11,865 stories by "Trav S.D."
Today marks the 38th anniversary of Penn Jilette’s first performance with Teller. Originally their act was a trio called the Asparagus Valley Cultural Society. That’s them above!…
Today is the birthday of one of the funniest comic poets ever, Ogden Nash (1902-1971). Here is one of my favorite poems of all time, let alone one of my favorite Nash poems: Tell me, O Octop…
 Today is the birthday of comedian Lloyd Hamilton (1891-1935). Hamilton is one of those ones whom, for months I’ve been going, “Wha-? I haven’t done a post on him yet? …
Today is the birthday of Marie Wilson (Katherine Elizabeth Wilson 1916-1972). Originally from Anaheim, California she broke into films in comedy shorts in the mid 30s and appeared as Mary, Q…
Today is the birthday of silent film actress Colleen Moore (Kathleen Morrison, 1899-1988). We bestow attention upon her today because she was so much associated with comedy. But we don’…
Today is the birthday of the stupendous, the colossal (quit it!) Shelley Winters (Shirley Schrift, 1920-2006). Her screen career has always held a lot of personal meaning for me, starring as…
Filed under: Burlesk, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: Rawr Burlesque
Today is the birthday of Jeron Criswell Konig (later, Jeron Criswell King, 1907-1982), the first celebrity psychic. Â Raised in a family of morticians, after some early work in radio and n…
Originally posted in 2009 Not a vaudeville star himself per se, German-born Gus Edwards was more the father of a hundred stars. He was vaudeville’s premier producer of kiddie …
Originally posted in 2009. "To most people I am offstage what I am on, a deep-dyed hussy without a moral in the world…As a matter of fact I live quite a decent, quiet, moral life. I am a a…
Filed under: SOCIAL EVENTS Tagged: Governor's Island, Jazz Age Lawn Party
An office in the vicinity of Carnegie Hall, circa 1989.  The telephone rings. RECEPTIONIST (ME. early twenties. Answers, cheerful, singsong): Good morning, Tony Bennett’s offic…
Originally posted in 2010 Mae Clarke (born Violet Mark Klotz on this day in 1910 in Philadelphia) took dancing lessons as a kid. Discovered by a producer while dancing in Atlantic City’…
Today is the birthday of magician Channing Pollock (1926-2006). Inspired by Mexican magician A.J. Cantu he became interested in magic as a young adult, and like Cantu he would be famous for …
Caught the first of the handful of shows I’ll be seeing in this year’s New York International Fringe Festival. WREX is an attempt to reimagine Sophocles’ Oedipus …
Today is the birthday of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821). One of the most important cinematic and theatrical experiences of my youth was the time my dad took me to see the roadshow of Abel Ga…
THE GLANDSCAPE ARTIST: RUSS MEYER August 15 " August 25 Today is opening day of this killer series at Anthology Film Archives. Beyond the Valley of the Dolls and Faster, Pusscat! Ki…
Originally posted in 2009 A lot of kid acts fade away long about puberty and are never heard from again. Some, like the great Jackie Coogan, benefit from the obscurity wrought by inter…
Originally posted in 2009 Today is the birthday of Ethel Barrymore (1879-1959), the Barrymore with the largest footprint in vaudeville. Barrymores aren't just Barrymores, but come with a who…
Today is the birthday of Henry Richard “Huntz” Hall (1920-1979). My father used to say Huntz Hall was one of his favorite comedians, and I believe you’d hear a surprising n…
Today is the birthday of of the great American songwriter Charles Tobias (1898-1970). Raised in Worcester Massachusetts along with his brothers Harry and Henry (who also became Tin Pan Alley…
I’m going through a bit of a course correction on how I market Chain of Fools going forward. Left to my own devices to promote it, I’ve had to conceive and execute a campai…
Originally posted in 2009. (Today is Robert Woolsey’s birthday) Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey weren't actually a vaudeville team but a vaudevillian and a musical comedy star who were…
Originally posted in 2012 Today is the birthday (1945) of a man who may be the supreme neo-vaudevillian of the late 20th century, Steve Martin. Would this man have headlined at the Palace? O…
Filed under: BROOKLYN, Burlesk, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: Broadway Brassy, Mo Better Burlesque, Mo's Fort Greene
