Friday, January 11, 2013
Based in New York, ventriloquist Charles Young played many of the important venues of the late 18th century: Tony Pastor’s, Bunnell’s New American Museum, Harrigan & HartR…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:47PM[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 Ma…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:29AM[SHARE]One of my favorite movies is playing on TCM tonight at 8 p.m., E.S.T.  As a child, it held many mysteries for me. First, that title, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World was so long i…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:06AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of Star of Vaudeville #422: Pine Top Smith (for more on him and his signature tune Pine Top’s Boogie Woogie go here). Here’s a more somber tune, the old blu…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:19AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of Elfie Fay (1879-1927). She was the daughter of Hugh Fay of the Irish comedy act of Barry and Fay. When he died, Elfie replaced him in the vaudeville act briefly form…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:05AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of John Steel (1895-1971), best known for having introduced Irving Berlin’s “A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody” in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1919. He’…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:38AM[SHARE]Â Today is the birthday of James Carl “Ham Tree” Harrington (1889-1956). Born in South Carolina, he ran off an joined a carnival in his adolesence, working in black vaudeville …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:17AM[SHARE]Thursday, January 10, 2013
Great news! I am hosting (and playing a number) in this unique event tomorrow night at the Brick Theater! Preparing for this event has been a hugely rewarding experience. In case you haven&#…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:33AM[SHARE] Today is the birthday of the great be bop jazz drummer Max Roach (1924-2007). I always get real peeved when I hear people who don’t know what they’re talking about say tha…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:42AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of Star of Vaudeville #421: Grock (for more on the international clown star and his vaudeville connection go here). You can see him in action here in this 1931 clip: To…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:17AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of Star of Vaudeville #103: Ray Bolger (for more on him and his vaudeville beginnings go here). Â Modern movie fans love him for having played the Scarecrow, but he w…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:05AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of matinee idol Francis X. Bushman (1883-1966). He started his career acting with Baltimore stock companies. Inspired by Sandow the Strong man, as a young man he bui…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:51AM[SHARE] Herman Ootics, the Clown: History, Culture, and Clowning A Lecture by David Carlyon Thursday, January 10 6 pm BGC, 38 West 86th Street The whimsical reference to hermeneutics in this …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:14AM[SHARE]Kate Elionor (ca. 1875-1924) started out in the 1890s in a comical two act with her sister May, who fed her jokes. Joe Laurie Jr. described this act as being similar to the Russell Brothers.…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:09AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of Betty Lou Williams (1930-1953). Born to a poor Georgia farming family she was born with a parasytic twin growing out of her side. She began to be exhibited in New…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:45AM[SHARE]Wednesday, January 9, 2013
It’s Bob Denver’s birthday! But I bet you were already celebrating that, weren’t you? I think it’s a pretty good sign of how toxic, weird and perverse our culture can…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:52AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of Star of Vaudeville #102: Gypsy Rose Lee (for more on her and her equally classy sister June Havoc go here). Here’s a clip of Gypsy in action in the 1943 wartim…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:41AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of Star of Vaudeville #281: Gracie Fields (for more on “our Gracie” go here). Here she is singing her naughty song “The Biggest Aspidistra in the Worl…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:35AM[SHARE]Marshall Montgomery (1886-1942) was a top ventriloquist of the vaudeville years who traveled the world with his act. He’d begun his career with a musical comedy act, doing an impres…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:45AM[SHARE]Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Well today’s the King’s birthday (1935-1977). Early celebrity deaths don’t usually make me sad, but Elvis’s does, because it was so senseless and preventable and he c…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:05PM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of that great low comedian Larry Storch (b. 1923). Originally a night club comedian, he is of course best known for his role as Corporal Agarn in the hit series F Tr…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:32AM[SHARE]CONEY ISLAND USA SPRING GALA 2013: THE BURLESQUE MANIFESTO SATURDAY, MARCH 9 7PM – 11PM WEBSTER HALL 125 EAST 11 ST (BETWEEN 3RD AND 4TH AVE.) NEW YORK, NYÂ Join Coney Island USA as…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:10AM[SHARE]One of the most rewarding aspects of having written No Applause and this blog has been hearing from the descendants of the performers I write about, sometimes expressing appreciation, someti…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:03AM[SHARE]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]Loading more stories…
