Vaudeville: Part III

Both photos from Show History

Finally! Part III of my lil' vaudeville series: odd acts! There are paaa-lennttyy of strange vaudeville acts, but a lot of them were kind of gross strange or didn't have any information on them. So, I tried to pick out a few from my book and one or two that I've found browsing on the Internet. A lot of the strange ones were sort of already covered in some of my past posts too...but I just love how strange some of the acts were! Goodness, vaudeville itself was strange! I think that's why I love it so much! Sword eaters and throwers, contortionists, bearded ladies, people who smoke with their eyes, (yeah--I saw a picture and used my discretion to not put it. Trust me. haha) the list could go on and on...


This husband and wife act on the left were known as The Royal Gascoignes who stood as more of a minor supporting act. I love this one though--imagine being able to do that! I can barely balance a book on my head for more than a few seconds! The Cherry Sisters, on the right, became known as "the act devoid of talent." These ladies performed shows which featured songs, dances, skits, morality plays and essays written and done by the sisters, but they were so poorly received that it became necessary to put up a mesh net in front of the audience to catch and block the various objects that were thrown at them--fish and vegetables, included!
Some info on the Cherry Sisters found here


The three fellas on the left were known as The Equillo Brothers and were known as the "Masters of Equilibrium." Evidently, they never interacted or spoke with the audience at all. Then, there's the guy on the right. Dear ol' mister Will Mahoney played the xylophone. With hammers attached to his feet. I love vaudeville!

Well--that's it for the series for now, unless I think up of another way to sort of categorize all of the strangeness together!

All of the photos were photographed (poorly--sorry!) by me from my book New York City Vaudeville and it also served as my source of information for this post, except where noted.

xx