Monday, January 16, 2012
Someone whose opinion I hold very highly recommends this record release concert at the Living Room tonight. To find out more about singer Nancy Margarill go here. Official Record Release:…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:20AM[SHARE]Sunday, January 15, 2012
The famed Art Nouveau dancer Loïe Fuller, one of the most famous women of the fin de siècle and early 20th century, had toiled in very different vineyards during her first couple of deca…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:23AM[SHARE]Saturday, January 14, 2012
I made lots of experiments with silent comedy in the 1980s and 1990s. My intention to go much farther with the form got sidelined by the late 90s when I started my own theatre company and an…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:34PM[SHARE]Friday, January 13, 2012
For your delectation: My 2009 interview with writer/ performer Clay McCleod Chapman (plus an excellent sample of his work, his short story “Rest Area”)Â from the short-lived I…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:01AM[SHARE]Today is Sophie Tucker’s birthday. In honor of the day, you HAVE to watch this 1955 clip of her on “What’s My Line?” First because, listen to the rousing cheer she ge…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:26AM[SHARE]Thursday, January 12, 2012
Today is the birthday of The Amazing Kreskin (born George Joseph Krsge in 1935). I undoubtedly first encountered him on The Tonight Show or some such similar venue years ago, but — iro…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:43AM[SHARE]Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Many of you may have enjoyed Shane Bertram Baker’s Vaudephones here a few days ago (see here and here). Yesterday his publicist sent me a press release that was so self-deprecatinglyÂ…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:06AM[SHARE]Born this day in 1904, Pine Top Smith is credited with popularizing the “boogie woogie” style of piano playing (at least under that name), by virtue of the 1928 record release of…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:42AM[SHARE]Tuesday, January 10, 2012
And now, here’s a classic routine by the great Zero Boy, the next installment in our Vaudephone series: Vaudephone is a co-production of Travalanche/ the American Vaudeville Theatre, a…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:57AM[SHARE]If you’re like me, at some time in the past you asked yourself the question, “How is it possible that the same guy directed Porky’s and A Christmas Story?” The answer…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:52AM[SHARE]Once the world’s highest paid entertainer, hailed the world over as the “king” and “emperor” of clowns, Grock performed primarily in European circuses but rates…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:12AM[SHARE]Monday, January 9, 2012
Bunny Lake’s not missing –Â she’s playing at the Brick Theater through this Saturday, January 14th! Or, rather the Brick Theater is where she IS missing, and I won’…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:17PM[SHARE] At last! It finally sees the light of day! My 2009 interview with puppeteer Kevin Augustine of Lone Wolf Tribe (along with a swell exhibition of his work) from the short-lived Indie T…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:00AM[SHARE]Sunday, January 8, 2012
Today is the birthday of Soupy Sales (1926-2009). I already did a pretty in-depth tribute to him here a few months ago to which I have little to add except this: To learn more about vaudevil…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:23AM[SHARE]Saturday, January 7, 2012
Fortuitous timing, since I’m elbow deep in work on my silent comedy book Chain of Fools. TCM is showing Chaplin films all night starting at 8pm and wrapping up at dawn tomorrow. I̵…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:50AM[SHARE]Carroll and Howe became better known for what they accomplished in the years following their period together as a vaudeville dance and comedy team. Jean Carroll (b. Celine Zeigman this day i…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:35AM[SHARE]Friday, January 6, 2012
The New York Neo-Futurists are relaunching their long-running hit (like a decade long) Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind at the Kraine Theatre tonight, and reviving their more recent hi…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:47AM[SHARE]Danny Thomas (born Amos Muzyad Yakhoob Kairouz on this day in 1912) was a Lebanese-American comedian and singer, best known for his long-running tv show Make Room for Daddy (a.k.a The Danny …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:39AM[SHARE]Thursday, January 5, 2012
Born this day in 1868, Peter F. Dailey would earn his greatest fame as a member of Weber and Fields stock company, where he reigned (all 250 lbs of him) from the ’90s through his early…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:41AM[SHARE]Georgie Price (born this day in 1901) was one of the great singer/comedian/ entertainers of the sort they don’t make any more, cut from the same cloth as Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor, Georg…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:39AM[SHARE]The lady in question’s real name was Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones (born this day in 1869). Adelina Patti was one of the great opera singers of the 19th century. Sissieretta was cal…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:37AM[SHARE]Wednesday, January 4, 2012
And now, here’s the meat of Shane Baker‘s Yiddish story-telling act, the next part of our Vaudephone series: Vaudephone is a co-production of Travalanche/ the American Vaudev…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:47PM[SHARE]Here now, the eighth installment in our Vaudephone series: Yiddish-language performer Shane Baker, here doing a hypnotism bit: Shane’s act was in three parts — this is the first …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:56AM[SHARE]You may know the 1965 Otto Preminger film Bunny Lake is Missing, with Carol Lynley, Laurence Olivier and Noel Coward. Well, the creators of this new version DON’T! And thereby hangs it…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:07AM[SHARE]Poor James Harrigan. The Original Tramp Juggler had his act stolen by many (most famously W.C. Fields) and posterity is apt to mix him up with the better known Ned Harrigan of Harrigan and H…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:36AM[SHARE]Tuesday, January 3, 2012
This post is one in a series that defines for the layman the various types of variety arts. For the full panoply go here. The Chop Suey Circuit is the not-very-respectful nickname for the lo…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:34AM[SHARE]The first Anna May I ever knew was an elephant at the Big Apple Circus, named in honor of America’s first Asian American star, Anna May Wong. Born this day in 1905, the human Anna May …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:32AM[SHARE]Monday, January 2, 2012
Myself and two muchachos went out to Coney Island yesterday to take in the annual Polar Bear ritual. Believe it or not the picture above was taken January 1! Having gone into the drink m…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:15AM[SHARE]Â Photo by Jim Moore Tonight, January 2, 8-11pm! Â Dixon Place presents Bindlestiff Open Stage Variety Show First Monday of Every Month, starts January 2, 2012 Dixon Place, 161A Chryst…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:37AM[SHARE]Born this day in 1892, Lillian Leitzel (Leopoldina Alitza Pelikan) was a second generation circus performer, born and raised in Germany. In 1910, she came to the U.S. with an aerial troupe c…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:28AM[SHARE]Sunday, January 1, 2012
 Tony de Marco (born today in 1898) was one of the premiere 20th century ballroom dancers. Starting in his native Buffalo he began in small time vaudeville and burlesque, working with…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:28AM[SHARE]Loading more stories…
