11,870 stories by "Trav S.D."
I recently wrote an article for the next issue of The Berlesker that talks about four performing artists with a connection both to clowning and to burlesque (Dottie Lux, Melissa Roth a.k.…
Dagobert Roehmann (sometimes given as Dagmar Rothman, 1920-1952) was one of the sideshow world’s most legendary geeks and regurgitators. Billed as Waldo the Great or “the Human O…
Please Join Us For the FREE Chain of Fools Launch Event Wednesday, April 10, 7:30-9:30 pm in the Dixon Place Lounge Trav S.D. launches his new book Chain of Fools: Silent …
Part two of today’s birthday tribute to comic actor Stuart Pankin (for part one go here). Here’s a show that was not only quite prominent for a time, but was actually on tv fo…
 The Hall of Hams is my series on some of my favorite actors who have brought the art of melodramatic acting into the modern era. One of the great thespians of his day, Frank Keenan (Apr…
This is the first of two posts today celebrating the birthday of comic character actor Stuart Pankin (b. 1946). While you may not know the name, his is an an extremely recognizab…
Today is the birthday of Shecky Greene (Fred Sheldon Greenfield, b. 1926). I don’t know how it happened, but somewhere down the line his name became synonymous with “hack comedia…
Today is the birthday of Sonja Henie (1912-1969), who for ten years enjoyed an unlikely second career for a world champion ice skater — movie star. (although there were others who atte…
Today is the birthday of Gladys Marie Smith, a.k.a. Mary Pickford (1892-1979). She was of course most famous as a film actress and one of the most powerful people (male or female) in Hollywo…
Friends Michele Carlo and Heather Quinlan have teamed with Bridget Bartolini to produce this series of New York themed story nights, with awesome storytellers like Alexis Sottile, Kam…
Horace Ridler (1892-1969) was a self-made British freak billed as The Great Omi and the Zebra Man (although to me he looks more like a poison dart frog). His early years are shrouded in myst…
Today is the birthday of Jack Osterman (1902-1939). His mother had been an operetta star; his father a publicist and company manager. His first major show was Jerome Kern’s Oh, Boy (19…
One of many leopard boys employed by P.T. Barnum, A.E. Bishell (1869-1909), like most who bore the name, was an African American who had the condition called leucoderma, which produces a spo…
George Lippert (1842-1906) was born in Bavaria, Germany with two functioning hearts and three functioning legs (sort of). His right leg split off into two, one of which was normal-sized, clu…
Born in 1919, Illinous native Clyde “Tiny” Hicks got with it in 1945 when he joined the Standard Shows in Wyoming as a fat man”. Claims about his eigh ranged from over 500 …
Today is the birthday of Bert Swor (1878-1943) (or, rather it may be; another source says January 9, 1871 is the actual birthdate). A native of rural Texas, he got his start as a minstrel pe…
George Bunnell was a protege of P.T. Barnum’s and a crucial figure in the development of the American dime museum. After numerous iterations of Barnum’s American Museum bur…
August Carney (1870-1920) was one of silent comedy’s first stars, whose heyday was essentially of the pre-Chaplin era. Originating in British music halls and American vaudeville, he fo…
A stunt so dangerous Houdini refused to attempt it, the Bullet Catch has claimed the lives of at least 12 people since its conception in 1613. Acclaimed performer, director, playwright (and …
Today is the birthday of J.C. Nugent (1868-1946). A Texas farm kid, he ran off with a travelling repertory company at age 16, barnstorming the country in melodramas, comedies and occasion cl…
Today is the birthday of Nellie Keeler (1875-1903). Born onto a Kokomo, Indiana farm, she weighed only eleven ounces at the time of her birth. At age three, when she was hired by P.T. Barnum…
We lucked into some tickets to previews for Pinchbottom’s new burlesque production Pretencion last night and I can’t say enough good things about it. I thought it was a bri…
Today is the birthday of famed producer and director Roger Corman (b. 1926). The subject of Corman and his career is so large and unwieldy that to talk about all of it in one post would be l…
Decatur, Alabama native William Ingram (b.circa  1930) learned at the age of four that he had a unique gift: the ability to thrust his eyeballs up to an inch outside of their sockets. …
Hello and welcome again to Vaudephone, your one stop shopping for all the best contemporary variety acts! Today we feature the terrific Noah Diamond, a show biz Renaissance man: vaudevill…
