11,881 stories by "Trav S.D."
A surprise perhaps, given what fans know of Broderick Crawford’s gruff screen persona in tv shows like Highway Patrol (1955-59) and countless westerns and crime drams from the big scre…
Tim (Harry Roscoe) Moore (born today in 1887) is best known to posterity) for playing the Kingfish in the television version of Amos and Andy (1951-53). (The characters had been played by wh…
The brilliant clown Hilary Chaplain’s show A Life in Her Day (directed by Avner the Eccentric)Â is playing in the Voice for Vision Festival at Theater for the New City through Decem…
To elaborate on my squib in my December column, the world needs another Christmas Carol like it needs a hole in the head (h’m….does the world have a head)? Yet here are 4 new the…
Opened yesterday!
This is part of a little series of post-Thanksgiving mini-posts I'm doing about items you might want to consider as Holiday gifts. I’ve already raved about Paragon Ragtime Orchestra bo…
Today is Sammy Davis, Jr.’s birthday (full bio here). If you’re like me, as a general proposition Sammy makes you want to puke. His sycophancy; his faked sincerity; his slimy…
The name Georges Méliès (born this day in 1861) is no doubt on everyone’s lips very much these days thanks to the recent release of Scorcese’s Hugo. (Very savvy to have release…
This is part of a little series of post-Thanksgiving mini-posts I'm doing about items you might want to consider as Holiday gifts. First, some tough love: Jerry Zucker should change his name…
Elder brother of legendary Broadway producer (and former vaudevillian) Max Gordon, Cliff Gordon (1880-1913) was best known in vaudeville for delivering stump speeches as “The German Se…
Here now, the fourth installment in our Vaudephone series: Theé Baron Parker á Pinot, The World’s Only Wine Comedian, a droll chap who looks suspiciously like Jonny Cigar, and whos…
When I was about ten years old, inspired by the 1953 Houdini bio-pic I’d watched on tv, I went to the library to find a book on the great escape artist. What I found looked a little cl…
A contortionist and acrobat Harley Mankin was known for “[Doing} What No Other Man Kin”, i.e., acting like a frog. Dressed in a frog costume, he’d leap and bound around…
This lady is high-sterical! Her holiday show opens tonight…
This post is one in a series that defines for the layman the various types of variety arts. For the full panoply go here. New Vaudeville is a term that nearly everyone ever associated with i…
Today is the birthday of one of the best straight men in history, Jay Brennan (1881-1961). While he had many partners over the years, only one was legendary: Bert Savoy. Bert Savoy was the f…
Not sure how I missed the fact that this had opened on November 22, but at any rate you have many weeks to catch it. It’s open through January. The Birth of Promotion: Inventing Film P…
One of the most enjoyable parts of working on No Applause and this blog has been watching Hollywood bio-pics of the great vaudevillians. There are more of these movies than you know, scores …
Don’t miss some of New York’s top illustrators and comics artists in this free event at the Brick Theater today! The Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival  presents a unique p…
Tonight! For more info go to http://www.TheAnachronismNYC.com
Today is the birthday of Lillian Russell (full bio here). Here’s an extremely cool COLOR clip of her from 1913! She’s well past her prime but that hardly diminishes the other…
Today is the birthday of Connee Boswell, who, along with her sisters Martha (1905-58), and Helvetia (1909-88) made up one of the most innovative and popular vocal groups of the 1930s. The…
The Beat Rats (whom I rave about here) don’t go on til 11:30 (which means after midnight in rock and roll time), by which time I’ve normally been asleep for hours. Still, I may t…
Tonight at Coney Island USA… Coney Artland Productions presents A CONEY ISLAND OF THE BEHIND, an evening of poetry, storytelling, comedy, dance, burlesque, music and mayhem about Coney…
This is a cause of which I approve HIGHLY. Bibioball is an annual event that raises money for literacy for incarcerated teens. Books have straightened many a confused person out, and inspire…
