The first decade of the twentieth century was one of the last decades in which entertainment was still largely local and noncommercial. Movies were still in their infancy. Broadway had not yet gained a reputation as the center of serious and popular theater. Most Americans sought their entertainment in small local theaters, at vaudeville shows, and—in a growing number of cities—in storefront nickelodeons. Although wealthier Americans in large cities could attend serious professional performances of opera and of classic plays, such as the works of Shakespeare, most Americans enjoyed rougher, less polished fare. In the 1900s, twenty-first-century-style film and theater—polished productions that can be enjoyed by the masses in a variety of locations—simply did not exist.

The most popular form of entertainment in the decade was vaudeville. The core of a vaudeville show was variety: each show contained nine to...