Vaudeville headliners Throughout vaudeville's heyday, the headliners (usually billed next to the closing act) included: Ed Wynn (1913) Ethel Barrymore (1913) Nora Bayes (1914) Fritzi Scheff (1914) Nan Halperin (1915) Will Rogers (1916) Blossom Seeley (1917) Lillian Russell (1918) Leon Errol (1919) Marie Cahill (1919) Olga Petrova (1919) The "Dixie Duo" (Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake) (1919) Bert Williams (1919) Marie Dressler (1919) Aileen Stanley (1920, 1926, 1930, 1931) The Marx Brothers (1920) Lou Clayton and Cliff Edwards (1921) Bessie Clayton (1921) Fanny Brice (1923) Isabella Patricola ("Miss Patricola") (1923, 1926, 1927, 1938) Cecilia Loftus (1923) Trixie Friganza (1924) Florence Mills (1924) Cliff Edwards (1924) Doc Rockwell (1925) Weber and Fields (1925) Hamilton Sisters and Fordyce (the Three X Sisters) and Jerry and Her Baby Grands (1925 or 1926) Eva Tanguay (1926) Barto and Mann (1927, 1929) Ethel Waters (1927) Julian Eltinge (1927) the Duncan Sisters (1927) Clark and McCullough (1928) Clayton, Jackson & Durante (1928) Buck and Bubbles (1928, 1929) Harry Langdon (1929) Mary Hay and Clifton Webb (1929) Phil Baker (1930, 1931, 1932) George Jessel (1930) Adelaide Hall (1930, 1931, 1933) Other performers Other performers appearing at the Palace included: Burns and Allen Jack Benny Sarah Bernhardt Eddie Cantor Vernon and Irene Castle Gus Edwards Frank Fay Benny Fields Bob Hope Eddie Leonard George Jessel Helen Kane Bert Lahr Ethel Merman Bill Robinson Blossom Seeley Kate Smith Sophie Tucker Decline The circuit became Keith–Albee–Orpheum in 1925 and it acquired film companies the following year. With the Great Depression came a rise in the popularity of film and radio, and vaudeville saw a steep decline. The Paramount Theatre (1926) and Roxy Theatre (1927) in particular were major competitors to the Palace. Many bills at the Palace were held for several consecutive weeks due to their popularity, which turned away subscription holders, and many acts demanded increased salaries. After Keith–Albee–Orpheum merged with RCA and the Film Booking Office to form RKO Pictures in 1928, the circuit's vaudeville houses became movie houses. In 1929, the Keith's booking office relocated from the fifth floor of the office wing to the sixth. To attract vaudeville-goers, the Palace added an electric piano in the lobby and colored lights in the auditorium during the late 1920s. Vaudeville was still popular as late as 1931, when Kate Smith had a ten-week-long run. After considering a three-a-day production, the Palace moved to four shows a day in