Tuesday, December 18, 2012
British clown Christopher Michael, a.k.a. Mr. Holloway is one of the contemporary “new silent comedians” I talk about in the last chapter of my new book Chain of Fools: Sil…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:43AM[SHARE]Today is Keith Richards’ birthday (born 1943). I like the picture above; any dope can post according to expectations. It speaks a lot to Keith’s integrity that public and critica…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:51AM[SHARE]Monday, December 17, 2012
Ohio farm girl Fanny Mills (1860-1899) suffered from a condition called Milroy Disease, which caused massive fluid build-up in her dogs. Like a character in some fairy tale, she wore size 30…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:23PM[SHARE]“Professor” James Elliott’s act consisted of himself and children Kate, Polly, Annie, Maggie, Thomas, and Mattie performing a “Parisian Quadrille” on bicycles a…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:53PM[SHARE]Eugene Levy (born this day in 1946) has the funniest eyebrows in show business. He only has to move one of them to make me helpless with laughter. I think of him as a sort of comedy judo mas…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:19PM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree (born Herbert Draper Beerbohm, 1852-1917). He was to add the Tree to his name when he became a professional actor because it was easier to …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:47AM[SHARE]Like Charles Hawtry, Wee Georgie Wood’s (1895-1975) Q factor is mainly elevated today by the fact that John Lennon uttered his name when fooling around during the Let it Be sessions. (…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:44AM[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 08:21AM[SHARE]Sunday, December 16, 2012
I don’t care a fig for physical feats — those can be achieved by a rhinoceros as much as a man. My idea of Superman is more like Noel Coward (1899-1973): prolific writer of pl…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:33AM[SHARE]For most of my adult life, had you asked me who was the most brilliant, wise, perceptive, brave and penetrating stand up comedian of the modern era I would have said without hesitation Lenny…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:01AM[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 09:08AM[SHARE]Today is Rosetta Duncan’s birthday, one half of Stars of Vaudeville #92: The Duncan Sisters (for the full skinny on them go here). Considered one of the greatest sister acts in vaudevi…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:36AM[SHARE]Saturday, December 15, 2012
Today is Dave Clark’s birthday! (Born 1942) I always think the trivia question “Who was the drummer of the Dave Clark Five?” is like “Who is buried in Grant’s T…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:29AM[SHARE]Friday, December 14, 2012
Another great exhibition we took in last night: Circus and the City: New York, 1793-2010 at the  Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture (BGC).…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:19PM[SHARE] There is a charming (and free!) little exhibition on Charles Dickens now up at the main branch of the New York Public Library, that’s well worth a pop in off the street to go se…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:06AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of Star of Vaudeville #271: Morey Amsterdam (more on him here). Here he is an irresistaibly charming, very old school turn on a 1964 edition of The Hollywood Palace…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:37AM[SHARE]Thursday, December 13, 2012
Long about the early to mid 80s, there was a sea change in the output of some of my favorite contemporary comedians. It confused me. The original phase of Saturday Night Live (1975-1979) had…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:33PM[SHARE]Like something out of a fairy tale (Snow White and the Seven Rapunzels), the Sutherland Sisters Seven caused jaws to drop by letting their hair down. The seven were Dora, Grace, Isabella, Ma…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:38PM[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 Christopher Plummer (b. 1929). As pa…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:19AM[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 10:13AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of Star of Vaudeville # 91: Lillian Roth (1910-1980) (for more on her and her vaudeville beginnings go here). I’ve seen more of her films since my earlier posts &…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:31AM[SHARE]Wednesday, December 12, 2012
There is something to be said for the excellence wrought (indeed, necessitated) by the fierce competition in vaudeville. Case in point: these ponies. Horses are notoriously dumb beasts, in t…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:57PM[SHARE]Swiss-born Josephine Clofullia (1827-1875) was one of the hairiest of all historical bearded ladies, having been (at least reportedly) covered in hair at birth, and in possession of a two-in…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:36PM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of Frank (1915-1998). Today we treat NOT of what you might call “the classical Sinatra”, he of the Rat Pack, Nelson Riddle, Ava Gardner, From Here to Ete…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:38AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of Charles Frederick Gebhart, a.k.a Buck Jones (1889-1942). Born in Indiana, he was raised in Montana, where he learned to ride and rope. Folliwng military service, he …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:34AM[SHARE]While the annals of vaudeville magic are chock full of Chinese and pseudo-Chinese practitioners, with Indian (and pseudo-Indian) being the second most numerous specialty, one encounters very…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:04AM[SHARE]Naro and Zita Lockford were a French brother-sister adagio act who came over to the U.S. in the early 20s from the Folies Bergere. In 1922 the two appeared in the Broadway show The Rose o…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:40AM[SHARE]Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Never mind your friends’ and relatives’ wish lists! I know what they want! I Know what they want! Trust me! This page of my  blog is the only catalog you’ll ever need fo…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:25PM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of Star of Vaudeville #270 Stubby Kaye (for my full article on him go here). I just found this hilarious record of him singing a song written by Rags Ragsland “My…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:14AM[SHARE]Some (those my age and a little bit older, as well as lovers of nostalgic reruns) may protest that this show isn’t forgotten at all, but I assure you, I’ve talked to several peop…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:10AM[SHARE]Vantile Mack was one of P.T. Barnum’s exhibits in the late 1850s, also billed as the Ohio Fat Boy, the Giant Baby, and the infant Lambert (after Daniel Lambert, 1770-1908, up til th…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:00AM[SHARE]Loading more stories…
