Forgotten Vaudevillians

Many of the stars of vaudeville days went on to immense success, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Bob Hope, and the Marx Brothers, many more were huge stars in their heyday, but today are all but forgotten, like Joe Frisco, Gallagher and Shean, and Nora Bayes.  Countless others however, never made it so big, they were perhaps locally or regionally famous, and faded into obscurity once their short time in the limelight had passed.  Today, we’ll dig two forgotten entertainers of the 1920s out of the annals of time and bring them back to the public eye once again.  Those two are Violet Goulet and Mlle. Flo LeRoy.

Violet Goulet, as her photograph would suggest, played violin, and was billed as “violinist de luxe” for an appearance in Madera, California.  She seems to have been most active, and indeed quite busy, around 1920, appearing on stage first as part of an act called the Six Serenaders, then striking out on her own as a solo act.  She toured on the Pantages theater circuit, and appeared in shows at the Alhambra Theatre in El Paso and the Grand Theatre on San Antonio in 1920.

Mademoiselle Flo LeRoy, “mystic revealer,” made her mark on this world a few years after Goulet, but also seems to have had a longer career, with most information I can find on her dating to the latter part of the 1920s, the earliest reference I can being 1924 and the latest 1930.  LeRoy was a clairvoyant, and her act billed her as a “mystic marvel” or “mental wizard”, revolving around her making predictions about the futures of her audience members.  Her appearances would appear to have been limited to our southern states, mostly Texas, and her home was located in Dallas.

Unfortunately, I cannot find any information on the early or later lives of these two, and there’s precious little on their professional lives.  If anyone else out there happens to have any information about either of them, I would be thrilled to hear it, and will update this article should any new information arise.

2 thoughts on “Forgotten Vaudevillians

  1. Violet Goulet is my Great Aunt, Violet had two other sisters, Vivian and Arlene (My Grandmother) She spent a lot of time making hooked rugs and would win several blue ribbons in CA state Fairs. A lot of her subjects where clowns and traditional town settings. Upon passing in the Early 1980’s the rugs where givin to family while some of them where then purchsed by family at an estate auction. She was married a couple times her later, was Johnny Lund. They spent their golden years living in the desert on Pebble Beach Drive, Sun City Ca. I would love to go visit often and even in the 70’s she would play me a song. As I never meet Arlene my grand mother who passed in 1955 or 56 Violet took her place and I somtimes called her grandma Aww the good ol days. Loved her so much..

  2. There is a photograph on the San Jacinto Monument website of downtown Houston in 1924. A sign on the Rialto (theatre?) says that Flo LeRoy is performing.

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