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About Variety Arts Enterprises

Variety Arts Enterprises provides a variety of editorial and graphics services to museums, historical societies, and cultural organizations. Variety Arts Enterprises also presents the illustrated lecture, performance, and exhibition, "A Vaudeville Retrospective: The Living History Museum of Early 20th Century Popular Entertainment."

From 1975 to 2000 Variety Arts Enterprises was the personal and logistical management entity for a nationally-touring theatrical show, "The Goodtime Ragtime Vaudeville Revival" and a circus/variety act, "Mr. Slim & L.J. --- Classic Comedy Juggling."

The principal, R. W. Bacon is a graduate of Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Public Communications (B.A. Journalism) and Maxwell School of Public Affairs (B.A. Sociology); and the Harvard Museum Studies graduate program (C.M.S.). He was a decade into his first career as a newspaper/magazine journalist, editor, and designer when his avocational interests unexpectedly blossomed into a 35-year career as a nationally-touring acrobatic juggler, comedy tap dancer, and jazz/ragtime musician. Most of those years he worked in dazzling synchrony with his wife, the sensational club-juggler L.J. Newton.

For many years to follow, off-seasons from performance tours were filled with (1) research on early-20th-century music & entertainment; (2) writing, editing, and publication design for a variety of businesses and organizations; and (3) behind-the-scenes publishing assistance for client projects.

In a pro-active plan to conclude the physically-demanding performance career injury-free by age 60, the principal --- already beyond the expected "shelf life" of an acrobatic juggler, unicyclist, rola-bola, and globe artist --- went back to graduate school to earn proper credentials for a post-showbusiness career in the museum and history field. As they say, the rest is history. The principal's subsequent work as both an independent museum professional and on staff for a regional preservation organization sparked research and writing on new areas of study, and sparked new book publishing initiatives for Variety Arts Press.

Variety Arts Press now has 16 books in print, and has earned recognition and awards from scholarly organizations and professional associations. Topics include circus arts technique & history, vaudeville history, early-20th-century popular music, architecture & preservation, New England genealogy, research methodology, writing & editing, and typography & design.

Since "closing the book" on showbusiness in 2009, R.W Bacon has also presented the illustrated lecture, performance, and exhibition conceived especially for museums, college theatre departments, and libraries, "A Vaudeville Retrospective."

The principal has been a featured presenter on multifarious topics at numerous professional conferences, and in a continuing effort to remain current in the field, maintains membership with the American Historical Association (AHA), National Council on Public History (NCPH), American Association for State & Local History (AASLH), American Alliance of Museums (AAM), New England Museum Association (NEMA), Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) ... and in the world of circus/variety, the International Jugglers' Association (IJA), Unicyling Society of America (USA), and Circus Historical Society (CHS).