THE DILOPOULO BROTHERS  AND EARLY AMERICAN ENTERTAINMENT by Steve Frangos Published in The National Herald - August 24, 2019 ------------------------------ I am excited that  The National Herald  has given Hellenic Genealogy Geek the right to reprint articles that may be of interest to our group.  ------------------------------ Among the various Greek performers and promoters of the 1890s and 1900s, George and Alexander Dilopoulo regularly appeared on stages all across North America and beyond. Consequently, these two brothers have exceedingly complicated histories. Both men could speak a number of languages and through marriage were affiliated with merchants who attended the flurry of world fairs that took place between 1893 through at least 1933. Yet unlike the majority of newly arriving Greeks to American shores the Dilopoulo family did not hail from the Peloponnese or one of the many Greek islands. Various news accounts and census ...

More Greek-American Blackface, Ethnic Stereotypes in Vaudeville by Steve Frangos Published in The National Herald, March 2, 2019 ------------------------------ I am excited that  The National Herald  has given Hellenic Genealogy Geek the right to reprint articles that may be of interest to our group.  ------------------------------ Joe Burns and Murray Kissen were an incredibly successful song and comedy team that performed for decades all across North America. That Burns and Kissen based a significant part of their careers making fun of Greek immigrants to North America is somehow long forgotten. Vaudeville acts during the late 1890s and well into the 1900s were renowned for their comedy routines that wickedly lampooned the newly arriving immigrants. The inability of the newly arrived foreigners to speak, and so fully understand standard American English was the core premise of this form of humor. Germans, Orientals, Jews, Irish, Greeks, an...

THE FIRST WAVE OF GREEK VAUDEVILLIANS By Steve Frangos Published in The National Herald, September 6, 2008 ------------------------------ I am excited that  The National Herald  has given Hellenic Genealogy Geek the right to reprint articles that may be of interest to our group.  ------------------------------ The commanding presence of Greek immigrants during the very formation of Modern American Entertainment is well documented. As promoters Greek immigrants were among the most influential individuals in an incredibly wide array of entertainment arenas such as dance halls, nickelodeons, music halls, carnivals, and certainly vaudeville and movie theaters. Leaving the promoters aside, for the moment, we need to begin relocating and re-assessing the careers of Greek immigrant performers.   The impact Greek immigrant performers had on American entertainment, again while documented, is for the moment hopelessly scattered. Part of the...