Monday, October 31, 2011
Today is the birthday of Ethel Waters (full bio here) Here she is singing “Am I Blue” from the 1929 film On With the Show: To find out more about the history of vaudeville, co…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:24AMA clip from one of my favorite movies as a kid, 1953′s Houdini starring Tony Curtis. This is the climactic scene. For those who don’t know, Harry Houdini passed way 85 years ago …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:17AMSunday, October 30, 2011
This post is one in a series that defines for the layman the various types of variety arts. For the full panoply go here. 70 years ago today, the United Services Organization (U.S.O.) establ…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:49AMToday is the birthday of the great Fanny Brice (for the full bio on her go here). And now here’s Fanny singing “When a Man Loves a Woman” (not the Percy Sledge one) from th…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:27AMSaturday, October 29, 2011
Tonight (October 29th) at 11pm At The Living Room, 154 Ludlow Street, between Rivington and Stanton No cover, no jacket required, no bull allowed, just Halloween candy!
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:29AMMy last post about Jack Pearl (here) was perfunctory to say the least, so I thought I would try to do him a little more justice today. Born Jacob Perlman this day in 1895, he is best known f…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:30AMFriday, October 28, 2011
There really is no better place to see a Gothic horror film than Loews Jersey City, with its run down cathedral decor and its atmospheric elevator pipe organ. The Countess and I will be ther…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:47AMTonight! At the Cathedral of St. John the Divine! Procession of the Ghouls, Following a screening of Phantom of the Opera (1925) The Great Organ will be played by Timothy Brumfield to accomp…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:35AMClick on image to enlarge
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:28AMThursday, October 27, 2011
I became aware of Fitz James O’Brien rather recently, while doing research for my new play about Adah Isaacs Menken. He and she both were part of the literary scene around Walt Whitman…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:51AMH. Russell Wakefield (1890-1964) was an English fiction writer known mostly as a master of the ghost story. His published works include They Return at Evening (1928), Old Man’s Beard: …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:07AMIf you watch the documentary extras on the DVD of Todd Browning’s Freaks you will find that one of the talking heads is our old buddy Todd Robbins. Todd is there of course because he i…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:56AMOne game I love to play is what I call “vertical analysis” — essentially tracing some narrative property through its various media iterations, e.g., book, stage-play, silen…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:43AMI first encountered the name Dr. John Polidori in the 1973 television movie Frankenstein: The True Story. I was eight years old at the time and this film was one of the few times I have been…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:27AMWednesday, October 26, 2011
Today is Ned Harrigan’s birthday. Since my original post on Harrigan and Hart concentrates mainly on the team’s vaudeville days (then ends before their true fame even truly begin…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:25AMBorn this day in 1914, Jackie Coogan was, like Charlie Chaplin, a child performer, and also like Chaplin, was discovered for the movies while performing on the vaudeville stage. Unlike Chapl…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:42AM“Let’s All drink to the death of a clown” — Dave Davies Brace yourself for a sad ending. Oh what the hell, we’ll put it at the beginning. Just as his clown part…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:00AMTuesday, October 25, 2011
Scared Silly is a blog after my own heart. Penned by Paul Castiglia, a comic book writer with copious credits (most notably a long association with Archie) it is a blog-to-book project that …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:40AMWell, it looks like Saint Reverend Jen has finally made the Big Time. Simon & Schuster, a major house, has brought out her latest book Elf Girl and it goes on sale today. To them, as to …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:14AMDig my man Mac (Michael Cumella) beaming his WFMU radio show “The Antique Phonograph Music Program” live tonight from City Reliquary, 370 Metropolitan Ave in Williamsburg. The li…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:25AMToday is the birthday of the fabulous Dolly Sisters (they were twins). For their full bio go here. In honor of the day we post a clip of the preposterous, ahistorical bio-pic made of their l…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:15AMToday is the birthday of little person Billy Barty, who got his start in vaudeville (see his bio here). Here he is in one of his less obvious roles, the title character in Sid & Marty Kr…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:07AMMonday, October 24, 2011
Gilda Gray may or not have invented the Shimmy, but she is the performer most closely identified with that craze of the 1920s, and certainly the one who exploited it the most. Born Marianna …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:12AMSunday, October 23, 2011
Born Abraham Laski this day in 1859, this Polish native changed his name to Herbert Albini and first began performing magic in England performing moving to the USA in 1891. His act first foc…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:34AMMay 22, 1992 was the night of my bachelor party. It also happened to be the night of Johnny Carson’s last appearance on The Tonight Show. The television was on in the bar adjacent the …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:29AMAnnie Yeamans (1835-1912) was a second generation circus clown, born Anni Griffiths on the Isle of Man. When she was ten the family moved to Australia, which is where she first jumped into t…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:13AMToday is the birthday of the Divine Sarah (see bio here). Here is a clip from her 1912 film Queen Elizabeth. She was 68 years old at the time: To find out more about these variety artists an…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:02AMSaturday, October 22, 2011
James A. Bland (born this day in 1854) was “The Prince of Negro Songwriters” and “The World’s Greatest Minstrel Man”, author of some 700 songs, including “…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:31AMChild star Mitzi Green (born today in 1920) got her start performing in a vaudeville act with her parents, Keno and Green. Before long, the parents dropped out! The talented kid could do imp…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:22AMToday is the birthday of Broadway comedian Raymond Hitchcock, most famous for his Hitchykoo series of revues (see full bio here). Here he is singing “In the Days of Old”, from th…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:15AMFriday, October 21, 2011
I saw a terrific student production of The Bacchae up at Ithaca College this past weekend. It’s my favorite play, which should only surprise you if you haven’t read my book No Ap…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:46AM 
