11,870 stories by "Trav S.D."
The Roma Brothers were an acrobalance act, who seem to have been active at least from 1924 until 1937, when they posed for painter Walt Kuhn for the painting above. They seem to have been mo…
Today is the birthday of British music hall comedian Wilkie Bard (1874-1944). He was just over 20 when he debuted with “Never ‘ave a Lodger for a Pal”. He appeared most …
A post in celebration of Women’s History Month. Wowsa! This one’s a labor of love, one of the few posts on this site that’s nearly all primary research. That’s of nec…
 Beloved character actor Edward Everett Horton (1886-1970), foil of Fred and Ginger, (and player in dozens more Hollywood movies), narrator of Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons, and even …
Today is the birthday of Nellie Wallace (Eleanor Jane Wallis Taylor, 1870-1948). A second generation performer, she was born in Glasgow, and began singing and dancing with her two sisters on…
A new feature wherein we record and chronicle contemporary busking performers for fun and very little profit. This gentleman was improvising on his cello at the 14th Street F platform last w…
Today is the birthday of Wilson Pickett (1941-2006). An Alabama native, Pickett began as a gospel singer, making the transition to what later became known as soul music by the mid 50s.…
How’s this for immediacy? We just saw the tail end of our little neighborhood parade mere seconds ago, miles and miles from the drunken hoardes of Manhattan. This one was sweet and fam…
Today is the birthday of John Sebastian (b. 1944). I’m so crazy about the psychedelic pop jug band The Lovin’ Spoonful that ordinarily it would be hard to choose what song of …
Tonight, at St. Peter’s Church… SAXOPHILM: The Concert Version, highlighting the music of 1920's sax phenom, Rudy Wiedoeft. Starring Chad Smith, playing Alto Saxophone and…
Erin Go Bragh! Sure and ’tis another St. Patty’s Day post! Talbot O’Farrell (1878-1952) was an English music hall entertainer who wasn’t Irish at all. Yorkshire born,…
Erin Go Bragh! Sure and ’tis another St. Patty’s Day post! William Henry “Harry” Kennedy (1855-1894) was a songwriter and ventriloquist of Irish extraction and Englis…
Erin Go Bragh! Sure and ’tis another St. Patty’s Day post! Hugh Murphy the Irish Giant (later billed as the Baltimore Giant) was born in Waterford Ireland in 1842, and employed b…
Erin Go Bragh! Sure and ’tis another St. Patty’s Day post! Frank B. Sheridan and Joe Flynn were a stereotypical Irish comedy team of the 1870s through the 1890s, who became best …
Erin Go Bragh! Sure and ’tis another St. Patty’s Day post! John and Harry Kernell are extremely important in the history of American comedy teams. The only reason I haven’t…
Poor Baby Bree wants you to know she will be doing a special St. Patrick’s show at Joe’s Pub tonight at 7 pm (doors 6:30) with Franklin Bruno at the piano. It’s my f…
I think when someone finally does an accurate, TRUE accounting, it will be found that most of the best musicals of the 2nd half of the 20th century came not from Broadway but from children&#…
Today is the birthday of Jerry Lewis (b. Joseph Levitch in 1926). Though he came into the world just a hair too late for vaudeville, his parents (former vaudevillians) let him onstage with t…
Today is the birthday of Sydney Chaplin (1885-1965). As the elder half-brother of Charlie Chaplin, the world owes him much. Not only was he the person responsible for introducing Charlie to …
Today is the birthday of Marion Byron (1911-1985). Born Miriam Bilenkin in Dayton, Ohio, she sang and danced briefly in vaudeville before being cast by Buster Keaton as his co-star in Steamb…
Today is the birthday of T. Nelson Downs, a.k.a. The King of Koins (1867-1938). An Iowa native, he taught himself to manipulate coins and cards as a boy. At age 28, after years of working fo…
Today is the birthday of George Walsh (1889-1981). The younger brother of film director Raoul Walsh, he was a serious high school and college athlete, he put those skills to good use as an a…
Today is the birthday of Henry B. Walthall (1878-1936). Walthall was the son of a wealthy Alabama cotton planter, raised in a plantation manor house and raised by tutors — excellent tr…
Good news! My new book  Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, is now available to order in a Kindle edition via Amazon.com. It doesn’t sit han…
Tonight at the Box, the Gotham Chamber Opera is opening its run of Eliogabalo, which the Dutchess and I are planning to catch next week. Both of us are huge fans of Austin McCormack of Compa…
