11,864 stories by "Trav S.D."
Today is the birthday of Si Jenks (Howard Jenkins, 1878-1970). Jenks clowned for years in both circus and vaudeville (with a brief interlude of service in the Spanish-American war), playing …
In honor of John Houseman’s birthday (see full tribute here). From 1978 to 1986, Houseman reprised his role as the SOB with a secret heart of gold Harvard Law School professor Charles …
Today is the birthday of John Houseman (Jacques Haussman, 1902-1988). Born in Romania to an English/Irish/Welsh mother and an Alstacian-Jewish father (hence that French first name and German…
Today is the birthday of the great silent film comedian Billy West (Roy B. Weissburg, 1892-1975). In the unlikely event that you were wondering, that’s West in the photo above which I …
Today is the birthday of Dave Dreyer (1894-1967). Dreyer was an accompanist in vaudeville, playing for the likes of Al Jolson, Sophie Tucker, Belle Baker and Frank Fay. He wrote or -co-wrote…
According to my excellent reference boo Monarchs of Minstrelsy, from “Daddy” Rice to Date by Edward Roy Le Rice, today is the birthday of one of American show business̵…
Today is the birthday of the awesome character comedian Henry Gibson (James Bateman, 1935-2009). His stage name was a play on that of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. To give you some idea…
Filed under: Contemporary Variety, PLUGS, Singers Tagged: Al Jolson, Don't Tell Mama, Jack Crosley
When I was a kid, my FOURTH favorite movie (after The Wizard of Oz, The Poseidon Adventure and The Ten Commandments, in that order) was the 1953 George Pal version of H.G. Wells’Â Th…
This nice lady has a large stein of delicious beer, and you can too! Much like New York’s German American community itself, the German American Steuben Parade maintains kind …
Today is the birthday of “Captain” Herbert Roman Gustav Proske (1898-1972). Â The child of Viennese aristocrats he ran away from home at age 13 with no other aim than becoming …
Today is the birthday of Maurice Barrymore (Herbert Arthur Chamberlayne Blythe (1849-1905). Born a British colonial in India, he chose the theatre as a career against his family’s wish…
Today is the 75th birthday of one of the worst natural disasters ever to hit the United States, the Great Hurricane of 1938. Because Ground Zero for the destruction was my home state of Rhod…
John Bunny was America's first comedy star, and the first in that long line of beloved comedy fat men, a lineage that would include Rosco "Fatty" Arbuckle, Oliver Hardy, Jackie Glea…
I’ve kicked myself many a time over the past decade and a half (not daily, but more than once) for having missed Assurbanipal Babilla’s monologue Something Something Uber Alle…
Today is the birthday of the great comedy writer and directer Clyde Bruckman (1894-1955). For many years, Bruckman seemed to have almost a charmed career. After having only contributed to a …
Originally published in 2012 Today is the birthday of the great actress/comedienne Anne Meara, best known as the female/ Irish/ tall half of Stiller and Meara. Stiller and Meara were p…
Today is the birthday of the great Broadway showman John Murray Anderson (1886-1954). Anderson was a kind of Renaissance man of theatre and film: dancer, director, producer, designer writer,…
Today is the national release day of Shane Salerno’s new documentary about J.D. Salinger (he also released a related book ). This is a fitting time to recall (and thanks…
Today is the birthday songwriter Roy Turk (1892-1934). He started out in vaudeville writing special material for the likes of Nora Bayes, Sophie Tucker and the team of Rock and White. Among …
Today is the birthday of Patricia Collinge (Eileen Cecilia Collinge, 1892-1974). Dublin born Collinge strated out as a child actress, debuting at London’s Garrick’s Theatre in 19…
Today is the birthday of the great British impresario Brian Epstein (1934-1967), the man who got the Beatles signed by EMI, sparking the “British invasion”, and largely influenci…
Join Horse Trade in celebration of its 15th birthday with the remounting of one of Horse Trade’s first productions – “Something Something Ãœber Alles.” David Cote, …
Today is the birthday of Marshall P. Wilder (1859-1915). A hunchbacked dwarf, he was a clerk at a commercial firm around 1879 when he began performing humorous monologue for extra money, ini…
Originally posted in 2012 “Mama” Cass Elliot (born today in 1941) is, to me, what it’s all about. There’s no doubt in my mind that if vaudeville had stayed around ano…
