11,936 stories by "Trav S.d."
Today is the birthday of Star of Vaudeville #286: Rosco Ates (for my original post on him, go here). Now here he is as the sidekick to Tex Ritter in the 1940 Mongram feature The Cowboy from …
Today is Phil Everly’s birthday! The influence of the Everly Brothers is incaluable: Lennon and McCartney patterned their early sound after them; Simon and Garfunkle modeled their whol…
Today is the birthday of one my favorite writers Edgar Allen Poe (1809-1849). To mark the date I thought I’d double your pleasure by looking at Vincent Price’s long relationship …
Today is the birthday of Janis Joplin (1943-1970). No need to trudge over well-trod territory and gab about what you already know about her here. I’m more interested in another element…
Today is the birthday of John Wyman, Jr. (1816-1881), one of the first American-born magician/ventriloquists, billed as “Wyman the Wizard”. A favorite entertainer of Abraha…
January 19, 2013 at 3pm: Free! I am very excited (and honored) to be joining Theatre Askew artistic director Tim Cusack in conversation in the Coffeehouse Chronicles series at La MaMa. Coffe…
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…
Rose’s Royal Midgets were a troupe of 25 little people gathered together from across Europe (mostly Germany) by American impresario I.S. Rose. Company members danced, did acrobat…
Opening tonight at Triskelion Arts in Williamsburg, a line up of killer clowns! I mean, a killer line up of clowns! CIRQUE OFF January 17 – 20 @ 8pm Tickets: $15 A smorgasbord of rare …
Today is the birthday of that great genius of comedy, performance art, theatre and the Great American Hoax, Andy Kaufman (1949-1984). About ten years ago, a prominent journalist was intervie…
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 Mano…
Today is the birthday of Nils Asther (1897-1981). A Danish-Swede by birth, he first found fame on the silent screen in Scandinavia and Germany before coming to Hollywood in 1927Â to make h…
Julian Rose 1879-1935 was a Hebrew dialect comedian, whose most famous monologue was a speech called “Levinsky’s Wedding”. Originally an accountant in Philadelphia, his act…
Today is the birthday of George Kelly (1887-1974). The younger brother of famous vaudevillian Walter C. Kelly, “The Virginia Judge” (both men were uncles of Grace Kelly), he foll…
Continuing on with today’s Cole Porter theme, today also happens to be Star of Vaudeville #424: Ethel Merman’s birthday (for more on Merman and her early career go here). Here…
Today is the birthday of Star of Vaudeville #284: Irene Bordoni (for more on her, go here). The French coquette had a long association with Cole Porter on stage and screen; here she is singi…
“I’d like to read,” goes a new tv commercial I like to boo and hiss at, “but who has the time?” Well, never mind books on tape, the best friend the universal…
“What’s the biggest act in vaudeville?” In terms of fame, the answer to that is a poser; you could argue about that ’til the cows come home. But in terms of actual ph…
This is part two of the series on the show biz ancestry of Cynthia Fujikawa, which we launched here last week. Lottie Burke (1883-1939) was on all fours when she made her stage debut. Sh…
Today on TCM at 2:30pm (Eastern), I’ll Cry Tomorrow, the 1955 bio-pic based on Lillian Roth’s eponymous memoir. The focal point is Roth’s descent into alcoholism and accomp…
Today is the birthday of Star of Vaudeville #423: Loïe Fuller (for full article on her go here). This incredible short film from 1902 opens with her transforming from a bat! To find ou…
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 Manor Media…
Today is the birthday of Dick Hilburn (1918-1971). billed in the sideshow world as “the Quarter Man”. The name sprang from the fact that he had but one fully developed limb (his …
