11,936 stories by "Trav S.d."
Today is the great Houdini’s birthday! For my full biographical essay on him go here. And see him do his rope escape below: To learn more about the roots of variety entertainment, c…
An Off-Broadway show for the whole family! HONESTLY ABE Produced and directed by M. Stefan Strozier SPECIAL OFFER! TICKETS ONLY $12.00 (reg. $35.00) Actors Temple Theatre 339 West 47th Stree…
Today is the birthday of the great Milbourne Christopher (1914-1984). During his nearly 60 years as a magician, he racked up many accomplishments: President of the Society of American…
What’s the connection between vaudeville and horror, you may ask? Believe it or not, there are many, and I’m all too eager to tell you about them, so please come see me and the i…
Today is the birthday of English music hall “coster singer” Albert Chevalier. (See his full bio here). Here he is performing the touching “My Old Dutch”. (Dutch is sh…
It’s Flo Ziegfeld’s birthday. For my full run-down on him, please go here. In honor of the day, we share this AMAZING clip. It’s a 1929 filmed version of Ziegfeld’s M…
And now here’s the 19th installment in our Vaudephone series, none other than the amazing human jewel Jason Trachtenburg, lately of the Pendulum Swings. Needless to say, I am extremely…
The great Jules Feiffer (see my extensive rave about him and his recent autobiography here) is the guest programmer on TCM tonight. His choice of films is a typical mix of light and dark, an…
Tin Pan Alley is a musical revue of popular standards from 1890 " 1935. The song list includes such numbers as "Daisy"," Alexander's Ragtime Band", "When Johny Comes Marching Home Again" and…
I’m chained to my desk these days to finish a book and ain’t makin’ it out to nothin’. So I’m particularly bummed to be missing the Downtown Clown Revue at Dixo…
Today is the birthday of the great comedy pioneer Moms Mabley (for the full bio go here.) And here’s one of her classic routines, recorded live at the Apollo Theatre: To learn more abo…
Tonight The Ukuladies! Live at THE RODEO BAR! 375 3rd Ave at 27th st, NYC 9pm 2 Sets. Totally and completely FREE! Join the “ladies” in a fun-filled evening sure to delight even …
Today is the birthday of beloved character actor Everett Edward Horton. To mark the day, here he is being gulled by Fred Astaire into believing he’s seasick in Shall We Dance?: To lear…
Since their birthdays are unknown, I’ve saved this post for St. Patrick’s Day. The Russell Brothers, John (1856-1925) and James (1859-1914), were a pair of Irish-American brother…
I first heard about Bill’s Gay Nineties from the man-who-knows-all-things Todd Robbins, who spoke of it in the most glowing terms. An actual former speakeasy from the 1920s, the three …
Tonight at 8pm at Dixon Place Lounge, Jim Moore & Katy Einerson will present: A Quiet Night at the Movies: Lon Chaney and Todd Browning’s The Unholy Three. Tickets are FREE!
Today is the birthday of Harry Steppe (Abraham Stepner, 1888-1934). A legendary burlesque and vaudeville comedian, Steppe was billed as “The Hebrew Gent”. He was credited by Phil…
Today is the birthday of the legendary Henny Youngman (see here for his full bio including my own brush with Henny). Now here he is in a classic spot on the The Steve Allen Show in 1960: To …
Today is the birthday of early vaudeville favorite Else Janis (see her full bio here). Now here she is singing “Florrie Was a Flapper” (recorded 1914): To find out more about …
Today is the birthday of Jerry Lewis (b. Joseph Levitch in 1926). Though he came into the world just a hair too late for vaudeville, his parents (former vaudevillians) let him onstage with t…
For Women’s History Month, Travelanche is hosting several posts by several guest bloggers about various female vaudevillians and other performing artists. This is the second in our ser…
The DVD release of last year’s Three Musketeers movie and research for my Adah Isaacs Menken play have recently placed Dumas pere foursquare on my radar. The former development represe…
The Brooklyn Museum is screening an amazing documentary tonight. You should definitely see it if there are any seats left. I had a chance to look at a screener a couple of weeks ago and it r…
Today is the opening day of Cinefest, the vintage film festival put on by the Syracuse Cinephile Society. I know it’s far away, New Yorkers, but when you see the dense program of rare …
