Quotessence
Home / Topics / Vaudeville Quotes

Vaudeville Quotes

Browse 45 quotes about Vaudeville.

Related topics

Shows

Vaudeville Quotes

“Vaudeville could not vouch for the honesty, the integrity, or the mentality of the individuals who collectively made up the horde the medium embraced. All the human race demands of its members is that they be born. That is all vaudeville demanded. You just had to be born. You could be ignorant and be a star. You could be a moron and be wealthy. The elements that went to make up vaudeville were combed from the jungles, the four corners of the world, the intelligentsia and the subnormal.”

WorldHumansMadeIndividualStarsBornRaceFourHonestyIntegrityDemandMembersElementsCornersIgnorantMediumsHuman RaceWealthyMentalityJungleMoronHordeCorners Of The WorldVaudeville
Author:Fred Allen
Create image

“Next-door a baker's apprentice with his wife, an employee in a printing-shop, she has inflammation of the ovaries. Wonder what those two get out of life? Well, first of all, they get each other, then last Sunday a vaudeville and a film, then this or that club meeting and a visit to his parents. Nothing else? Well now, don't drop dead, sir. Add to that nice weather, bad weather, country picnics, standing in front of the stove, eating breakfast and so on. And what more do you get, you, captain, general, jockey, whoever you are? Don't fool yourself.”

LifeFirstsWellsTwoCountryLastsFilmNextParentWonderNiceWifeDoorsFrontsFoolEatingStandingAddMeetingsClubsWeatherShopsEmployeeSundayBreakfastCaptainsPrintingApprenticeBakersPicnicsStovesJockeysBad WeatherVaudevilleOvariesEating BreakfastNice Weather
Author:Alfred Doblin
Create image

“Anything really well-made has the effect of making you want to do what you do-better. Abrams has always made very beautiful books. It's exciting to see this same excellence applied to the presentation of comics. Abrams ComicArts shows comics are stepping out of vaudeville and into Carnegie Hall-but the Marx Brothers will always be welcome!”

WantWellsMadeBookShowsBeautifulEffectsBrotherExcitingExcellenceWelcomeHallsPresentationVery BeautifulCarnegieVaudevilleAbramCarnegie HallBeautiful BooksMarx Brothers
Author:Jon J Muth
Create image

“I am not an educated person. I didn't come up through a ballet company. I came up through burlesque. So I have a lot of inferiority feelings concerning my own lack of education, my entry into show business. I'm not a Baryshnikov. I'm not a Nureyev. I came up in vaudeville. Strippers. So I've always had these feelings. But I think they've also helped me.”

ThinkingPersonsShowsFeelingsMy OwnCompanyCome UpEducatedBalletShow BusinessEntryInferiorityEducated PersonLack Of EducationVaudevilleBurlesque
Author:Bob Fosse
Create image

“It was a great challenge to reconstruct Gypsy Rose Lee life, and my interviews with her sister [June Havoc] proved invaluable. It's not often that writers have access to living primary source material; this was the only person who experienced life on the vaudeville circuit with Gypsy during the 1920s, and who saw her perform at Minsky's Burlesque in the 1930s. She knew things that no one else could ever possibly know.”

KnowsPersonsChallengesSawsMaterialsSourceRoseAccessPrimariesInterviewsJuneGypsyCircuits1930sInvaluableHavocVaudevilleBurlesquePrimary Source
Author:Karen Abbott
Create image

“Stargirl began to improvise. She flung her arms to a make-believe crowd like a celebrity on parade. She waggled her fingers at the stars. She churned her fists like an egg-beater. Every action echoed down the line behind her. The three hops of the bunny became three struts of a vaudeville vamp. Then a penguin waddle. Then tippy-toed priss. Every new move brought new laughter from the line.”

BelieveActionMovingThreeStarsLinesBehindsArmsLaughterFingersCrowdsHopsEggsFistsParadesMake BelieveBunniesPenguinsVaudevilleStargirlVamp
Book:The Stargirl Collection
Create image

“When a population becomes distracted by trivia, when cultural life is redefined as a perpetual round of entertainments, when serious public conversation becomes a form of baby-talk, when, in short, a people become an audience, and their public business a vaudeville act, then a nation finds itself at risk; culture-death is a clear possibility.”

PeopleFormLife IsCultureNationsAudienceClearRiskPossibilitySeriousBabyConversationRoundsPopulationEntertainmentPerpetualDistractedTriviaVaudevilleBaby Talk
Book:Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
Create image

“Tilting his head back he slowly released an enormous quantity of smoke from his mouth and drew it up through his nostrils. He continued to smoke in this "French-inhale" style. Very probably, it was not part of the sofa vaudeville of a showoff but, rather, the private, exposed achievement of a young man who, at one time or another, might have tried shaving himself left-handed.”

MenMightYoungLeftStyleAchievementMouthsEnormousSmokeYoung ManExposedOne TimeQuantitySofasInhaleShavingLeft HandedVaudevilleEnormous QuantitiesShowoffs
Book:FOR ESME- WITH LOVE AND SQUALOR
Create image

“As a lobbyist he had long ago concluded there was no difference in how Democrats and Republicans conducted the business of government. The game stayed the same: It was always about favors and friends, and who controlled the dough. Party labels were merely a way to keep track of the teams; issues were mostly smoke and vaudeville. Nobody believed in anything except hanging on to power, whatever it took.”

WayLongGovernmentGamesDifferencesPartyIssuesTeamRepublicanDemocratTrackFavorsSmokeLabelsControlledLong AgoHanging OnLobbyistsDoughVaudeville
Book:Sick Puppy
Create image

“On the Bowery, in the ornate carcass of a formerly grand vaudeville theater, a dance marathon limps along. The contestants, young girls and their fellas, hold one another up, determined to make their mark, to bite back at the dreams sold to them in newspaper advertisements and on the radio. They have sores on their feet but stars in their eyes.”

DreamEyeYoungGirlStarsFeetMarkTheaterRadioDeterminedNewspapersBitesMarathonAdvertisementsFellasContestantsVaudeville
Author:Libba Bray
Create image

“Parallel to the training of the body a struggle against the poisoning of the soul must begin. Our whole public life today is like a hothouse for sexual ideas and simulations. Just look at the bill of fare served up in our movies, vaudeville and theaters, and you will hardly be able to deny that this is not the right kind of food, particularly for the youth. Theater, art, literature, cinema, press, posters, and window displays must be cleansed of all manifestations of our rotting world and placed in the service of a moral, political and cultural idea.”

WorldLooksKindArtIdeasSoulWholeBodyTodayAblePoliticalLiteratureMoralHistoryStruggleYouthTrainingWindowTheaterBillsPressesDenyCinemaManifestationDisplayParallelsPublic LifePostersNazismPoisoningSimulationNazi GermanyRottingMein KampfVaudeville
Author:Adolf Hitler
Create image

“I heard there were two local guys in town doing songs and comedy so I thought I'd take a look....they took my breath away...with their music, comedy, and showmanship.... 'Dakaboom'.. is the genuine article! Two voices in perfect harmony, and with joyful abandon and humor, they take you on a magical, musical, modern day vaudeville tour!! Ben McLain and Paul Peglar are headed for stardom. They are unique, they are original, and they are known as 'Dakaboom.' Don't miss 'em 'cause you're in for a treat!”

LooksTwoGuySongCausesVoicePerfectKnownComedyHeardModernMissingUniqueTreatsTownsHarmonyBreathsOriginalsMusicalGenuineLocalsEmsAbandonArticlesJoyfulStardomModern DayPerfect HarmonyVaudevilleShowmanship
Author:Tommy Smothers
Create image

“I will step outside the system. Voting for the “lesser evil”-or failing to vote at all-is part of the corporate agenda to crush what is left of our anemic democracy. And those who continue to participate in the vaudeville of a two-party process, who refuse to confront in every way possible the structures of corporate power, assure our mutual destruction.”

WayTwoEvilLeftProcessPartyStepsDemocracyFailingDestructionVoteStructureRefuseCorporateCrushVotingAgendasMutualLesser EvilVaudeville
Author:Chris Hedges
Create image