11,865 stories by "Trav S.D."
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the release of the Keystone short Mabel’s New Hero, directed by Mack Sennett and starring Mabel Normand, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, Ed…
Today is the birthday of Sidney Drew (1863-1919). Drew was from a famous American acting dynasty, and uncle to John, Lionel and Ethel Barrymore (he was their mother’s brother, possibly…
Today is the birthday of Robb Wilton (Robert Wilton Smith, 1881-1957). Hailing from Liverpool, Wilton was a popular comic monologist in British music hall. He toured American in vaudeville i…
Today is the birthday of Margaret O’Rene “Peggy” Ryan (1924-2004). Ryan was still a toddler when she joined her parents’ vaudeville act, “The Merry Dancing Ryan…
Originally posted in 2010 He was born in 1925, and raised in "the O'Connor Family"the Royal Family of Vaudeville". Theirs' was a family act, consisting of singing, dancing and acrobatics. Th…
Today is the birthday of the great jazz saxophonist Lester Young (1909-1959). This one blew my mind — to learn that Lester Young, whom I think of as the ultimate be bop hep cat, had a …
Today is the birthday of Paul Rubenfeld a.k.a Paul Reubens a.k.a Peewee Herman (b. 1952). I’m real surprised I didn’t think of this when I was writing Chain of Fools but I&…
Tonight the terrific Jason Trachtenburg and his band Pendulum Swings will be playing a gig at 54 Below, right there in the belly of the beat in the Broadway District. (https://www.facebook.c…
Today is the birthday of the great American author Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945). We’ve already mentioned him fleetingly on this post. His brother was the popular Tin Pan Alley songwrit…
As we pointed out in our earlier post this morning, today is Martha Raye’s birthday. What better time then to talk about her obligatory late-career weirdy role, Benita Bizarre on Th…
 Today is the birthday of James “Jimmy” Finlayson (1887-1953), often known to his fans as “Fin”. Finlayson is best known today as Laurel and Hardy's comic …
Today is the birthday of the amazing Johnny Eck (John Eckhardt, Jr., 1911-1991), best known for his role in Tod Browning’s Freaks (1932). It is often assumed that Eck was born &#…
Originally posted in 2009. This strange (and to many, irritating) performer was born Margaret Teresa Yvonne O'Reed on this day in 1916. As a comedian, she is in a class with Jerry Lewis…
Oddly, I received a review copy of a 23 year old book in the mail a few days ago. Vintage Books has just released a new edition of Wendy Smith's 1990 Real Life Drama: The Group Theatre and A…
Just got a bunch of swell pix in from our  Bathing Beauties show at Coney Island USA earlier this month, courtesy photographer Allen Lee. We thought you might like to see what you missed,…
Today is the birthday of John T. Kelly (1852-1922). A Boston native, Kelly got his start at age 12 as a jig and clog dancer with a touring vaudeville/ minstrel company run by M.B. Leavitt. H…
Today is the birthday of Ruth Roland (1892-1937). The daughter of a San Francisco theatre manager and a singer, she entered show business as a child actress in vaudeville billed as Baby Ruth…
Originally posted in 2009. Much is made of the ethnic stereotyping in vaudeville, frequently committed by people of the very ethnicity being satirized. Blacks, Irish, Germans and Jews in…
Today is the birthday of Ethel Hilda “Ruby” Keeler (1910-1993). She’s another of those performers about whom I keep saying, “I haven’t done a post on her yet…
You’ve one chance left to see The Accidental Hamlet in this year’s New York International Fringe Festival (if you think it’s your cup of mead) and it’s less tha…
Today is the birthday of Alice White (Alva White, 1904-1983). Though her mother had been a showgirl, White was one of those who fell into the business as a non-actor, working first as a secr…
Today is the birthday of Agnes Thatcher Lake (nee Mersman, 1826-1907). She moved with her family to Cincinnati from her place Alsace, France at age four. At age 16 she eloped with a circus c…
Today is the birthday of the lovely Marian Seldes (b. 1928). And yes she did kiss me once, when I was development director at Theater for the New City, during one of our gala benefits. Think…
Today is the birthday of one of America’s greatest drag performers and playwrights Charles Busch (b. 1954). While Busch was inspired by Charles Ludlam and his Ridiculous Theatrical Com…
Today is the birthday of Keith Moon (1946-1978). The loss of Moon so young though perhaps inevitable was unfortunate just the same. In addition to being one of rock’s greatest musical …
