11,865 stories by "Trav S.D."
Today is the birthday of Jeni LeGon (1916-2012), one of the first African American women to make a solo career in tap dance. She was already a professional by her teenage years, dancing in a…
Today is the birthday of the great Hollywood director Sir Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980). I am unavoidably dating myself by stating the wild fact that for the first 15 years of my life Hitchco…
In my book No Applause I referred to Pink Lady and Jeff as “the ignominious end of the line” for tv variety shows. From the heights of Ed Sullivan came a downward sli…
Today is the birthday of comedy director Sam Taylor (1895-1958). Unfortunately he is best known today for a notorious anecdote — that he was once credited on the 1929 Fairbanks-Pickfor…
To the casual show biz buff, Buddy Rogers has always been a big WTF. Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, after a long affair, cause a huge scandal by divorcing their spouses and getting mar…
Originally posted in 2009 Anyone who has ever been a child knows and adores Bert Lahr for his performance as the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz. For sheer bizarreness, it would be h…
Today is the birthday of Annie Oakley (Phoebe Ann Moses, 1860-1926). Raised dirt poor in rural Western Ohio, she was trapping and using firearms for hunting from age eight to help support he…
Easily one of the most bizarre comedians to infiltrate the annals of comedy, Joe (“Ooooooo, cut it out!) Besser (born this day in 1907) is also (though many people don’t know …
Originally posted in 2010. Alfred Lunt (born this day in 1892) is best known as one half of the famous acting team with his wife Lynn Fontanne. During the almost four decades of their jo…
Originally posted in  2009 Today is the birthday of Gus Van.  Van and Schenck were BIG, man — they were right on top in the nineteen teens and twenties (their best pal was …
When I was a child my third favorite film (behind only The Wizard of Oz and The Poseidon Adventure) was Cecil B DeMille’s 1956 Biblical epic The Ten Commandments, which was…
Today is the birthday of Bert Errol (1883-1949). Starting around 1909 Errol became the most successful female impersonator in British music hall. From 1910 through 1921 he also made frequent…
Today is the birthday of Robert Heller (William Henry Palmer, 1826-1878). (The date is according to magic historian Milbourne Christopher). A native of Canterbury England he was trained orig…
Originally posted in 2011. The mother of Broderick Crawford, and herself a familiar sight in Hollywood films of the 1930s and 40s, Helen Broderick’s claim to vaudeville lay i…
Tonight, August 10 at 7pm at Green-wood Cemetery in Brooklyn… Imagine an outdoor pleasure dome, strung with lights, adorned with fountains and featuring the top musicians, dancers and …
Originally posted in 2009. The great unsung hero of the1939 film version of The Wizard of Oz is Jack Haley. When children are asked their favorite character from the film, they will us…
Today is the birthday of Hugh Herbert (1887-1952). Herbert was a legit stage and vaudeville performer and sketch writer before he came out to Hollywood as a dialogue coach with the advent of…
Today is the birthday of magician Joseph Michael Hartz (1836-1903). An English native, Hartz was already presenting a full evening of magic in London at age 18, with an act based on that of …
Live Music, Entertainment and History! Celebrate Historic Coney Island Saturday August 10th from 1pm-6pm by attending the Third Annual HISTORY DAY presented by Deno's Wonder Wheel Park &…
Filed under: Burlesk, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: Cutting Room, Dark Carnival Burlesque, Gothic Hangman, Kat Mon Dieu
Tonight is opening night of the new documentary Zipper: Coney Island’s Last Wild Ride at the IFC Center. My review of the film is in this week’s Villager here. My rea…
I find myself much saddened (despite all sorts of inward protestations against the instinct) by the passing of Karen Black. What do I care about this person, whom I never met, whom I donR…
Today is the birthday of Fred C. Newmeyer (1888-1967). Originally a pro baseball player (1909-1913), in 1916 he began working for Hal Roach in small roles in Harold Lloyd’s “Lone…
Today is the birthday of Vivian Wheeler (b. 1948), notable in these annals for oh so many interesting reasons. Wheeler was born a hermaphrodite; since her parents already had two sons they h…
The Busking Bulletin is a series wherein we chronicle contemporary NYC street and subway performers for fun and very little profit. The F train out to Coney Island the other day was a ve…
