12,107 stories from Trav S.D.
Julie Klausner is most definitely not a part of show business past " she's out there in the fray thrashing around right now, same as always. But, like us (that's the Royal "we"), she is a pa…
In the context of my current spate of posts celebrating the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, I had an internal debate about whether of no I should include the painter John Singl…
Originally posted in 2011. Born today in 1825, George L. Fox comes way too early to have been in vaudeville as we usually think of it, but he is a crucial figure in American variety hist…
So here's a real true story. In my kidhood, I was a huge HUGE fan of Star Trek, the version now usually asterisked, of necessity, as The Original Series. It was one of the many things my bes…
Surely you know that face! Barbara Colby (1939-1975) was a ubiquitous character actress in the early to mid 1970s. I am just the right age to have seen almost all of her work, and to recall …
Country and rockabilly singer/songwriter Marvin Rainwater (1925-2013) was born 100 years ago today. I first learned about Rainwater when I looked into that Paul Revere and the Raiders song "…
Pamela Anderson (b. 1967) is younger than me so you can see why I've been in no rush to include a post about her in my blog on tradition show biz. But her recent film The Last Showgirl (2024…
Deborah Harry (Angela Trimble, b. 1945) turns 80 years old today " yet another sign post on the road ahead en route to The Twilight Zone. I'm one of the millions who worship her. I have espe…
July 1, 1985 saw the debut of the Nickelodeon network's programming initiative Nick at Night. The revolutionary concept of this nightly block in Nickelodeon's schedule was "television oldies…
Be careful what you wish for " you just may get it! In my 2013 post on Dan Aykroyd I had suggested just this kind of show for the comedian, whose interest in bizarrerie has been well known f…
For the last day of Pride Month " a few fragments on Harry Caro (1899-1963), who billed himself in show business as the He/She (hermaphrodite) Albert/Alberta. Scant info is available on this…
Well, there you have it: Pride Month concludes with the birthday of John Gay (1685-1732). Today, Gay is known for but one of his many works for the stage and the page, The Beggar's Opera (17…
It just so happens that June 29 is the anniversary of Jayne Mansfield's fatal 1967 car crash. My 2013 article on Mansfield is one of my top posts, the fifth highest in popularity out of 9,00…
Today is Pride Day in NYC " I was going to march in the parade this afternoon with the Lambs, but a hot tooth is keeping me anchored to the domicile. In lieu, I offer this plug for Zachary D…
You surely have your own ways of observing the Fourth of July but we wanted to make you aware of some other activities happening in the NYC area beyond the usual parades, cook-outs, firework…
It's been a while since we've done a new post on a Saint-based or seasonal Feast Day within the Pagan-Christian cultural continuum. (Previous examples: St. John, St. George, St. Bartholomew,…
Several great comedians were born on June 28: Mel Brooks, Gilda Radner, John Byner. But we've already written about them so today we treat of someone frankly less hilarious: stand-up comedy'…
80 years ago today (June 26, 1945), 45 nations signed the charter that founded the United Nations. Today it has 193 member states, nearly all the nations of the earth. It has done much good,…
Temperatures spiked into the triple digits in NYC this week. To escape it, we did what folks from hereabouts used to do around the turn of the last century, which is spend a few days by the …
With apologies to Paul Simon! Back on May 19 we told you about the swell launch party for the new arts mag Slips Slips. Today, the publication's substack sister posted a four question interv…
I have scant intel on ventriloquist Roy Douglas other than he was popular during the 1940s and '50s, other vents respected him and bought dummies from him, and his most famous gimmick was wo…
Thanks, Eve Golden, for the reminder that June Lockhart's 100th birthday is upon us. June was born the day before Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush was released! I'm on vacation at the moment,…
As vaguely promised in our post on Harvey Lembeck eight years ago, a piece finally on his son Michael Lembeck (b.1948) whose work may be better known to those of my generation. Oddly, I grew…
I learned of Jack Sterling (Jack Sexton,1915-1990) whilst research Electric Vaudeville, my upcoming book on radio and tv variety. Sterling was the ringmaster and host of the CBS children's p…
Back in the day it was a matter of course that you could see more than one sideshow presentation in Coney Island on the same day, and by that I mean different presentations by different orga…
