11,862 stories by "Trav S.D."
A brief addendum to our earlier post about Eugene O’Neill on his birthday. O’Neill was of course of the “legitimate” theatre (second generation in fact), and in his d…
Today is the birthday of Big Joe Williams (Joseph Lee Williams, 1903-1982). It’s so tempting to include him in my Stars  of Vaudeville series since he seems to have gotten awfully c…
Today is the birthday of George Francis Ethinger (1905-?). Born with a parasitic conjoined twin, George possessed three legs, three buttocks, two stomachs and two kidneys. In addition to thi…
Today is the birthday of George Melville Cooper (1896-1973). Â With his langourous manner, heavy-lidded eyes, thin, pursing lips, and slightly droll countenance Cooper was ideally cast as …
Today is the birthday of the great early blues queen Victoria Spivey (1906-1976). The native Texan got her professional start as a child, singing and playing piano in movie theatres, saloons…
Filed under: BROOKLYN, Contemporary Variety, Dixieland & Early Jazz, Marches, Music, PLUGS, Rock and Pop Tagged: Honky NYC, Hungry March Band
Today is the birthday of Yvette Rugel (1896-1975). A native of Philadelphia, she got her start as an actress, as a supernumerary at the Chestnut Street Theatre. At some point she received op…
Today is the birthday of British pop star Sir Cliff Richard (b. 1940), that rare artist who was an English rock and pop star both long before the advent of the Beatles, and long after their …
Originally posted in 2011 The name Pert Kelton (b. today in 1907) is today best known to Honeymooners freaks, as a sort of footnote. She played Alice when Jackie Gleason fi…
Today is the birthday of Raymond François Émile Marie Pierre Frau (1887-1953), a.k.a. Raymond Darkly, a.k.a. Ovaro a.k.a Kri Kri a.k.a. Dandy a.k.a. Bloomer. The son of an Italian …
Tonight (tomorrow really) starting at midnight Turner ClassicMovies will be continuing their Halloween season programming by screening four classic vampire pictures: 12:00 am: Nosferatu (…
Today is the birthday of Douglass Dumbrille (1889-1974). The suave, diminutive character actor from Canada possessed a slickness that made him perfect for playing crooked mouthpieces, unsavo…
Today is the birthday of film and radio actress Irene Rich (1891-1988). The house wife and real estate broker began working as a film extra in 1918 and quickly worked her way up to substanti…
SATURDAY MORNING EDITION Just in time for Halloween! This was a favorite Saturday morning cartoon of mine. The Groovie Goolies ran from 1970 to 1972 and was a sort of cross between…
Today is the birthday of Steve Condos (1918-1990), the youngest of the three tap dancing Greek-American Condos Brothers, which also including Nick and Frank. Originally from Pittsburg…
Today is the birthday of Elmore Leonard (1925-2013). In honor of the day, we repost this piece we published a few weeks back upon his passing. The passing of Elmore Leonard naturally for…
As the name implies, Peg Leg Bates was a one-legged tap dancer who abjured a modern prosthetic for a Captain Ahab model. The consummate show-man, he had many different colored pegs, which he…
Filed under: Amusement Parks, Coney Island, Indie Theatre, Playwrights, PLUGS Tagged: Coney Island, Coney Island Criminals, Creep Show, Dick Zigun, freak show
Today is the birthday of prolific comedy director Harry Edwards (1887-1952), best known today for his work with Harry Langdon from 1924 to 1926, but in his 30 year career he seemed to work w…
According to Streetswing, today is the birthday of Joan Sawyer (1887-1966). Sawyer was a society dancer (playing fancy private parties and teaching the wealthy to dance), who also performed …
After ten months’ break from doing any columns, I fell off the wagon and did a new Fall wrap-up for the Villager/ Downtown Express/ Chelesea Now etc…and it felt like I had never …
Every Thursday in October, Turner Classic Movies is screening the films of the incomparable Vincent Price (for my full appreciation of Price, go here.) The programmers seem to be backloading…
Filed under: Contemporary Variety, Illusionists, Indie Theatre, Jews/ Show Biz Tagged: Asi Wind, Axis Theater, Concert of the Mind, mentalism, mind reading
Originally posted in 2012, Today is the birthday of Edward D. Wood, Jr. a.k.a. Ed Wood (1924-1978). A number of years ago I was fortunate enough to take part in the Ed Wood Festival p…
Today is the birthday of Al Flosso (Albert Levinson, 1895-1976). This legendary magician got his start playing in vaudeville and at Coney Island, thus his stage name “The Coney Island …
