Monday, December 12, 2011
This is part of a little series of post-Thanksgiving mini-posts I'm doing about items you might want to consider as Holiday gifts. As you’ve probably guessed, there’s something v…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:06AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of Lillian Roth (see full bio here). In honor of the day, we present her Mae West inspired duet with James Dunn “Come Up and See Me Some Time” from the 1933…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:39AM[SHARE]I wrote here a few months ago about Audrey Crabtree’s collaboration with Mexican clown Gabriela Muñoz. Gaby’s in town for a few days and she and Audrey are doing a one-night o…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:29AM[SHARE]Sunday, December 11, 2011
Today is Stubby Kaye’s birthday (see also my post on him here). In honor of the day we present this 1965 clip from his children’s show Shenanigans: To find out more about the…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:39AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of Eddie Dowling (see full bio here). In honor of the day, we present the trailer for his 1929 film Rainbow Man: To find out more about the history of vaudeville,…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:37AM[SHARE]Sliding Billy Watson (a.k.a William Shapiro, 1880-1940) was so called because of his sliding, skidding entrance onto the stage from the wings. The burlesque comic’s career started arou…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:32AM[SHARE]Saturday, December 10, 2011
It’s no accident that percussive dancer Hal Le Roy (b. John Le Roy Schotte this day in 1913) started off performing as a drummer – - what is tap dancing but drumming the ground w…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:32AM[SHARE]Tonight at 8pm! Presented by Morbid Anatomy, Atlas Obscura and The Coney Island Museum. Curated by Joanna Ebenstein & John Del Gaudio. Featuring classic Grand Guignol performances, film,…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:25AM[SHARE]Today at 2:30pm, the Silent Clowns films series presents Stan and Ollie bringing us the Hal Roach holiday greetings of "Peace on earth, every man for himself, and don't forget to duck." A…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:52AM[SHARE]Tonight at 8:30pm at Film Film Biz Recycling, 540 President St, Brooklyn Repurposing one of the Gowanus’s hidden treasures–the beautiful Film Biz Recycling Prop Shop–for a …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:49AM[SHARE]Friday, December 9, 2011
Sorry, I’ve studying how to write marketing copy for Hollywood movies. Nevertheless, apparently horror isn’t just for Halloween any more. If the ghosts in A Christmas Carol are n…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:46AM[SHARE]I confess that, despite my affection for Victoriana, having been a little boy, I have heretofore steered a wide berth around Little Women. Lately, however, I’ve been meaning to investi…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:42AM[SHARE]A few words about Babes in Toyland a.k.a March of the Wooden Soldiers (1934). I’d never heard of this film until they began to show it on cable television in the 1980s. It rapidly beca…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:38AM[SHARE]There are numerous Nutcrackers in this city at this time of year — the Yorkville Nutcracker, now in its 16th year, is the only one that is ABOUT New York. Re-set in 19th century NY…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:36AM[SHARE]Today and tomorrow only! The Mt. Vernon Hotel Museum and Garden is one of New York’s best kept secrets and the holidays are the best time to experience this building’s historical…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:36AM[SHARE]A surprise perhaps, given what fans know of Broderick Crawford’s gruff screen persona in tv shows like Highway Patrol (1955-59) and countless westerns and crime drams from the big scre…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:31AM[SHARE]Tim (Harry Roscoe) Moore (born today in 1887) is best known to posterity) for playing the Kingfish in the television version of Amos and Andy (1951-53). (The characters had been played by wh…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:28AM[SHARE]The brilliant clown Hilary Chaplain’s show A Life in Her Day (directed by Avner the Eccentric)Â is playing in the Voice for Vision Festival at Theater for the New City through Decem…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:18AM[SHARE]To elaborate on my squib in my December column, the world needs another Christmas Carol like it needs a hole in the head (h’m….does the world have a head)? Yet here are 4 new the…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:08AM[SHARE]Thursday, December 8, 2011
This is part of a little series of post-Thanksgiving mini-posts I'm doing about items you might want to consider as Holiday gifts. I’ve already raved about Paragon Ragtime Orchestra bo…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:01AM[SHARE]Today is Sammy Davis, Jr.’s birthday (full bio here). If you’re like me, as a general proposition Sammy makes you want to puke. His sycophancy; his faked sincerity; his slimy…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:36AM[SHARE]The name Georges Méliès (born this day in 1861) is no doubt on everyone’s lips very much these days thanks to the recent release of Scorcese’s Hugo. (Very savvy to have release…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:28AM[SHARE]Wednesday, December 7, 2011
This is part of a little series of post-Thanksgiving mini-posts I'm doing about items you might want to consider as Holiday gifts. First, some tough love: Jerry Zucker should change his name…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:20AM[SHARE]Elder brother of legendary Broadway producer (and former vaudevillian) Max Gordon, Cliff Gordon (1880-1913) was best known in vaudeville for delivering stump speeches as “The German Se…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:27AM[SHARE]Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Here now, the fourth installment in our Vaudephone series: Theé Baron Parker á Pinot, The World’s Only Wine Comedian, a droll chap who looks suspiciously like Jonny Cigar, and whos…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:49PM[SHARE]When I was about ten years old, inspired by the 1953 Houdini bio-pic I’d watched on tv, I went to the library to find a book on the great escape artist. What I found looked a little cl…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:11PM[SHARE]A contortionist and acrobat Harley Mankin was known for “[Doing} What No Other Man Kin”, i.e., acting like a frog. Dressed in a frog costume, he’d leap and bound around…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:25AM[SHARE]This lady is high-sterical! Her holiday show opens tonight…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:46AM[SHARE]Monday, December 5, 2011
This post is one in a series that defines for the layman the various types of variety arts. For the full panoply go here. New Vaudeville is a term that nearly everyone ever associated with i…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:12PM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of one of the best straight men in history, Jay Brennan (1881-1961). While he had many partners over the years, only one was legendary: Bert Savoy. Bert Savoy was the f…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:57AM[SHARE]Loading more stories…
