11,867 stories by "Trav S.D."
Today is the birthday of Jeanette MacDonald (1903-1965). The Philadelphia native took singing and dancing lessons as a child, sang in church and performed with a juvenile vaudeville act prod…
Today is the birthday of the great Mae Busch (1891-1946). It’s ironic that today she is best known for playing shrewish and unattractive wives in Laurel and Hardy movies; at the height…
Originally posted in 2011. There was a long time there when the name “Paul McCartney” (born today in 1942) was to me like fingernails on a chalkboard. In my youth (and largel…
Originally posted in 2011. Born on this day in 1896, Blanche Sweet was raised in a vaudeville and theatrical family, making her onstage debut at age 4. In 1909, she began working for …
Today is the birthday of Sandy Allen (1955-2008). From 1976 until her death she was the tallest woman in the world, at 7′ 7″, due to a pituitary condition. Never with sideshows p…
What a great day for songwriters! Not only Louis Alter and Con Conrad, but also Sammy Cahn (Samuel Cohen, 1913-1993). Cahn came along a little too late for vaudeville, but he did attend cons…
Today is the birthday of Con Conrad (Conrad Dober, 1891-1938). A New York native, he started out playing piano in a Harlem movie house as a teenager, and gradually worked his way up to playi…
Today is the birthday of songwriter Louis Alter (1902-1980). Alter started out as a silent film accompanist at the age of 13. In time he worked his way up from nickelodeons to accompanying h…
This weekend I had the kind of a new experience you can only have when you reach a certain (unspecified) age. I went back to a city in which I had lived during my early adulthood, and took a…
Today is the birthday of Felix Adler (Frank Bartlet Adler, 1895-1960). One of the twentieth century’s greatest circus clowns, he was with the Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Cir…
Today is the birthday of David “Stringbean” Akeman (1916-1973). Stringbean was one of the key performers on the syndicated country variety show Hee Haw from 1969 until his …
Today is the birthday of Flora Finch (Flora Brooks, 1867-1940). Born  in London, she began her career on the legit stage and in music hall before moving to the U.S. and performing in vaud…
Filed under: Drag and/or LGBT, Indie Theatre, LEGIT, EXPERIMENTAL & MUSICAL THEATRE, PLUGS Tagged: Jack Hoffman, John Epperson, Lypsynka, Once Upon a Mattress, Transport Group
Today is the birthday of Louise Fazenda (1895-1962). This adorable Indiana native was hired away from Universal by Mack Sennett in 1915 to play country girls mostly, feisty female rubes w…
Originally posted in 2009. Today is Bobby Clark’s birthday (the guy from whom I stole the glasses). A tension exists in all comedy teams between the "funny" member(s) and the strai…
Originally posted in 2010. Laurel is many ways the anti-Chaplin. There is much speculation as to why, given their common background in the Fred Karno troup, there wasn't more conta…
Originally posted in 2012 For someone of my age, Jack Albertson was VERY present in the early 1970s: Grandpa Joe in Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971, pictured above), Manny…
Originally posted in 2010. Lupino Lane was born on this day in 1892 into a multigenerational dynasty of English circus and music hall acrobats (Ida Lupino is also a relative)…
Today is the birthday of Lew Pollack (1895-1946). A New York native he started out as a boy singer with Walter Damrosch’s choral group. He sang and played vaudeville and composed music…
Filed under: Amusement Parks, Coney Island, PLUGS, SOCIAL EVENTS Tagged: Coney Island, Deno's Wonder Wheel, Pet Day, World Famous Bob
Today is Nilsson’s birthday! (1941-1994). As I am going through a major Nilsson phase at the moment so if this post does not employ lots of exclamation points, capitalization, bolds, i…
Originally posted in 2010. Something about this part of the west produced a lot of silent comedians: Buster Keaton and Fatty Arbuckle were both born in Kansas. Harry Langdon …
Filed under: SOCIAL EVENTS Tagged: Governor's Island, Jazz Age Lawn Party
Filed under: BROOKLYN, Contemporary Variety, Music, PLUGS, Singers, Women Tagged: Jalopy, Sweet Soubrette, Ukuladies
Originally posted in 2011. Jack Pepper (born Edward Jackson Culpepper this day in 1902) was a singer, dancer and uke player from Texas who (after forming part of a trio with his two s…
