hearing, deaf or English is not their primary language. 

As the USA marches toward Jim Crow 2.0 this is a good time to reflect on the ancestor path makers and future opportunities for greatness. 

**Warning, accurate history will be involved.** 

Some of the descendants of the involuntary ancestors might experience periods of discomfort.

As the Crow Flies...