11,731 stories by "Trav S.D."
Originally posted in  2009 Today is the birthday of Gus Van.  Van and Schenck were BIG, man — they were right on top in the nineteen teens and twenties (their best pal was …
When I was a child my third favorite film (behind only The Wizard of Oz and The Poseidon Adventure) was Cecil B DeMille’s 1956 Biblical epic The Ten Commandments, which was…
Today is the birthday of Bert Errol (1883-1949). Starting around 1909 Errol became the most successful female impersonator in British music hall. From 1910 through 1921 he also made frequent…
Today is the birthday of Robert Heller (William Henry Palmer, 1826-1878). (The date is according to magic historian Milbourne Christopher). A native of Canterbury England he was trained orig…
Originally posted in 2011. The mother of Broderick Crawford, and herself a familiar sight in Hollywood films of the 1930s and 40s, Helen Broderick’s claim to vaudeville lay i…
Tonight, August 10 at 7pm at Green-wood Cemetery in Brooklyn… Imagine an outdoor pleasure dome, strung with lights, adorned with fountains and featuring the top musicians, dancers and …
Originally posted in 2009. The great unsung hero of the1939 film version of The Wizard of Oz is Jack Haley. When children are asked their favorite character from the film, they will us…
Today is the birthday of Hugh Herbert (1887-1952). Herbert was a legit stage and vaudeville performer and sketch writer before he came out to Hollywood as a dialogue coach with the advent of…
Today is the birthday of magician Joseph Michael Hartz (1836-1903). An English native, Hartz was already presenting a full evening of magic in London at age 18, with an act based on that of …
Live Music, Entertainment and History! Celebrate Historic Coney Island Saturday August 10th from 1pm-6pm by attending the Third Annual HISTORY DAY presented by Deno's Wonder Wheel Park &…
Filed under: Burlesk, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: Cutting Room, Dark Carnival Burlesque, Gothic Hangman, Kat Mon Dieu
Tonight is opening night of the new documentary Zipper: Coney Island’s Last Wild Ride at the IFC Center. My review of the film is in this week’s Villager here. My rea…
I find myself much saddened (despite all sorts of inward protestations against the instinct) by the passing of Karen Black. What do I care about this person, whom I never met, whom I donR…
Today is the birthday of Fred C. Newmeyer (1888-1967). Originally a pro baseball player (1909-1913), in 1916 he began working for Hal Roach in small roles in Harold Lloyd’s “Lone…
Today is the birthday of Vivian Wheeler (b. 1948), notable in these annals for oh so many interesting reasons. Wheeler was born a hermaphrodite; since her parents already had two sons they h…
The Busking Bulletin is a series wherein we chronicle contemporary NYC street and subway performers for fun and very little profit. The F train out to Coney Island the other day was a ve…
Next Monday, 12 August 2013 at 4pm, the Hudson Branch Library (66 Leroy Street) will be the site of a special Mae West 120th birthday tribute. Actress Darlene Violette will r…
Today is the birthday of Lew “Bud” Bloom (Ludwig Pflum, 1859-1929), billed in vaudeville as “The Society Tramp”. Originally from Reading, Pennsylvania, he started out…
Today is the birthday of that legendary Siren Margaretha Geertruida ”M’greet“ Zelle MacLeod, better known as Mata Hari (1876-1914). Her career as a spy working …
Today is the birthday of Randall James Hamilton Zwinge (b. 1928), better known as the Amazing Randi. A native of Toronto, he was turned on to magic as a teenager when he saw a performance by…
Today is the birthday of Mary William Ethelbert Appleton “Billie” Burke (1884-1970). American-born, she was the daughter of singer and clown Billy Burke, and grew up on the road,…
Today is the birthday of Sam Lucas (1839-1916), actor, comedian, singer and songwriter, known as “the Grand Old Man of the Negro Theatre”. Born to free black parents in Ohio, he …
Today is the birthday of Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892). In my teenage years I acquired a 19th century copy of his complete works and it remains one of my most treasured possessions, as h…
Today is the birthday of Lucille Ball (1911-1989). People older and younger than me know her primarily for and initially from her groundbreaking tv series I Love Lucy (1951-1957). But tho…
Today is the birthday of the great Leo Carrillo (for more on this pioneering entertainer go here). My first exposure to Carrillo was on the tv show The Cisco Kid, one of the very first te…
