Search - Fred Hellerman :: Caught in the Act

Once upon a time in America - (you may not believe this:) there was no television. No talking pictures. No CD's, no DVD's, no cellphones, no Internet, and can you believe it: no hip-hop or rap music! So ... how did we manage without entertainment? The answer is ... vaudeville. What did all those performers do when they came on stage? They tapped, they danced, juggled, did acrobatics, worked with trained dogs and cats, even rats, ventriloquized with dummies and always --- they sang. Who were they? Burns and Allen. Smith and Dale. The great Al Jolson,. Will Rogers, Sophie Tucker, Nora Bayes, Ukelele Ike, Harry Houdini, Benny Fields and Blossom Seeley... plus a whole raft of people you've never heard of unless at 5 AM you're watching Turner Classic Movies or AMC, where they all live on. And now here are the songs they sang, circa 1911-1926, some of them written by such great tunesmiths as L. Wolfe Gilbert, Al Dubin, Milton Ager, Burt Kalmar and Harry Ruby and even Ring Lardner. So now, sit back and take this nostalgic trip, CAUGHT IN THE ACT. Curtain going up and here comes vaudeville!!