Today Mary and her sister Gertrude "strolled off" to Keith's Theatre for the matinee show. According to the Free Library of Pennsylvania (libwww.freelibrary.org) Keith's Theatre opened on 12th and Chestnut Street in 1901 and was a major vaudeville destination for Charlie Chaplin, Al Jolson, the Marx Brothers and others. After years of decline it became the Randolph Theatre in 1943 and with extensive renovation became a major Philadelphia first-run movie theatre until it closed and was demolished in 1971.
Vaudeville was probably the most popular form of entertainment in the U.S. from the 1880s into the 1920s, after which radio with its free programming lead to its eventual demise. Vaudeville shows could go on for hours, highlighting a variety of musical, comedy and other performances often with multicultural themes, some of which would be politically incorrect by current standards. Vaudeville launched or was very important to the careers of W.C. Fields, Buster Keaton, Mae West, Jimmie Durante, Edgar Bergen, Burns and Allen, Jack Benny, Abbott and Costello, Bob Hope, Judy Garland, Sammy Davis, Jr., Red Skelton, The Three Stooges and others. PBS American Masters in 1997 had a two part approximately 120 minute series entitled "Vaudeville", which seems only to be available on DVD through Amazon.
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