Live+Theatre+of+the+1930's

Live Theatre of the 1930's

The great depression took a great toll on public entertainment. The people didn't have the money to afford expensive tickets to the theatre, and even big producers like Broadway lost so many viewers that the amount of plays showing dropped below the hundreds for the first time in history.

One very popular type of theatre before and in the 1930's was called Vaudeville.



Vaudeville was a kind of performance that was similar to a circus. It had several different acts that didn't have anything to do with each other. Often it would display human acts and talents, but it would also include short skits or scenes from plays.



~Activity time~ Woo hoo!

Unfortunately, Vaudeville died out quite quickly during the depression, but the Live theatre retained an extremely optimistic presence. Most plays were about happy things, trying to pull people out of their rut, and into their auditoriums.

Plays like Girl Crazy completely ignored the financial crisis of the nation. In it, a man named Danny Churchill goes out to Arizona to manage his family's ranch. Instead of working it the way most people would prefer, he ends up turning it into an entertainment joint. He hires performers to come, and gets all kinds of women to hang around the dude ranch. Eventually, there re people coming from both coasts to be entertained at this ranch. All of this, and of course, a love story created a big hit, even during the depression.



The whole idea of Vaudeville, and it's ubrupt end reminded me a lot of Lennie. He's such a childish and happy guy, he really just lives in his own world. Unfortunately, the world wasn't ready for him, and he got pushed back. Much like Vaudeville died out when people couldn't pay to see it, Lennie's life perishes when everyone turns on him, and he is no longer tolerated. Lennie is like an exciting, different kind of personality, but he is just too much for people to handle when times get tough.



I also interpreted Girl Crazy to be a good parallel to the dreams of George and Curly's wife. George wants so badly to be able to go and have his own place to do what he wants with. He wants to have women and parties, and just be on his own doing what he pleases. He was working for it, but in Girl Crazy, Danny doesn't have to lift a finger for it.



Curly's wife wants to be famous. She wishes she'd gotten that letter so she could run away with the movie stars, so everyone across the country could love her. Just like George's, Curly's wife's dream is achieved in Girl Crazy, but without hardly any work at all. It's kind of ironic because Girl Crazy was written during the depression. Danny is given a ranch, and obtains popularity, when that would be totally unrealistic for anyone at that time, including the main characters in Of Mice and Men.



~Alli S.

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