Parisian Vaudeville in America: The Ravel and Martinetti Troupes at the Origins of Early Modern American Popular Entertainment

The essay aims at exploring the origin of the American variety theatre as the interplay of Parisian and local performance practices and traditions. The 18 th -century Parisian troupes migrating to the Unites States mainly exported vaudevilles (entertainments including varied acts structured on music formulas), which shaped many forms of entertainment proving remarkably successful until the rise of movies in the early 1930s. The essay traces the first Parisian theatrical migrations and analyses their interactions with the American stages. The focus is on selected archive materials concerning the Ravel troupe and the acrobat-vaudevillian, Paul Martinetti. At the end of the 19 th century, they staged pantomimes and vaudevilles, such as A duel in the snow after the masquerade ball: a serio comic ballet pantomime in 3 scenes (1890) by Martinetti, absolutely in tune with the Parisian most popular forms of entertainment.