When I was seventeen (about 1963) a couple of buddies and I managed to gain admission to the Gayety Theater in Washington, D.C.. At that time vaudeville must have been in the final stages of death. The Gayety was a strip joint. This was my first and only visit to such a place. (honest)

The Gayety had a fairly large, wooden stage. There was a small orchestra pit that held a seven piece band that did a great job of playing the very sort of music you would expect to hear there - complete with all of the rim shots when the strippers did their "bumps".

I believe Blaze Storm was among the starring strippers. Their acts were rather tame by today's standards; but at that time they were just fine with me!

In the middle of the show the strippers went offstage and the curtains closed. A single spotlight lit the stage and to my surprise two vaudeville comics took the stage. They did "Slowly I turned..." and all the old gags. It was great!

I don't know what became of the Gayety. The building was closed and was blocked by a multitude of scaffolding the last time I passed through that part of town. I suspect that it might have been refurbished into a dinner theater. That was the fate of one of its nearby competitors.

I suspect this might be a representative example of what became of vaudeville theaters; but I don't know for certain.