Vire is the largest urban center in the southern Calvados of French Normandy, a region largely gorged in hedgerows and pastures and towered by the 1,200 feet Mont Pinçon. Vire sits on a spur of rock overlooking the river that gave the town its name. Close by, the river carves a deep ravine called the Vaux de Vire where tanners, fullers, and drapers worked in large numbers at one time. One of these happy-go-lucky men, Olivier Basselin, used to chant rhyming songs about good food and wine. Many say that this was how vaudeville originated[1] – the genre of entertainment that became very popular from the 1880s to the 1930s.[2]
References:
Gaudez, René, Hervé Champollion, and Angela Moyon. Tour of Normandy. Rennes: Éditions Ouest-France, 1996. ISBN: 2737317185.
“Vaudeville.” < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaudeville>
[1] Gaudez, 55
[2] Vaudeville
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