Hm.
Burlesque: killed off by a variety of sociological factors, and largely replaced by the “men’s club,” a far less artful form of prepackaged sex for sale. Occasionally revived in small local venues, but ever targeted by the Morality Squad.
Barnstorming: destroyed by a variety of factors, ranging from the Depression to television. They still hold airshows, but it ain’t the same thing.
Carnival Sideshows: killed off by increasing scrutiny by the media, watchdog groups, and the law. Occasionally undergoes a revival, as in the Jim Rose Circus, best known for touring with Lollapalooza and a single “X-Files” episode.
Traveling Lectures: I view these as similar to vaudeville, as they often played the same venues and were wiped out largely by the same factors that killed vaudeville. Traveling lectures were not really vaudeville shows, though, and vice versa; vaudeville was intended as pure entertainment, whereas “chautaquas” and traveling lectures were intended as educational, enriching experiences (for the audience, that is – the perpetrators and venue owners were out to make a buck).
Minstrel Shows, on the other hand, WERE vaudeville, in pretty much every sense of the word. I also tend to plug Magic Lantern shows and other forms of traveling entertainment into the Vaudeville slot, simply because they traveled the same circuits and played the same houses… and they were “entertainment.”
Don’t know if I’d call RPGs “obsolete,” simply because they remain popular; how obsolete can they be if you can buy Dungeons and Dragons books in mall bookstores? Simply pointed out that they’re pretty specialized, and appeal largely to a niche audience; not obsolete, but possibly endangered, as computer and console games drain off more of their target market. I could be wrong, though.
By the same token, as long as you can buy Monopoly, Yu-Gi-Oh, and similar games at Wal-Mart, I would not call board games or card games “obsolete.” It’s going to be a while before electronic games beats the portability factor of a deck of cards, if nothing else. Yes, I know the Game Boy SP can do it, but I don’t have to recharge a deck of cards, and if I drop a deck of cards, I’m fairly sure it won’t be broken…
Single-screen theatres: nearly as extinct as drive-ins, pressed to the limits of survival by the rapacious multiplex.
Radio: exists today largely in music, talk, and sports formats, and very little else; some public radio outlets exist for dramatic radio shows, live readings, and other formats once common, but they’re few and far between, and without public funds and donations would certainly be extinct.
Men’s Magazines: I would have thought they were on the way out, if not for the current popularity of such magazines as Maxim and its imitators. Playboy’s circulation and profitability are down from its heyday in the early seventies, but it’s far from dead, while it remains in national circulation. Penthouse seems to have taken on a slightly sleazier format than it once did, but it, too, remains in national distribution. These days, however, Maxim and its imitators have the edge by shying away from complete nudity in their photo layouts; a small but vital difference, as it seems to prevent picketing of its sales outlets and distributors.
The “men’s magazine” as it existed in the postwar years, however, has been largely dead since the early seventies. A mixture of pulp fiction, saucy articles, lively photo spreads, and some truly weird advertising, many of these magazines failed to compete with Playboy and Penthouse; some went under, whereas others metamorphosed into “skin magazines,” and as such, tended to fall off national distribution lists. I miss 'em. Yammered at length about them in THIS THREAD; I’m amazed I forgot to mention them in the OP.
Six-day cycling, Dwarf tossing, Staged Train Wrecks, and suchlike: were these ever really THAT widespread to begin with?
