11,875 stories by "Trav S.D."
Today is the birthday of everybody named Tex! Not just Texas Guinan but also beloved cowboy star Tex Ritter (1905-1974), a fixture of the stage, radio, record albums and movie westerns…
Today is the birthday of Star of Vaudeville #104:  Texas Guinan (for my full squib on that quintessential jazz age entertainer go here). We think of her primarily today as the lege…
Today is the birthday of Arthur Ripley (1897-1961). He is remembered chiefly today as part of the creative brain trust behind Harry Langdon, an outgrowth of his tenure as scriptwriter and ga…
Tonight at 8pm Eastern on TCM, that heartwarming family classic Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? The part of the film that seems to stick uppermost in our mind is the situation of two old sis…
Today is Kreskin’s birthday (for my full, earlier post on the mentalist go here). I found the clip below amusing, on the one hand as an illustration of his technique of “fishing&…
Today is the birthday of Joe E. Lewis (Joseph Klewan, 1902-1971). He started out as an old school vaudeville singer/ comedian but rapidly evolved into a nightclub entertainer (although in th…
Based in New York, ventriloquist Charles Young played many of the important venues of the late 18th century: Tony Pastor’s, Bunnell’s New American Museum, Harrigan & HartR…
This is one in a series of posts we are producing in connection with our new book Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, available from Bear Ma…
One of my favorite movies is playing on TCM tonight at 8 p.m., E.S.T.  As a child, it held many mysteries for me. First, that title, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World was so long i…
Today is the birthday of Star of Vaudeville #422: Pine Top Smith (for more on him and his signature tune Pine Top’s Boogie Woogie go here). Here’s a more somber tune, the old blu…
Today is the birthday of Elfie Fay (1879-1927). She was the daughter of Hugh Fay of the Irish comedy act of Barry and Fay. When he died, Elfie replaced him in the vaudeville act briefly form…
Today is the birthday of John Steel (1895-1971), best known for having introduced Irving Berlin’s “A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody” in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1919. He’…
 Today is the birthday of James Carl “Ham Tree” Harrington (1889-1956). Born in South Carolina, he ran off an joined a carnival in his adolesence, working in black vaudeville …
Great news! I am hosting (and playing a number) in this unique event tomorrow night at the Brick Theater! Preparing for this event has been a hugely rewarding experience. In case you haven&#…
Today is the birthday of the great be bop jazz drummer Max Roach (1924-2007). I always get real peeved when I hear people who don’t know what they’re talking about say tha…
Today is the birthday of Star of Vaudeville #421: Grock (for more on the international clown star and his vaudeville connection go here). You can see him in action here in this 1931 clip: To…
Today is the birthday of Star of Vaudeville #103: Ray Bolger (for more on him and his vaudeville beginnings go here). Â Modern movie fans love him for having played the Scarecrow, but he w…
Today is the birthday of matinee idol Francis X. Bushman (1883-1966). He started his career acting with Baltimore stock companies. Inspired by Sandow the Strong man, as a young man he bui…
Herman Ootics, the Clown: History, Culture, and Clowning A Lecture by David Carlyon Thursday, January 10 6 pm BGC, 38 West 86th Street The whimsical reference to hermeneutics in this …
Kate Elionor (ca. 1875-1924) started out in the 1890s in a comical two act with her sister May, who fed her jokes. Joe Laurie Jr. described this act as being similar to the Russell Brothers.…
Today is the birthday of Betty Lou Williams (1930-1953). Born to a poor Georgia farming family she was born with a parasytic twin growing out of her side. She began to be exhibited in New…
It’s Bob Denver’s birthday! But I bet you were already celebrating that, weren’t you? I think it’s a pretty good sign of how toxic, weird and perverse our culture can…
Today is the birthday of Star of Vaudeville #102: Gypsy Rose Lee (for more on her and her equally classy sister June Havoc go here). Here’s a clip of Gypsy in action in the 1943 wartim…
