11,925 stories by "Trav S.d."
Tonight is opening night of Burlesque Blitz, Horse Trade’s annual burlesque festival. A fitting time to remind you of my own contribution to the proceedings, with the help of several G…
Today is the birthday of Lupe Vélez (1908-1944). While her career was not restricted to comedy by any means, it made up a substantial portion of her output and remains what she is bes…
Originally posted in 2010 Before starting his famous Hollywood BBQ restaurant in 1936, Russian born Dave Chasen was best known for being Joe Cook’s silent stooge in big tim…
Originally posted in 2011 Along with old school tv variety shows and children’s television, one of the main links between the vaudeville era and our own was the rock and roll novelty h…
Today is Red Skelton’s 100th birthday! (Originally posted in 2010) They really don’t make them remotely like Red Skelton any more. It’s not hard to analyze. As he would hav…
Today is the birthday of Montague “Monty” Banks (Mario Bianchi, 1897-1950). A native of Cesena, Italy, the short, barrel chested performer first came to the U.S. in 1914, dancing…
Today is the birthday of Dolly Dimples (b. Celesta Herrmann, 1901-1982), one of the most famous of all sideshow Fat Ladies. Originally from Cincinnati, Dolly weighed 150 lbs in the sixth gra…
Today is opening day of Vent Haven’s annual ventriloquism ConVENTion, held this year in Cincinnati, July 17-20. I really hope I get to cover it some time — what could be more ins…
Today is the birthday of the late, lamented Phyllis Diller (1917-2012). Having started in nightclubs, radio and television in the 1950s, she was still making public appearances in the months…
Originally posted in 2010. Vaudeville is where I learned my business. And truth to tell, it's where I had the most fun. –James Cagney The public has largely forgotten (if it ever k…
Today is the birthday of Cass Daley (Catherine Dailey, 1915-1975). Daley started out as a teenage singer, accompanying herself with ukulele in New Jersey nightclubs. An enterprising manager …
Today is the birthday of Percy Oakes (1900-1997). A West Virginia native, he first performed with an amateur minstrel show as a child. He moved to Chicago and found a job as a printer in the…
Today is the birthday of Lorett Fulkerson (Loretta Love, 1915-2007), often called “the last tattooed lady”, although judging by the streets around Williamsburg and Park Slope, no…
Originally posted in 2009. This adorable husband-wife team was still kicking around within the living memory of the Pepsi generation, enjoying a healthy second career performing in ni…
From the late teens through the late twenties, Larry Semon was one of the most successful silent comedians in the country, second only to Chaplin in popularity and salary. This despite a las…
Originally posted in 2010 Those in the know are aware that there is scarcely any need to talk about Fred Astaire when talking about Ginger Rogers. Yes, they were a terrific danc…
Today is Babs’s birthday, a fitting time to do a little plug for Dan Callahan’s recently released book Barbara Stanwyck: The Miracle Woman. Stanwyck wasn’t a vaudevillia…
I am very excited to report that today is the (posthumous) release date of David Rakoff’s last book —  a novel written in verse Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish:…
Filed under: Burlesk, Comedy, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: Parkside Lounge, Peekaboo Pointe, Worst Burlesque Show Ever
Today is the birthday of Charles “Heinie” Conklin, sometimes billed as Charles Lynn (1886-1959). Originally from San Francisco, Conklin (no relation to the better known Chester) …
Today is the birthday of John Henry Anderson (1814-1874). Born and raised on a Scottish farm, Anderson was inspired by a childhood viewing of a performance of Antonio Blitz to take up conjur…
Today is the birthday of Artoria Gibbons (Anna Mae Burlingston, 1893-1985). In 1912, the Spokane domestic met and married a tattoo artist named Charles “Red” Gibbons. To suppleme…
Today is the birthday of the great songwriter and Broadway playwright Dorothy Fields (1905-1974). What many folks don’t know is that she was the daughter of Lew Fields of Weber and Fie…
Anthony Slide mentions Galetti’s Monkeys as one of the important trained animal acts of vaudeville. The poster above is from 1892, and I find references to them as late as 1907. To fin…
Set yours DVR’s chillun, tomorrow July 16 at 7:45am, Turner Classic Movies is showing the terrific and wonderfully strange Hallelujah, I'm a Bum (1933), with songs by Rodge…
