vaudeville

In 1910, just before the Earth passes through the tail of Halley's Comet, thirteen-year-old Hope McDaniels, whose father is a magician in a traveling vaudeville show, tries to earn enough money to quit the circuit by selling "anti-comet pills," with the help of fellow-performer Buster Keaton.

Journeys into vaudeville's beginnings and its heyday by recalling the performers and the places where they performed.

Discusses the history of vaudeville including performances, theaters, and actors, and examines its influence on modern entertainment.

When their mother can no longer care for them, eleven-year-old Deirdre and her brothers board the Orphans' Train for placement with families out West, but Deirdre, a talented singer, finds a different type of family when she joins a traveling vaudeville troupe. Includes a note on the Children's Aid Society which operated the orphan trains from 1854 to 1930.

Twelve-year-old Gideon and his father perform in a second-rate vaudeville act about life in ancient Egypt accompanied by a mummy with a very special secret.

Feeling humiliated after a family scandal, a ventriloquist on the vaudeville circuit turns inward, neglecting his ten-year-old daughter and lavishing attention on his puppet.