11,734 stories by "Trav S.D."
This weekend I had the kind of a new experience you can only have when you reach a certain (unspecified) age. I went back to a city in which I had lived during my early adulthood, and took a…
Today is the birthday of Felix Adler (Frank Bartlet Adler, 1895-1960). One of the twentieth century’s greatest circus clowns, he was with the Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Cir…
Today is the birthday of David “Stringbean” Akeman (1916-1973). Stringbean was one of the key performers on the syndicated country variety show Hee Haw from 1969 until his …
Today is the birthday of Flora Finch (Flora Brooks, 1867-1940). Born  in London, she began her career on the legit stage and in music hall before moving to the U.S. and performing in vaud…
Filed under: Drag and/or LGBT, Indie Theatre, LEGIT, EXPERIMENTAL & MUSICAL THEATRE, PLUGS Tagged: Jack Hoffman, John Epperson, Lypsynka, Once Upon a Mattress, Transport Group
Today is the birthday of Louise Fazenda (1895-1962). This adorable Indiana native was hired away from Universal by Mack Sennett in 1915 to play country girls mostly, feisty female rubes w…
Originally posted in 2009. Today is Bobby Clark’s birthday (the guy from whom I stole the glasses). A tension exists in all comedy teams between the "funny" member(s) and the strai…
Originally posted in 2010. Laurel is many ways the anti-Chaplin. There is much speculation as to why, given their common background in the Fred Karno troup, there wasn't more conta…
Originally posted in 2012 For someone of my age, Jack Albertson was VERY present in the early 1970s: Grandpa Joe in Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971, pictured above), Manny…
Originally posted in 2010. Lupino Lane was born on this day in 1892 into a multigenerational dynasty of English circus and music hall acrobats (Ida Lupino is also a relative)…
Today is the birthday of Lew Pollack (1895-1946). A New York native he started out as a boy singer with Walter Damrosch’s choral group. He sang and played vaudeville and composed music…
Filed under: Amusement Parks, Coney Island, PLUGS, SOCIAL EVENTS Tagged: Coney Island, Deno's Wonder Wheel, Pet Day, World Famous Bob
Today is Nilsson’s birthday! (1941-1994). As I am going through a major Nilsson phase at the moment so if this post does not employ lots of exclamation points, capitalization, bolds, i…
Originally posted in 2010. Something about this part of the west produced a lot of silent comedians: Buster Keaton and Fatty Arbuckle were both born in Kansas. Harry Langdon …
Filed under: SOCIAL EVENTS Tagged: Governor's Island, Jazz Age Lawn Party
Filed under: BROOKLYN, Contemporary Variety, Music, PLUGS, Singers, Women Tagged: Jalopy, Sweet Soubrette, Ukuladies
Originally posted in 2011. Jack Pepper (born Edward Jackson Culpepper this day in 1902) was a singer, dancer and uke player from Texas who (after forming part of a trio with his two s…
Originally posted in 2009. Best known today as the voice of Jiminy Cricket in the 1940 Disney film Pinnochio, Edwards (June 14, 1895 " July 17, 1971) probably gained his widest popula…
Poodles was the greatest comic trick rider of the century, and possibly of all time. He is credited with having done more to advance the art of trick riding than anyone since Philip Astley, …
Today is the birthday of Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (1909-1995). This beloved American figure began his life as an itinerant folk-singer in the early 1930s, rising to enough prominence that by 1…
Today is the birthday of “Major” Edward Bowes (1874-1946), a major figure in keeping variety entertainment alive during the immediate post-vaudeville aftermath and in the heyday …
Today is the birthday of Charles Joseph Carter (1874-1936). Those who’ve read Glen David Gold’s amazing novel Carter Beats the Devil (2001), will know something about…
Today is the birthday of Gilbert “Gil” Lamb (1906-1995). Originally from Minneapolis he began as an eccentric dancer in vaudeville during its last days. Such was his talent, thou…
A few months ago I blogged about Julia Pastrana on the occasion of her much overdue burial (Read all about her and it here). Now her story is a theatre piece in the Brick Theater’s Sou…
Today is the birthday of the irreplaceable Paul Lynde (1926-1982). Technically he was a comic actor — one of our very best, although it seems to me he had too few opportunities to achi…
