History: Visalia's Golden Age of Vaudeville

Visalia's Golden Age of Vaudeville

Story & Photos provided by Terry Ommen

America has had a long love affair with entertainment. Even the Pilgrims played games and had celebrations as a way to distract from their often difficult lives. As the country matured, types of fun and amusement expanded and developed. By the late 1880s, a new form of entertainment came on the American scene: vaudeville.

During the 1890s and early 20th century, vaudeville took the country by storm with hundreds of theaters, large and small, hosting performances. For several decades, this popular form of entertainment kept audiences smiling, laughing, and begging for more. The variety shows had something for everyone to enjoy.

Visalia, too, caught the vaudeville bug, and the shows weren’t always in theaters. Homes, schools, and community halls hosted them as well. On March 11, 1898, for example, Mrs. Charles T. Lindsey hosted a “grand vaudeville performance” in her home with 25 of her friends on the guest list. The attendees sat in one of her parlors with her folding doors serving as backdrops for the entertainers. The performers sang, danced, and recited to the delight of her guests.

The San Francisco Call newspaper printed this story in their May 27, 1900 issue.

But theaters and halls with actual stages were the preferred venues, especially for professional traveling troupes. The earliest of the halls in town were the Music Hall above the St. Charles Saloon, and a few fraternal lodges. But the first official entertainment spot in Visalia was Centennial Hall. Built in 1876, the building stands today on the west side of Court Street between Main and Center. The brick playhouse served its purpose for a dozen or so years, and then a larger building was constructed to accommodate bigger audiences and acts. Built in 1889, the new building on the northeast corner of Court and Acequia also housed the local national guard unit, and therefore it took the name Armory Hall. The building site is now a parking lot.

For several decades, Armory Hall welcomed politicians, entertainers, and prominent people of all kinds. As the years went by, the big building went through several remodels and name changes, including Armory Opera House, “The Theatre,” and Unique Theater. In December of 1914, after an almost complete makeover, the 795-seat beauty was renamed Theatre Visalia and kept the name until it closed its doors. It was replaced by the Fox Theatre at Main and Encina which opened in 1930. The Theatre Visalia building was razed in 1936.

Armory Hall, on the northeast corner of Court and Acequia, was built in 1889 and remodeled in 1914; it later became known as Theatre Visalia. The show truck and horse trailer are shown in front of Theatre Visalia in 1917. Captain is in the trailer.

Visalia’s golden age of vaudeville lasted from the 1890s through the 1920s, and during that period, clearly Theatre Visalia was the town’s premiere playhouse. On June 1, 1900, when it was still called Armory Hall, one of Visalia’s most popular vaudeville performances was scheduled. It was to feature a group of talented local female performers from some of Visalia’s most prominent families. The list included Edna Askin, Florence Cross and Helen Brown. Word of the lineup of Visalia ladies caught the attention of the San Francisco Call. The bay area newspaper devoted considerable space to Visalia’s big upcoming show. Its endorsement on May 27, 1900, included photographs of the entertainers and a bold headline announcing “Visalia Ladies As Vaudeville Artists—Splendid Array of Talent Preparing for an Entertainment in Armory Hall.”

The show did not disappoint. It was directed by Lillian Hayward, who was called a “genius” and was married to famous actor and director Francis Boggs. The program highlighted the individual talents of each of the women, which included dancing, singing, and the playing of musical instruments. They were a big hit with several of them earning encores. Each performer was presented with a bouquet of flowers.

Another popular vaudeville show took place on May 18, 1917, when multiple acts entertained a large audience at Theatre Visalia. The headliner for the evening was “Captain, the horse with the human brain,” who dazzled the near-capacity crowd with his counting ability, using his hooves. His physical maneuvers were also impressive including sitting, smiling, and stretching out all four legs like a hobby horse. To add to the difficulty, many of his “tricks” were done while blindfolded. Other acts in the show included Madam Ellis, the mystifying mind reader, Jack Dreesder, the “Raving Nut,” and Lockhart & Laddie, a novelty acrobatic duo. By the 1920s, vaudeville acts were being paired with moving pictures. Silent films were popular and the future of vaudeville started to come into question. It looked like vaudeville was beginning to give way to the big screen. But Visalia was not willing to abandon the live stage shows easily.

The show truck and horse trailer are shown in front of Theatre Visalia in 1917. Captain is in the trailer.

On April 4, 1926, Theatre Visalia advertised its lineup for the day calling it their “Delightful Easter Vaudeville Bill”, with four showtimes. Headlining the show was Carol Weston, a soloist and the well-known conductor of the orchestra at the Pantages Theater in San Francisco; she was also the daughter of Ella Herbert Weston, a native of Visalia. Wendell Conklin started the show with his ukulele, and the Moore Trio entertained with singing and dancing. Curt Galloway, “The Boy Tramp,” performed his hobo impersonation, and Mary and Kay put on a musical comedy act. The just-released, one-hour Paramount Picture “The Splendid Crime,” a silent film, completed the show. For two hours, the audience was enthralled.

In July 1926, the Visalia Morning Delta boasted that “Visalia is the only city between San Francisco and Los Angeles that is presenting Vaudeville in connection with feature pictures,” and added, “Visalia is the greatest show town in the valley…and is the talk of the amusement heads of the big circuits.”

The number of professional vaudeville acts appearing in Visalia began to decline by the late 1920s and early 1930s. A few shows were booked, but many so-called acts were local performers trying to keep the genre alive. It was clear the heyday of vaudeville had passed.

In 1938, Oscar O. McIntyre, well-known and respected syndicated columnist, gave his reason for the end of vaudeville. In his January 25th Visalia Times-Delta column he wrote, “Vaudeville died of sameness. No one changed his acts.” He added, “The astonishing thing is that patrons stood for such repetition for so long.”