Popular Culture Review 30.1
I don ’ t know of any act of this kind , that we have ever played , that went as good as this one did to-day .” 13 The act continued to delight audiences in the Northeast throughout 1907 .
As this example shows , responding to audience feedback was a crucial component when crafting a successful act . The database reveals the important role the theatre manager played as a conduit between the audience ’ s expectations and the success of an act . The manager tailored pieces to suit the tastes of their patrons and would often recommend that performers cut or changed parts of their acts . These suggestions could include shortening the act , cutting out certain elements , or eliminating lewd or offensive material . Filtering performances by the keyword “ cut ” or “ eliminate ” will bring up any review that has contained that word . After a poor performance in Boston in 1903 , the manager there suggested that comedian Beatrice Moreland alter her material to play to audiences in that city . He complained that “ some of her stories were too pointed for use here and we were obliged to cut them , even though they went in Philadelphia and Portland .” 14 The success of a bill generally depended on the reaction of the audience rather than on how a manager rated the quality of the acts .
Especially popular in vaudeville were acts that maintained a snappy , upbeat approach . Brander Matthews , who taught drama at Columbia University at the turn of the century , thought “ the attitude of the vaudeville audiences toward the vaudeville stage is one of the most interesting ... the vaudeville audience wants its results quick , it wants to a snack of the big feasts in the show business . It wants an acrobat , a knock-about team , some trained animals , then a play , then some dancers , a song , a conjuror , another play , and so on . It is a restless , impatient audience , but it is the most appre-
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