Orval Hixon

Nora Bayes was a vaudevillian comedic performer. At the age of 18, Bayes entered Vaudeville. She was an effortless singer and could put over any song. By 1898, vaudeville was becoming accepted as a form of family entertainment. Bayes was a beauty with a husky voice and sold the songs with a vivacious manner. Her ef...

This photograph is of an elderly man seated outside of Hixon's studio. The man is purportedly a former KC Star newspaper vendor. He appears worn with disheveled hair imprinted by a hat once worn, long wiry beard, and deeply wrinkled hands. He also appears to be resting for a moment as he has closed his eyes and proppe...

Usually, rube comics were favored by rural audiences who liked their entertainers down to earth. In Chic’s case, you couldn’t get more down to earth than the outhouses that figured in his storytelling. Despite a preference for sophisticated monologists, Broadway audiences took to two of the cracker barrel types, includ...

The Duncan Sisters were American actresses and motion picture figures of the 1920s. They were 12 and 14 when they entered vaudeville in 1914. They performed, as the Duncan Sisters, and were noted for their radio personas, “Topsy and Eva”. Later Rosetta and Vivian would find greater success, as a stage duo, with th...

Miss Egan, born with the name Mary Florence Cecilia Egan, was a violinist and bandleader during the 1920s through the 1930s. Her career started from the pit orchestras of Hollywood productions until she formed her own all-female orchestra in 1924 called Babe Egan's Hollywood Redheads. The group played in vaudeville alo...

In this portrait, the model is centered in a sideways pose, looking gleefully to her upper right. The figure is captured from her mid-section up, her left hand slightly touching her right arm, as her right hand cradles her chest. The model wears her curly hair short and quaffed meticulously. A prominent feature in t...

The identity of this man is unknown, but his persona is not. He is dressed here as the archetypal French painter in an exaggerated beret, precise mustache, painters frock, paintbrush, and wooden paint palette. Although there is no paint on his materials, one can assume that he is in the midst of working on the piece ha...

As a teen, Ernestine Myers enrolled in Madame Marie Jung’s eminent Chicago Musical College. Myers studied under the famous Ruth St Dennis and Ted Shawn in LA. She became a headliner in New York’s 81st Street Theater, Palace Theater, and Winter Gardens. Her creative specialty was combining acrobatic toe dancing with bal...

Warner Gault was a theater and film actor during the vaudevillian era. Gault is best known for his roles in the 1912 operatic comedy including: “The Merry Countess”, the 1915 musical comedy “Stop! Look! Listen!”, the 1919 musical revue “The Greenwich Village Follies”, 1920 musical revue “The Broadway Whirl”, and the 1...

As a teen, Ernestine Myers enrolled in Madame Marie Jung’s eminent Chicago Musical College. Myers studied under the famous Ruth St. Dennis and Ted Shawn in LA. She became a headliner in New York’s 81st Street Theater, Palace Theater, and Winter Gardens. Her creative specialty was combining acrobatic toe dancing with ba...