Popular Culture Review 30.1
ater-manager ’ s books that have been digitized by the University of Iowa . The reviews that have been collected in the database were chosen because they offered information on the type of performance , the content of the act , and / or the audience ’ s reaction to it . Each entry contains the name , date , city , theater , and performance type along with a transcription of the original review . Users can quickly access this information using any of four different methods : performance name , type of act , theatre , or keyword search . With the performance search function , the acts can be further sorted by year , performance type , or location of theatre . The keyword search function will bring up any review with that word in the title or content of the review . The variety of search methods allows the user to tailor the database to their research goals .
There are over 80 different performance types listed in the database , which captures some of the best known and most obscure acts that appeared in vaudeville . It is especially interesting to trace the novelty acts that were used to generate interest in a bill . The Salambos , for example , was billed as an electrical novelty act . They used electricity to create trick effects and gave a demonstration of wireless telegraphy�a technology that had only been around for seven years in 1902 . Tracing the history of the act tells us something about the rate of diffusion of new technologies . After a performance in New York , for example , the manager reported “ it is about the same sort of act that they did in this country about five years ago , but is valuable because it is a novelty . They introduce several new effects in it and the audience was deeply interested from start to finish .” 2 We may assume that the novelty of an act like the Salambos , several decades after the introduction of electricity , would make it tiresome to audiences . In fact , a Boston manager felt that while the troupe offered was “ an interesting trick exhibition ,” their act “ it is not worth big booking .” But
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