Three Vaudeville Women: May Irwin, Marie Dressler, and Eva Tanguay (2008)

Vaudeville was the most popular form of entertainment at the turn of the previous century. Three women emerge as the most popular of all of those entertainers: May Irwin, Marie Dressler, and Eva Tanguay. May Irwin single-handedly launched the ragtime music craze through her coon song performances, recordings, and sheet music and performed the first kiss captured on film. Marie Dressler had her start in comic opera, stage, and vaudeville. Eva Tanguay was the highest paid vaudeville performer and pushed the social mores of the day by creating wild and erotic stage acts, flaunting her sexuality, and allowing women to explore a wider interpretation of womanhood. These women changed the face of the entertainment industry by ushering in the New Woman.