# Movies with Vaudeville acts in them **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 15, 2008, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-vaudeville-acts-in-them/437819 "2008-02-15T22:31:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-vaudeville-acts-in-them/437819/1 "2008-02-15T22:31:06Z")
I mean especially ones where you think the scene gives you a pretty authentic picture of what [Vaudeville](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaudeville) was like. The only one I can think of is [_Yankee Doodle Dandy._](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankee_doodle_dandy) (The early part, where George Cohan is being raised as a Vaudeville song-and-dance man; his Broadway work is something different.) Any others? ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-vaudeville-acts-in-them/437819/2 "2008-02-15T22:38:58Z")
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane. Would White Christmas count? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-vaudeville-acts-in-them/437819/3 "2008-02-15T22:44:05Z")
[_The Night They Raided Minsky’s_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063348/) [_The Entertainer_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053796/) ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-vaudeville-acts-in-them/437819/4 "2008-02-15T22:44:26Z")
I think all of the Hope/Crosby Road movies have Vaudville-style numbers in them, though they take place in exotic markets, parties, carnivals, and such rather than in an actual Vaudville show. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-vaudeville-acts-in-them/437819/5 "2008-02-15T23:00:54Z")
In **Just Imagine** (1930), a vaudeville entertainer finds himself in the incredible world of 1980, where he performs a [number](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4W9HOxA8m4U) that, for some inexplicable reason, the audience seems to find amusing. (If you want to see what life in 1980 is really going to be like, try [this clip](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD5YWJbni6E) , starting at about 1:25.) ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-vaudeville-acts-in-them/437819/6 "2008-02-15T23:23:12Z")
It isn’t quite what you seem to be after, but a reasonably large number of the short subjects released after the start of sound (those by Vitaphone come to mind) use vaudevillian performers, offering a clue as to the talent of many performers, and the diversity of the acts involved. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-vaudeville-acts-in-them/437819/7 "2008-02-15T23:26:55Z")
I was going to mention Minsky’s also. A number of WC Fields movies (I think the Old Fashioned Way, at least) include his juggling act. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-vaudeville-acts-in-them/437819/8 "2008-02-15T23:50:37Z")
_Harry and Walter Go to New York_ is about two vaudevilleians who try their hand at bank robbery. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2008, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-vaudeville-acts-in-them/437819/9 "2008-02-16T00:42:26Z")
[QUOTE=Voyager] I was going to mention Minsky’s also. A number of WC Fields movies (I think the Old Fashioned Way, at least) include his juggling act. [/QUOTE] Field’s **The Golf Specialist** is a filmed version of his vaudeville act. “Who’s on First” has its origins in vaudeville, as did “Niagara Falls – Slowly I turn.” Both were done on film by Abbott and Costello, and the latter also by the [Three Stooges](http://www.dlmweb.com/news69.html).