Popular Culture Review 30.1
ficiently familiar with the character at the Metropolitan and Manhattan operas to find their caricature amusing .
Taste did , however , change over time and this can be traced in the reviews . During the war years , for example , patriotic and political material became popular with vaudeville patrons . The singer , Nora Bayes , struggled to win over her audience during a 1915 performance in New York until she sang “‘ We ' ll Celebrate the End of the War in Ragtime ’ that has a kick in its final line that will not fall down anywhere while Germany is keeping Woodrow on the pan .” 7 But , politically charged material did not always go over well with audiences looking for an escape . This was especially true for American audiences who had endured two years of war , watched as Europe struggled to rebuild and witnessed a Communist Revolution in Russia . Singer Blanche Ring had to cut her once popular patriotic tune “ Bing , Bang , Bing ’ em ” for a performance in 1919 in favour of “ an audience song which doesn ' t go as powerfully , but which is more suitable to entertainment of folks who pay to be amused , not harangued .” 8 Similarly , when Milt Collins appeared at Keith ’ s Providence in 1920 , his comedy monologue secured some laughs with the audience , but the manager was “ afraid that some of his material is dangerous politically .” 9
Managers ’ reports and reviews in the trade press allowed theatres to track the development and sustainability of every act . Searching the database by the name of a specific act and sorting it by year can reveal how an act evolved over the course of its run . The Sunny South , to consider just one example , was billed as a comedic dancing and singing ensemble comprised of a group of 10 – 12 African-American men and women . An early performance in Trenton in 1904 received praise from both the audience and the manager . Set on a plantation , “ the
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