Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Alfred Latell (born Aldred Lee, ca. 1880s-1951) made a surprisingly good career for himself in vaudeville as an animal impressionist. Wearing elaborate, lifelike costumes, he  imperson…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:39AM[SHARE]Monday, January 7, 2013
I got a nice New Year’s surprise this weekend from Martin Denton and Indie Theatre Now — they’ve added a bunch more of my plays to my Indie Theatre Now page. What’s m…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:55PM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of the great African American character actress Thelma “Butterfly” McQueen (1907-1995). In her honor, I am not going to talk about or even mention her most …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:12PM[SHARE]I liked the Big Apple Circus show so much this season I had to see it twice. One thing I did miss, however, were the elephants Anna May and Ned. Why were they missing? Well, I’m here t…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:13AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of Star of Vaudeville #101, the great dancer Leonard Reed (for my full bio on the inventor of the shim sham shimmy, go here). I have no clips of him dancing, but …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:56AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of “Professor” William S. Hutchings (1832-1911), billed in vaudeville and dime museums as the “Lightning Calculator”. Hutching was a math prodig…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:14AM[SHARE]Pulaski, NY native Ada Briggs started with Barnum and other NY dime museums in the 1870s and her career lasted past the turn of the 20th century. Her marketing niche was that was not only &#…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:20AM[SHARE]Sunday, January 6, 2013
Thanks to the entrepreneurial acumen of Jim Moore (and the fact that I bought it) I am now the proud owner of one of five limited edition Vaudevisuals.com hoodies. I can’t think of a b…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:18AM[SHARE]Minnie Woolsey (ca. 1880-1960) was born in Georgia, U.S.A. with a rare condition that caused her to be small in stature with a prominent, bald cranium, a small chin, large ears, and a case o…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:20AM[SHARE]In 50 Years in Theatrical Management, impresario M.B. Leavitt referred to Kate Pennoyer as “one of the most prominent of early American dancers”. She specialized in ballet but al…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:46AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of Danny Thomas (for my full article on this great American entertainer go here). In honor of the day here’s a swell clip from the Berle show. The influence…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:43AM[SHARE]This is one in a series of posts we are producing in connection with our new book Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, available from Bear Manor Media…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:05AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of cowboy star Tom Mix (1880-1940). A real life ranch hand and wrangler, he broke into films in 1909 at the Selig Polyscope Company. When that company folded in 1917, h…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:38AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of the great American poet Carl Sandburg (1878-1967). I am exhilarated by his populism, though time has proven the inefficacy of his socialist beliefs. Sandburg&#…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:50AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of Star of Vaudeville #280: Fred Niblo (for more on him and his vaudeville background, go here). This one goes out to the Crountess, who only yesterday was drawing pict…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:15AM[SHARE]This is one in a series of posts we are producing in connection with our new book Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, available from Bear Manor Media…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:53AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of Henry E. Dixey (1859-1943) star of melodrama, musical comedy and vaudeville. A Boston native, he started out at the age of ten in the role of the boy “Peanuts&…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:06AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of Dame Adeline Genée (1878-1970). Born Anina Jensen, the Danish native later took the first name of the admired opera singer Adelina Patti, and the last name of her u…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:46AM[SHARE]Saturday, January 5, 2013
Today is the birthday of J. Stuart Blackton (1875-1941), an important figure in American show biz history on several fronts who deserves to be much better known. Born in Yorkshire, England h…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:21AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of Star of Vaudeville #279: Jack Norworth (for the full skinny on this singer/ songwriter/ accompanist go here). And now, here he is singing that perennial old tongue t…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:22AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of Eddie Tamblyn (1907-1957), father of Russ and Larry, grandfather of Amber. Never a star per se, he worked in vaudeville, Broadway and Hollywood (which is better than…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:49AM[SHARE]Friday, January 4, 2013
Okay, I thought I’d seen everything — or at least I thought I’d seen the upper limit in the line of differently-abled tap dancers in the person of Peg Leg Bates. Uh-uh. The…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:52AM[SHARE]Thursday, January 3, 2013
This is one in a series of posts we are producing in connection with our new book Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, available from Bear Manor Media…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:34AM[SHARE]This is one in a series of posts we are producing in connection with our new book Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, available from Bear Manor Media…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:52AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of that great musical-poetic iconoclast Van Dyke Parks. Oddly enough, experimentalism and Americana go hand in hand –Â the list of writers, poets, painters and …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:41AM[SHARE]The Hall of Hams is my series on some of my favorite actors who have brought the art of melodramatic acting into the modern era. Today is the birthday of Ray Milland (1907-1986). Milland is …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:49AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of LaVonda Stapp, (1920-1963), variously billed as Tiny LaVonda, Little LaVonda, Princess Lavonda, and Lady LaVonda, and always “The Smallest Woman in the World.&…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:16AM[SHARE]Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Funny how unfolding events become clearer in retrospect. More than anyone, it seems to me, police procedural television auteur Jack Webb is father of the “partners” trope, whi…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:52PM[SHARE]Loney Haskell (1870-1933) made his greatest fame as a big time monologist and master of ceremonies at Hammerstein’s Victoria. His given name was Lorne Levy; Loney is a corruption of hi…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:36PM[SHARE]Loading more stories…
