Women Who Changed Society Through Theater Essay

Richard Pryor, arguably one of the greatest stand-up comedians of all time, credits his comedic abilities to many comedians, one being Charlie Chaplin. You may be thinking, “how does Charlie Chaplin, the guy who played The Tramp in silent black and white movies, influence a stand up comedian like Richard Pryor?” Well, you may be surprised to know that all American stand-up comedians are heavily impacted by the performances in the late nineteenth century. During the late 1800’s, vaudeville and burlesque dominated performance venues across the country and developed a new art form that had never been seen before. Although stand-up is one of the only true American art forms, we cannot forget to credit vaudeville and burlesque performers who paved the way for the rise of stand-up comedy. Believe it or not, nineteenth century burlesque and vaudeville play a major role in the evolution of what stand-up comedy is today. After all, how can we respect the art form of stand-up comedy today without fully understanding how it all began?

Without this cultural and social change to society in the 1950’s and 60’s, a woman’s world today would be very different than what we currently know it as.

The first strictly female-based shows were released in the 1950’s. These musicals attracted more female-based audience members and ticket sales rose exponentially. Musicals such as The Sound of Music and My Fair Lady showed

Queen Elizabeth came to be known as one of the greatest rulers of the English empire. Under the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, a more efficient government was created. The church was unified, the English empire was expanded, and language, literature, and theater flourished to a greatness that would be impossible for almost any other period of English history, or any other European empire, for that matter, to match. Although there was a great rise in literature,it was theater that catapulted to greatness during Elizabeth's reign. Out of Elizabeth's era came Elizabethan theater. Elizabethan theater has such a variety of topics, that would make it virtually impossible to talk about in ten pages.

Clare Croft’s article talks about the physical responses to prompts, as she removes the word “girl” from rehearsals and gives them words such as “bossy” or “scarred.” With this she achieves a less hetero-normative performance as it removed the idea’s of femineity and gender. She also talks of the loudness of the male actors in comparison to the females, and how it draws the eye away. This is one way in which IF THERE’S NOT DANCING AT THE REVOLUTION, I’M NOT COMING… achieves feminist goals. By removing the male from the stage, directing the focus to the Julia Croft and paying attention to her representations of gender.

Over the course of approximately one-hundred years there has been a discernible metamorphosis within the realm of African-American cinema. African-Americans have overcome the heavy weight of oppression in forms such as of politics, citizenship and most importantly equal human rights. One of the most evident forms that were withheld from African-Americans came in the structure of the performing arts; specifically film. The common population did not allow blacks to drink from the same water fountain let alone share the same television waves or stage. But over time the strength of the expectant black actors and actresses overwhelmed the majority force to stop blacks from appearing on film. For the longest time the performing arts were

With all the strong females within the Vaudeville Era they were still woman in theatre being stifled by the all male climate and were simply seen as sex objects to keep the men at the performance, or objected to being laughed at in a demeaning manner. Still around 1910 most women had found themselves with more free time. So, they began to look deeper into their own personal identities and found that they liked going the theatre. “More than forty percent of popular theatre audiences were made up of mostly women” (Fields). One can see how women like Sophie Tucker and Fanny Brice wanted to be a part of the “stage-struck-girl” movement (Fields). These Women were not meant to be underestimated. As Vaudeville evolved into musicals, so did the amount of powerful females commanding the spot light.

Louise Brooks, a silent movie star, was an idol of the flappers, and their prototype for offending older generations and pushing the bounds of acceptable female behavior. She led an exuberant social life, hanging in a social circle that included George Gershwin, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and other authors such as Benchley, Mencken, and Anita Loos. Louise Brooks epitomized the flapper culture and could be described as “flamboyant”, or “ambivalent”, yet always with an uneasy sense of pessimistic depression underneath it all.

“Sisterhood is powerful” took on many different meanings when comparing the artist examined in class. “Sisterhood” can be defined as a group of feminist joining together by common interest of making a change. “Powerful” refers to the actions they take to make that change. While there were many female groups forming, each group took a different approach towards voicing their concerns about society’s female roles. These approaches can be simplified by the following: rebellion, embracement, and strength.

I believe that I was an imperative figure in inspiring women to pursue and connect with the actors and actresses of the era. In the 1930s, I stood as one of the most vital stars at MGM. Furthermore, women involved in the Great Depression era associated themselves with me in intimate and explicit ways. At this time, my career was at its prime, impressing both film executives and movie patrons. Despite the adversities, I was a self-motivated and resolute individual, able to create a remarkably stout and varied body of work in a career that often emulated both the themes and trends of the industry. In the '20s, I was the embodiment, according to writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, of the sprightly yet expressive flapper. Moreover, in the '30s, I personified a Depression-era nation's hopes with my renderings of both spirited working girls and glamorous society women. In becoming a successful and well-known performer from particularly humble origins, I gave hope to young women in a position similar to mine. With this said, I hope to serve as a paradigm of perseverance and integrity when addressing dedication to one’s work and

Berkeley’s chorus girls were no step-touching amateurs; they were talented singers as well as dancers, beautiful and physically in-shape, and ready to do whatever Berkeley asked of them in

In 1963, Jule Styne, Arthur Laurents, and Isobel Lennart premiered a new musical called Funny Girl, based on the life of Fanny Brice. This American Musical was about one of the most famous female vaudevillian comediennes that was famous for her character “Baby Snooks”, a naughty mischievous little girl in a forty each old woman’s body. “Baby Snooks” made tons of appearances in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1910, 1921 and the radio. She not only was able to make people laugh but her songs such as “My Man” and “I’d Rather Be Blue” could make a person cry. Brice was such a well-rounded performer yet suffered a lot of heartbreak in her life with three failed marriages. Ray Stark, the producer supervisor of the Broadway musical, happened to start this biopic project because he was married to Frances Brice, Fanny Brice’s daughter. Fanny’s story of going from rags to riches was inspiring to not only Stark but to the future of musical theatre lovers. She changed the face of beauty that the Follies were known for and instead brought these characters and skits to make people adore her and her looks. Brice also invented a new form of Jewish female comedy which had never been seen in vaudeville before giving the show more ways to showcase her as a Jewish girl who was never a type before. The Broadway musical soon turned into a Hollywood motion picture and in both showed how the evolution

Lucille Ball has rightfully earned the nickname the ultimate trickster by her character’s depiction through the popular 50s comedian show, I Love Lucy. For six seasons, it was aired on CBS consistently receiving the #1 rank show for six years straight. The show and Lucille’s character was one of the most successful products television has broadcasted to the society. America was experiencing a postwar era in the 1950s, a devastation that occurred to the economy and the society after World War II ended and the country needed a change. The show addressed the central ideological concerns of the postwar period within the emerging medium of television situation. The comedy in I Love Lucy show climaxed with a performance by perhaps be the most brilliant physical comedienne on film.

These days, a burlesque show is considered a series of ladies dancing and singing in quite a sensual way, but this idea of burlesque shows has been revisited and revived over the years. In the nineteenth century, for instance, a burlesque was a type of show that parodied popular performers, plays, literature, and whatnot in a comically exaggerated way. Consider today’s modern version: Saturday Night Live. In that day, one of the most popular topics of culture was the Native American culture, due to the considerable conflict ensuing between the Natives and the American settlers pushing west. Americans both feared the so-called savages and were intrigued by their natural way of life. From this intrigue, the legend of Pocahontas became a major icon for literature. John Brougham – an actor, manager, and playwright – took the popular icon of Pocahontas, and created a burlesque afterpiece that would live to become both the most popular burlesque of its kind, and the end-all be-all of the Indian fascination on the American stage. The story less than accurately portrays the story of Pocahontas, including the marriage of Captain John Smith and Pocahontas, but only after he wins her hand in a card game. Originally, Pocahontas’ father, Chief Powatan, had Pocahontas engaged to a Dutchman named Mynheer Rolff, meant to represent the historical character of John Rolfe,

“If one compares a woman in 1900 with her counterpart in 2000, the gains have been significant. There were the obvious changes, such as the right to vote and other governmental policies supporting women in the 1960s and 1970s. The results were women successfully engaging in certain jobs for the first time. Where women were once a minority, or excluded entirely, by 1980, they accounted for more than half of all undergraduate students”,