Minnie Hauk

Minnie Hauk was an American operatic soprano performer. c. 1880, Maker Napoleon Sarony

George Eastman House Collection

Man with Large Snake, circus photo by Tyne and Wear Archives  & Museums

Carnival costumes, 1928. Photos by Suse Byk 

via etund

Eddie Cantor

Eddie Cantor, (January 31, 1892 – October 10, 1964), born Edward Israel Iskowitz, in New York City. After becoming a smash hit in vaudeville, Ziegfeld signed him for his Midnight Frolics and then the Follies of his Midnight Frolics and then the Follies of 1917, 1918, 1919 and 1923.  From there he went to films in the 1920s, starring in Whoopee, Kid from Spain and Kid Millions. Eddie Cantor was an American  performer, comedian, dancer, singer, actor and songwriter.

Source: ziegfeldgrrl

Harry Houdini

Crowd watching Harry Houdini, Over 500,000 people gathered in front of the Sun Building to watch Harry Houdini hang upside-down, 50 feet above the ground, for the two and a half minutes it took for him to escape from a straitjacket, Charles Street, Baltimore, April 26, 1916

mdhsphotographs | Baltimore City Life Museum Collection | Maryland Historical Society

Buddy Ebsen

Buddy Ebsen, 1936, girls

Christian Rudolph Ebsen, Jr., known as Buddy Ebsen (April 2, 1908 - July 6, 2003), was an American character actor and dancer. A performer for seven decades, he had starring roles as Jed Clampett in the long-running CBS television series The Beverly Hillbillies and as the title character in the 1970s detective series Barnaby Jones, and played Barnaby Jones in the 1993 movie version of The Beverly Hillbillies. Ebsen also played Fess Parker's sidekick in Walt Disney's Davy Crockett miniseries (1953–54), and was cast as the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz (1939) until he fell ill from an allergy to the makeup.

Source: wikipedia | thefabulousbirthday | pichaus

Ethel Waters

Ethel Waters, John Bubbles, 1929 On With the Show-Birmingham Bertha

Ethel Waters, (October 31, 1896 – September 1, 1977) was an American blues, jazz and gospel vocalist and actress. She frequently performed jazz, big band, and pop music, on the Broadway stage and in concerts, although she began her career in the 1920s singing blues. c. 1929

Source: songbook1

Aida Walker

Aida Overton Walker (14 February 1880 – 11 October 1914), also billed as Ada Overton Walker and as "The Queen of the Cakewalk", was an African-American vaudeville performer and wife of George Walker. This publicity photograph of her is from one of her productions called "Salome," from sometime around the turn of the 20th century.

Source: songbook1

Ruth St Denis

 

Ruth St Denis in The Greek Veil Plastique. Used in vaudeville act. Witzel -- Photographer,  1918, Denishawn Collection

Source: flickr  | The New York Public Library. The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

Harry Houdini

Harry Houdini (born Erik Weisz, later Ehrich Weiss or Harry Weiss; March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was an Austrian-Hungarian-born American stunt performer, noted for his sensational escape acts. (top photo, Houdini and Mrs. Houdini five years after their runaway marriage)

 Source: vintageprintable | domiovan

Aida Walker

Aida Overton Walker (14 February 1880 – 11 October 1914), also known as Ada Overton Walker and as "The Queen of the Cakewalk", was an African-American  Vaudeville performer and wife of George Walker

Sourcce: songbook1| google

Ruth Bayton

Ruth Bayton was an African American performer who became popular in Europe in the 1920's. She was born in White Stone, Virginia in 1903 and lived in Philadelphia, Baltimore and New York before leaving for the Continent. - Source: flickr.

Caterina Jarboro

Caterina Jarboro (1903–1986) was a pioneering African American opera singer. In 1933 — twenty-two full years before Marian Anderson's début at the Metropolitan Opera — impresario Alfredo Salmaggi hired Jarboro to sing with his opera company at the New York Hippodrome. ‘Caterina Jarboro was the first Black to perform with an American opera company.

 Source: carter-mag. | encyclo.co.uk