11,867 stories by "Trav S.D."
This gender bending performer is one we are presenting in a series to celebrate NYC Pride Week. According to vaudeville encyclopediast Anthony Slide, Gypsy Byrne was a fixture of New York…
At least he’d better…because if he doesn’t accomplish reaching the other side of the Canyon it will mean he has fallen to his death! Tonight at 8pm, the Discovery Channel i…
Today is the birthday of Peaches Browning (Frances Belle Heenan, 1910-1956). In 1926 (do the math — she was 16), the young girl met (through a classified ad)Â and married (within wee…
Today is the birthday of silent comedian Billy Franey (1889-1940). Starting out making Universal “Joker” comedies in 1914 (paired with Louise Fazenda, then Gale Henry). He was no…
Torkova Magic at Coney!!! Sundays at 8:00pm June 23rd - Mind ReadingJuly 14th - Mind Reading July 21st - Amazing Magic Sept. 1st - Amazing Magic A rare opportunity to…
 This gender bending performer is one we are presenting in a series to celebrate NYC Pride Week. Ella Wesner (1841-1917)  began as a ballet dancer in the late 1860s, and was for a t…
This gender bending performer is one we are presenting in a series to celebrate NYC Pride Week. Annie Hindle (born circa 1847) is considered by many to be the first modern drag king. An orph…
Today is the birthday of Freddie Prinze (Frederick Pruetzel, 1954-1977). I can think of few events in the annals of show business than his sudden suicide at age 22. Drugs and depression and …
Today is the birthday of silent screen comedienne Dorothy Devore (Alma Inez Williams, 1899-1976). Originally from Texas, she moved with her family to the LA area when still in school. Her fi…
Charlie Murray hailed from Indiana but became known in Hollywood for playing a direct-from-Ireland Irishman. Born on this day in 1872, he started off in circuses and then performed as …
Tonight at 9:30 pm: the long awaited first lighting of the lights on the Coney Island Parachute Jump, Borough President Marty Markowitz’s long-awaited pet project. Will it look as good…
Filed under: Contemporary Variety, Marches, Music, PLUGS, Rock and Pop Tagged: Brass Ascension, marching bands, Tompkins Square
As part of the Manhattan Film Festival, “If These Knishes Could Talk: The Story of the New York Accent,” will be showing at Quad Cinema June 21st! Â ”Knishes” is a …
Originally posted 2011. “God Save Donald Duck, Vaudeville and Variety” – Ray Davies, Village Green Preservation Society Ray Davies, Commander British Empire (born th…
Today is the birthday of Mack Gordon (Morris Gittler, 1904-1959). Born in Warsaw, he moved to New York as a child and broke into vaudeville as a singing comic in the late 20s and 30s. By 192…
Today is the birthday of Henry Creamer (1879-1930), who together with his partner John Turner Layton  (1894-1978) formed one of the great songwriting partnerships of the vaudeville era, a…
Today is the birthday of Signor Antonio Blitz (1810-1877), magician, juggler, ventriloquist and bird handler. Born in England, he began his professional career at age 13 in Germany. Then he …
Updated from a 2010 post. This two man comedy dance act, big in nightclubs, radio, television and films in the 40s and 50s, was a tremendous influence on many other performers, in…
The Wallendas are one of the most legendary circus families of all time, with roots as performers stretching back to Austria in the 1780s. Earlier generations had included acrobats, clowns, …
Late risers, set thy DVRs. Tomorrow morning at 6am, TCM will be showing the 1930 Marilyn Miller vehicle Sunny, based on her 1925 Broadway hit of the same name. Miller only made a couple o…
Today is the birthday of Moe Howard (Moses Horwitz, 1897-1975). For the full skinny on Moe’s life as a performer and a stooge, see my full article here. And to commemorate Moe’s …
Filed under: American Folk/ Country/ Western, AMERICANA, EXHIBITIONS & LECTURES, Music, PLUGS, SOCIAL EVENTS Tagged: Folk City, Museum of the City of New York
This is a story that contains much to make the amusement loving New Yorker blue on so many levels. On this day in 1960, an amazing amusement park — larger than Disneyland –Â op…
Filed under: BOOKS & AUTHORS, Comedy, Hollywood (History), Movies, Silent Film Tagged: Ben Turpin, cross-eyed comedian, For Art's Sake, Steve Rydzewski
Today is the birthday of the great Broadway playwright Philip Barry (1896-1949). Everyone knows his most famous creation The Philadelphia Story (1939), so I thought I’d share a f…
