<P> For playwrights, the period after the War brought more financial reward and aesthetic respect (including professional criticism) than was available earlier . In terms of form, spectacles, melodramas and farces remained popular, but poetic drama and romanticism almost died out completely due to the new emphasis upon realism, which was adopted by serious drama, melodrama and comedy alike . This realism was not quite the European realism of Ibsen's Ghosts, but a combination of scenic realism (e.g., the "Belasco Method") with a less romantic view of life that accompanied the cultural turmoil of the period . The most ambitious effort towards realism during this period came from James Herne, who was influenced by the ideas of Ibsen, Hardy and Zola regarding realism, truth, and literary quality; his most important achievement, Margaret Fleming, enacts the principles he expounded in his essay "Art for Truth's Sake in the Drama". Although Fleming did not appeal to audiences--critics and audiences felt it dwelt too much on unseemly topics and included improper scenes, such as Margaret nursing her husband's bastard child onstage--other forms of dramatic realism were becoming more popular in melodrama (e.g., Augustin Daly's Under the Gaslight) and in local color plays (Bronson Howard's Shenandoah). Other key dramatists during this period are David Belasco, Steele MacKaye, William Dean Howells, Dion Boucicault, and Clyde Fitch . </P> <P> Vaudeville was common in the late 19th and early 20th century, and is notable for heavily influencing early film, radio, and television productions in the country . (This was born from an earlier American practice of having singers and novelty acts perform between acts in a standard play .) George Burns was a very long - lived American comedian who started out in the vaudeville community, but went on to enjoy a career running until the 1990s . </P> <P> Some vaudeville theaters built between about 1900 and 1920 managed to survive as well, though many went through periods of alternate use, most often as movie theaters until the second half of the century saw many urban populations decline and multiplexes built in the suburbs . Since that time, a number have been restored to original or nearly - original condition and attract new audiences nearly one hundred years later . </P> <P> By the beginning of the 20th century, legitimate 1752 (non-vaudeville) theater had become decidedly more sophisticated in the United States, as it had in Europe . The stars of this era, such as Ethel Barrymore and John Barrymore, were often seen as even more important than the show itself . The advance of motion pictures also led to many changes in theater . The popularity of musicals may have been due in part to the fact the early films had no sound, and could thus not compete, until The Jazz Singer of 1927, which combined both talking and music in a moving picture . More complex and sophisticated dramas bloomed in this time period, and acting styles became more subdued . Even by 1915, actors were being lured away from theater and to the silver screen, and vaudeville was beginning to face stiff competition . </P>

When did theater become popular in the us