Saturday, April 20, 2019
I will never doubt my self-worth ever again. I had some dim memories in my head of a certain television program of my youth, and I cannot TELL you the amount of digging I had to do this morn…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:24AM[SHARE]Born in Burlington, Iowa, raised in Kansas City, Fred Kohler (1887-1938) started out in vaudeville and toured with traveling stock companies before breaking into silent films in 1911 in Seli…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:30AM[SHARE]Milt Bronson (1896-1993) was a member of Abbott and Costello's stock company and inner circle during their peak years. Born in New York, Bronson started out in vaudeville, where I find refer…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:54AM[SHARE]Friday, April 19, 2019
April 2019 marks the 80th Anniversary of the groundbreaking 1939 New York World's Fair. To mark the occasion I've booked two talks at two related locations, one in Brooklyn, one in Queens. A…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:15PM[SHARE]Since 1973, the arrival of Passover/ Good Friday/ Easter has meant an annual television screening of Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 Biblical epic The Ten Commandments. That initial showing on ABC w…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:39PM[SHARE]Thursday, April 18, 2019
April 18 is Superman's birthday; it's the day on which the character made his first appearance in Action Comics in 1938. We are also coming up on the 80th anniversary of the comic book which…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:44AM[SHARE]Wednesday, April 17, 2019
A little record of last night's performance of the American Vaudeville Theatre at the Slipper Room celebrating 10 years of my Stars of Vaudeville blog series. It had been my first vaudeville…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:55AM[SHARE]Tuesday, April 16, 2019
"Cohen on the Telephone" is one of those classic vaudeville routines, performed by so many it can seem almost like a work of folk art. It was the first comedy record to sell over a million c…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:23AM[SHARE]Monday, April 15, 2019
Well, Terri Garr's dad was in vaudeville, but judging by your response to "Russ Tamblyn's Dad Was in Vaudeville" you don't care. But that's never stopped me before! Eddie Garr (Edward Leo Go…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:06AM[SHARE]Like the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the sinking of the Titanic was a tragedy that unspooled over two calendar days (the same two, in fact, April 14 and 15). The ship struck the berg l…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:52AM[SHARE]Sunday, April 14, 2019
Happy National Dolphin Day! It seems these days that practically every animal species on earth has a human fanbase and a national day or international day of celebration, but few actually pr…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:05AM[SHARE]Saturday, April 13, 2019
Francine Everett (1915-1999), was briefly one of the biggest stars of race films in the U.S. Â While her time in the spotlight was short, she rose about as high as anyone could given the p…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:56AM[SHARE]Friday, April 12, 2019
Magician Jack Gwynne (Joseph McClode Gwynne, 1895-1969), began his professional career as a builder and designer of props and illusions. As a kid in Pittsburgh Gwynne had been inspired by ef…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:09AM[SHARE]Thursday, April 11, 2019
April 11 was the birthday of magician, mentalist, escape artist, ventriloquist, and all around instigator Leon Mandrake (Leon Giglio, 1911-1993). Raised by his mother and an aunt in British …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:59AM[SHARE]Wednesday, April 10, 2019
Cowboy star Tim McCoy (1891-1978) was born this day. Folks who only know this man casually as a B movie western star may be surprised and gratified to know that he is far more interesting th…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:18AM[SHARE]19th century stage actress Fanny or Fannie Davenport (Fanny Lily Gypsey Davenport, 1850-1898) was born of an April 10. Born in London, she was the daughter of actors Edward Loomis Davenport …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:10AM[SHARE]Tuesday, April 9, 2019
Staten Island born Alfred McGonegal (1900-1974), the Runyonesque character actor who played crooks and coppers and mugs and cabbies, might have done well to have kept his given name, rath…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:26AM[SHARE]We learn of the juvenile dance team of Don Tomkins and Ruth Love from the Sobel's Pictorial History of Vaudeville. Tomkins (1907-1987) is said to have introduced the Varsity Drag to vaudevil…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:55AM[SHARE]Sharon Lynn (1901-1963) is best remembered today for her penultimate performance, that of the scenery chewing villainess Lola Marcel in Laurel and Hardy's Way Out West (1937). Born D'Auvergn…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:46AM[SHARE]Monday, April 8, 2019
Today we use National Zoo Lovers Day and our recent encounter with this ad in an old TV Guide as an excuse to recall The New Zoo Revue (1972-77). The New Zoo Revue was probably the first …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:42AM[SHARE]Be careful what you ask for " you just may get it! Marion Mack (Joey Marion McCreery, 1902-1989) traveled all the way from rural Utah to sneak on to Mack Sennett's Hollywood studio lot and a…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:07AM[SHARE]Sunday, April 7, 2019
Stanley Adams (1915-77) is well known to fans of the original Star Trek for his bravura, over-the-top performance as the unscrupulous trader Cyrano Jones in the episode "The Trouble with Tri…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:30PM[SHARE]As we announced here, our Stars of Vaudeville blog series turned ten years old this month. To celebrate we hope you will join us at this: April 16: The Stars of Vaudeville 10th Anniversary C…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:31AM[SHARE]Jewish sports legend Benny Leonard (Benjamin Leiner, 1896-1947) also dabbled in vaudeville and silent film. Considered by many to be one of the greatest boxers of all time, he was the world …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:31AM[SHARE]Saturday, April 6, 2019
Having had many an occasion to refer to this organization, and having done posts on many of its rival concerns, today a brief look at the Sells-Floto Circus. Like all the big American circus…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:46AM[SHARE]San Francisco born Milburn Morante (sometimes rendered Moranti, 1887-1964) started out in vaudeville with his brother Al and father Joe as one of The Three Morantes. Morante's first known fi…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:16AM[SHARE]A few words on familiar character actor Jed Prouty (Clarence Gordon Prouty, 1879-1956). A Boston native, Prouty broke into vaudeville and stock theatre as a teenager. There is a Jed Prouty I…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:29AM[SHARE]Friday, April 5, 2019
Celebrity impressionist, comic and character actor Frank Gorshin (1933-2005) has somewhere around 250 film and tv credits, and scores of live theatre and nightclub credits to his name. It wo…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:56AM[SHARE]Army brat Charlotte Merriam (1906-1972) was only 13 years old when she was cast in the Universal picture A Flip of the Coin (1919). This led to her appearing in a series of comedies with Edd…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:15AM[SHARE]Marion Aye (1903-1951) had a fairly good run of about six years in silent film, mostly comedies, culminating with a fairly abrupt parting of the ways, and eventually tragedy. The daughter of…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:24AM[SHARE]We've spilled a good bit of ink, virtual and otherwise, on the topic of silent screen comedian Larry Semon over the years. Much like his better remembered rivals Charlie Chaplin and Buster K…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:10AM[SHARE]Loading more stories…
