Patricia Ann Jackson, age 13, of Oakland, Calif., for her question:

WHEN DID VAUDEVILLE DIE?

Vaudevill was a popular form of entertainment made up of music, E singing, dancing and other performances which were given in a series of short, independent acts. Historians say that vaudeville died in ' about 1930 when the motion pictures with sound arrived.

The name "vaudeville" originated in France. It is believed to have been applied to drinking songs written by a man in Vire in the Vaux de Vire, a valley of Normandy.

The first vaudeville house in America, called the Gaiety Museum, was opened in 1883 in Boston by a man named Benjamin Keith. Another important early vaudeville theater was Tony Pastor's in New York City.

Around 1900, several large chains or circuits of vaudeville theaters came into existence and achieved tremendous popularity.

Then in about 1930 the swift decline started.