11,936 stories by "Trav S.d."
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…
Today is the birthday of Star of Vaudeville #281: Gracie Fields (for more on “our Gracie” go here). Here she is singing her naughty song “The Biggest Aspidistra in the Worl…
Marshall Montgomery (1886-1942) was a top ventriloquist of the vaudeville years who traveled the world with his act. He’d begun his career with a musical comedy act, doing an impres…
Well today’s the King’s birthday (1935-1977). Early celebrity deaths don’t usually make me sad, but Elvis’s does, because it was so senseless and preventable and he c…
Today is the birthday of that great low comedian Larry Storch (b. 1923). Originally a night club comedian, he is of course best known for his role as Corporal Agarn in the hit series F Tr…
CONEY ISLAND USA SPRING GALA 2013: THE BURLESQUE MANIFESTO SATURDAY, MARCH 9 7PM – 11PM WEBSTER HALL 125 EAST 11 ST (BETWEEN 3RD AND 4TH AVE.) NEW YORK, NYÂ Join Coney Island USA as…
One of the most rewarding aspects of having written No Applause and this blog has been hearing from the descendants of the performers I write about, sometimes expressing appreciation, someti…
Alfred Latell (born Aldred Lee, ca. 1880s-1951) made a surprisingly good career for himself in vaudeville as an animal impressionist. Wearing elaborate, lifelike costumes, he  imperson…
I got a nice New Year’s surprise this weekend from Martin Denton and Indie Theatre Now — they’ve added a bunch more of my plays to my Indie Theatre Now page. What’s m…
Today is the birthday of the great African American character actress Thelma “Butterfly” McQueen (1907-1995). In her honor, I am not going to talk about or even mention her most …
I liked the Big Apple Circus show so much this season I had to see it twice. One thing I did miss, however, were the elephants Anna May and Ned. Why were they missing? Well, I’m here t…
Today is the birthday of Star of Vaudeville #101, the great dancer Leonard Reed (for my full bio on the inventor of the shim sham shimmy, go here). I have no clips of him dancing, but …
Today is the birthday of “Professor” William S. Hutchings (1832-1911), billed in vaudeville and dime museums as the “Lightning Calculator”. Hutching was a math prodig…
Pulaski, NY native Ada Briggs started with Barnum and other NY dime museums in the 1870s and her career lasted past the turn of the 20th century. Her marketing niche was that was not only &#…
