Life in the early 1900's was quite different from today. The pace
was slower (or so we believe in retrospect). The music was sweeter.
And, one learned life by the living. Then came the roaring
Twenties. The pace quickened. The music became more upbeat, spiked
with heady mixtures of jazz, ragtime and blues. By the early 1930's
the entire country had metamorphosed. Entertainers like Al Jolson,
Jimmy Durante and Sophie Tucker were the rage, and country and
western was just beginning to come into its own. Sitting back in
his Missouri home and absorbing it all was a young man named Al
Fike. Born in 1912, and a schoolteacher by trade, he listened to
the sounds of the country growing around him, absorbed them, and
made them his own. This "collection period" continued until the
late 1940's when, to the surprise of family and friends, he
announced a career change, and the legend of Al Fike the
Entertainer was born After that, Al Fike, The Modern Minstrel Man,
regaled audiences from coast to coast. Whether dressed in
candy-striped jacket and straw hit reprising the classics of George
M. Cohan or mimicking such greats as Ted Lewis, Durante and Jolson,
Al Fike single-handedly kept the traditions of vaudeville alive in
this country. He also introduced new music and new stars to his
routines so that his show was a virtual "performance library" of
American music, idioms, composers, and styles. In short, Al Fike
was a living legend, preserving and enhancing the traditions of the
American musical stage as no other performer has ever done. Seeing
The Al Fike Show was a rare opportunity to see an entertainer's
entertainer perform.
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