flapper
1920s fashionable woman who breaks conventions.
George Bernard Shaw
Irish playwright, critic and political activist.
silent film
The first style of film, with no soundtrack and only written intertitles to display dialogue. It was replaces with "talkies" in the late 1920s.
vaudeville
stage plays and variety shows with interpolated songs popular in the early 1900s.
stuntman
An actor who performs stunts for other actors in films.
banana oil
slang for insincere words or nonsense.
Beverly Hills
A part of Los Angeles county.
King Lear
A Shakespearean tragic character.
Ethel Barrymore
A famous stage actress, known as the greatest stage actress of all time.
The Jazz Singer
The first "talkie," starring Al Jolson, which tells the story of a Jewish immigrant, and features a notable cinematic instance of blackface.
"talkie"
A film with synchronized recorded sound, in contrast to a "silent film."
aristocrat
a person of noble birth.
dame
slang for woman.
ham
An overly theatrical performer.
diction
enunciation in speaking or singing.
snifter
A glass used for sipping alcoholic beverages.
triple threat
A performer who can act, sing, and dance.
hoofer
Professional dancer.
burlesque
A variety show, often a parody of some kind, that usually involves a striptease.
deleterious
harmful or detrimental.
