This work reveals the often racy, ribald, and sexually charged nature of the vaudeville stage, looking at a broad array of provocative performers from disrobing dancers to nude posers to skimpily dressed athletes. Examining how big-time vaudeville nonetheless managed to market itself as pure, safe, and morally acceptable, this work compares the industry's promotional practices to those of other emergent mass-marketers of the vaudeville era in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

Included are in-depth examinations of important figures from the vaudeville stage. Erdman discusses censorship and content control in the vaudeville era, and concludes with an analysis of film's part in the fall of vaudeville. Many photographs, cartoons, and other illustrations are included.



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