The History of Asian Pacific Vaudeville Performers, Part 1

Welcome to Season 6, Episode 40! In this episode, we begin a multi-part series on Asian Pacific Vaudeville Performers. Vaudeville was a fascinating outlet for people who wanted to be entertained back in the early 1900s. Historians have called it America's first mass entertainment industry because almost everyone, regardless of age or social class, had some connection to it. At its height during the early 1900s, thousands of performers toured hundreds of theaters across the United States and Canada.

Although the acts were dominated by white Americans, Asian American and Pacific Islander performers were present, even if their stories have largely been forgotten. In Part 1, we talk about Vaudeville in general and focus on two performers… Lee Tung Foo and Princess Jue Quon Tai. They worked hard to break out of the restrictive stereotypes of Chinese Americans that many people held.  

In our recurring segment, we do another installment of "What Are We Reading?" This time we focus on the books Paper Performance by Ju Yon Kim and Taipei Story by R.F. Kuang.

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Segments

• 00:25 Intro… Talking About Theatre
• 05:21 The History of Asian Pacific Vaudeville Performers, Part 1
• 23:24 What Are We Reading? Paper Performance by Ju Yon Kim and Taipei Story by R.F. Kuang