282 stories by "Trav S. D."
The fabulous Brooklyn Book Festival is in play today. The organizers out-do themselves every year putting this event together — everybody who’s anybody in this highly literary bo…
Today is the birthday of Ira Erastus Davenport (1839-1911). It was Ira who eventually confessed to Houdini (an acorn off of his own tree) that the Spiritualist demonstrations he’d put …
Winnie Lightner (born Winifred Reeve on this day in 1899) is best known today as a movie star of the pre-code era, 1929-34Â (not because she was particularly racy but that was just the tim…
Much like New York’s German American community itself, the German American Steuben Parade maintains kind of a low, dignified profile. As compared with, say, the St. Patrick’s…
Terrific news! After 27 years of ongoing restoration, Jane’s Carousel opens to the public today! You may have passed it (as I have) on your way to St. Ann’s Warehouse in DUMBO. I…
“Showboat "'Round the Bend!” is a glimpse at the history of the American Showboat along our country’s waterways including the New York Harbor and its tributaries. The exhib…
This post resumes my series profiling the hundreds of performers I've presented through my American Vaudeville Theatre , initiated in conjunction with American Vaudeville Theatre's 15th Anni…
In honor of her birthday, here’s a clip of the late Penny Singleton singing “Gentlemen Don’t Deserve a Lady” from the 1941 film Go West, Young Lady. You probably know…
The brilliant, witty caricaturist Drew Friedman has a new book out and you already know its title. It’s the latest in a series of successful books on this theme, and Friedman now has a…
When flipping through the channels a week ago, I came upon the happy news that JLTV (Jewish Life Television) is showing reruns of The Soupy Sales Show every Thursday at 9pm. And now I’…
Billed as “the Slave of Fashion” big time vaudeville female impersonator Francis Renault would display his expensive, five-figure gowns placed in the lobby for his lady fans (vas…
This post resumes my series profiling the hundreds of performers I've presented through my American Vaudeville Theatre , initiated in conjunction with American Vaudeville Theatre's 15th Anni…
Billed as “The Blue Streak of Vaudeville”, Rae (Rachel) Samuels (1887-1979), performed in front of her own deep blue backdrop with a lightening bolt across it. The brand intimate…
The career of J. Austin Fynes (1855-1920) is one of the few examples of a newspaper critic who caused a direct, important, and sustained sea change in the theatre. He wrote for The…
Nan Halperin was best known for a self-contained act composed entirely of special material crafted especially for her, consisting of monologues in a wide variety of characters, and collectio…
M. Chevalier was never in American vaudeville but he deserves an honorary nod here due to his origins in French music hall and his success as an American recording artist and star of early H…
I’m afraid I did an injustice to Long Tack Sam in my book No Applause, implying that he was just one of a whole line of copycats of Ching Ling Foo. A more accurate reading would be thi…
In addition to his many distinguished credits, the late Cliff Robertson, who passed away today, starred in the grand-daddy of all sinister ventriloquist stories, the 1962 episode of The Twil…
I seem to be marking the day with a flurry of tributes today, so here’s one last one. My boss Philip K. Howard is a well-known political advocate, book author, pundit, tv talking…
“When I see three balls, I juggle; when I see two towers, I walk” — Philippe Petit In the midst of our solemn reflection of the thousands of acts of heroism that occurred a…
There actually is one (a 9-11 story with a vaudeville angle, that is). When I came across the story (stories, actually) of William Rodriguez while researching a theatre piece I am writing ab…
One thing I have always been facinated by is the way major historical events have millions of smaller ripples and repercussions on individual people’s lives. Here’s an example. A…
3LD Arts & Technology Center, the closest theatre to Ground Zero Ten years ago I happened to be an Affiliated Writing Fellow at American Theatre Magazine. I think I’d already turne…
Most sources erroneously give the birth year for Billy Glason as 1904 or 1898, but take it from me, who actually had to do some research because no one knew the death day, singer-songwriter-…
Vibrating Body New assemblage works by Ken Butler September 10 " October 9, 2011 Â opening reception TONIGHTÂ September 10, 6-9 pm Sideshow Gallery presents "Vibrating Body", an exhibi…
