11,865 stories by "Trav S.D."
Today is the birthday of Cass Daley (Catherine Dailey, 1915-1975). Daley started out as a teenage singer, accompanying herself with ukulele in New Jersey nightclubs. An enterprising manager …
Today is the birthday of Percy Oakes (1900-1997). A West Virginia native, he first performed with an amateur minstrel show as a child. He moved to Chicago and found a job as a printer in the…
Today is the birthday of Lorett Fulkerson (Loretta Love, 1915-2007), often called “the last tattooed lady”, although judging by the streets around Williamsburg and Park Slope, no…
Originally posted in 2009. This adorable husband-wife team was still kicking around within the living memory of the Pepsi generation, enjoying a healthy second career performing in ni…
From the late teens through the late twenties, Larry Semon was one of the most successful silent comedians in the country, second only to Chaplin in popularity and salary. This despite a las…
Originally posted in 2010 Those in the know are aware that there is scarcely any need to talk about Fred Astaire when talking about Ginger Rogers. Yes, they were a terrific danc…
Today is Babs’s birthday, a fitting time to do a little plug for Dan Callahan’s recently released book Barbara Stanwyck: The Miracle Woman. Stanwyck wasn’t a vaudevillia…
I am very excited to report that today is the (posthumous) release date of David Rakoff’s last book —  a novel written in verse Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish:…
Filed under: Burlesk, Comedy, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: Parkside Lounge, Peekaboo Pointe, Worst Burlesque Show Ever
Today is the birthday of Charles “Heinie” Conklin, sometimes billed as Charles Lynn (1886-1959). Originally from San Francisco, Conklin (no relation to the better known Chester) …
Today is the birthday of John Henry Anderson (1814-1874). Born and raised on a Scottish farm, Anderson was inspired by a childhood viewing of a performance of Antonio Blitz to take up conjur…
Today is the birthday of Artoria Gibbons (Anna Mae Burlingston, 1893-1985). In 1912, the Spokane domestic met and married a tattoo artist named Charles “Red” Gibbons. To suppleme…
Today is the birthday of the great songwriter and Broadway playwright Dorothy Fields (1905-1974). What many folks don’t know is that she was the daughter of Lew Fields of Weber and Fie…
Anthony Slide mentions Galetti’s Monkeys as one of the important trained animal acts of vaudeville. The poster above is from 1892, and I find references to them as late as 1907. To fin…
Set yours DVR’s chillun, tomorrow July 16 at 7:45am, Turner Classic Movies is showing the terrific and wonderfully strange Hallelujah, I'm a Bum (1933), with songs by Rodge…
Today is the birthday of comic character actor Tom Kennedy (1885-1965). Like Edgar Kennedy, to whom he is no relation, he started out in the fight game; boxing provided his entree into show …
Today is the birthday of Woodrow Wilson Guthrie, better known as Woody. I first learned about him in third grade from a very groovy music teacher (it was 1973), but didn’t really get h…
Originally posted in 2010. Not to be confused with Ken Berry, or Jan Murray, nor even a love-child of the two, Ken Murray is the subject of one of the most astounding tales in show busin…
Today is the birthday of Oscar Willis (Oscar Henry McLain, 1843-1881). Interestingly, though the above photograph of him is in wide circulation (and for good reason, it’s rather distur…
According to some sources, today is the birthday of bearded lady Annie Jones (circa 1860-1902). Already a furry specimen by age nine months, she was hired (under the care of her mother) to b…
Today is the birthday of Henry “Rubberlegs” Williams (1907-1962). The best dope on Williams I’ve been able to find comes from the terrific two volume set Vaudeville Old …
Today is the birthday of Ted Koehler (1894-1973). Born in Washington DC, he began his career playing pianos for nickelodeons, and the began writing songs for singers to perform in vaudeville…
No, not the swingin’ Welsh pop singer. This is a musical adaptation of one of my favorite novels. I’ve not had a chance to vet it but it comes very highly recommended by a gentle…
Originally from Germany, Pallenberg's Wonder Bears started off as an act that presented a wide variety of trained, exotic creatures, eventually settling on “bears only” for reaso…
Today is the birthday of Jim “Roger” McGuinn (b. 1942). Originally a folk musician and banjo player in his native Chicago, he started out as a back up singer, guitar player and s…
