11,739 stories by "Trav S.D."
Today is the birthday of sui generis comedian Marty Allen (b. 1922). From 1957 to 1968, and then in 1974, and then from 1984 to 1985, and then from 1990 to 1994 he was teamed with crooner…
Today is the birthday of Joan Crawford (Lucille LeSueur, 1904-1977). We leave to others the task of talking about High Crawford, i.e. the classic Crawford of Mildred Pierce (1945) and Grand …
A Post in Honor of Women’s History Month. Helene Mora (1861-1903) was considered to be in the front ranks of American vaudevillians in the 1890s but died too young to have secured hers…
Today is the birthday of Hazel Dawn (Hazel Tout, 1890-1988). Born into a family of Utah Mormons, she and her entire family moved to Wales as missionaries when she was eight, and Hazel�…
Today is the birthday of Chico Marx (1887-1961). I might be one of the few people who rates Chico as high as his two brothers as a comedian. He may not be as original as the two others, but …
The Hall of Hams is my series on some of my favorite actors who have brought the art of melodramatic acting into the modern era. The piece below is adapted and expanded from a guest column I…
Hello and welcome again to Vaudephone, your one stop shopping for all the best contemporary variety acts!  Today we feature the terrific Michael Townsend Wright, a show biz vet what…
A post in honor of Women’s History Month The Ingenues were a Chicago-based all-girl orchestra active from 1925 through 1937. With a typically versatile vaudeville repertoire embracing …
Today is the birthday of the great blues man Son House (1902-1988), a cohort of Charley Patton and a major influence on Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters. Like almost all the blues artists of …
Today is the birthday of Gilbert M. “Broncho Billy” Anderson (Maxwell Henry Aronson, 1880-1971). Raised in Arkansas and St. Louis he moved to New York City in 1898 to try his luc…
Today is the birthday of Dave Montgomery (1870-1917), for 22 years one half of one of vaudeville’s greatest teams, Montgomery and Stone. Montgomery had gotten into show business as …
Today is the birthday of Ozzie Nelson (1906-1975). Most people know him from his 1950s sit com with his wife Harriet (Hilliard) Nelson. Younger folks won’t know or remember that his or…
Today is also Carl Reiner’s birthday — he was born the exact same day as Ray Goulding! What a great day for comedy. (And interesting to note…in routines with Sid Caesar and…
Today is the birthday of Ray Goulding (1922-1990), one of the finest comic minds this nation has yet produced. He and his partner Bob Elliott (b. 1923) would be on anyone’s short list …
Ringling Bros, Barnum & Bailey Circus opens for the first time at the Barclay’s Center tonight! (Sorry, MSG. As anyone can tell you, Brooklyn is now the center of the known univers…
The Hall of Hams is my series on some of my favorite actors who have brought the art of melodramatic acting into the modern era. Today is the birthday of Patrick McGoohan (1928-2009). He is …
General Tom Thumb, or, the Commercial Wonders of 19th-Century America, Illustrated Lecture with Matthew Wittmann, Curatorial Fellow at the Bard Graduate Center and author of Circus and…
Today is the birthday of Star of Vaudeville #310: Moms Mabley (for more on this show business pioneer see my article here). And the day is already off to an awesome start. Look at this great…
A post in celebration of Women’s History Month. I’ve only been able to pick up a few facts about the Rita Mario Orchestra, an all-girl ten piece band that seems to have been most…
The Roma Brothers were an acrobalance act, who seem to have been active at least from 1924 until 1937, when they posed for painter Walt Kuhn for the painting above. They seem to have been mo…
Today is the birthday of British music hall comedian Wilkie Bard (1874-1944). He was just over 20 when he debuted with “Never ‘ave a Lodger for a Pal”. He appeared most …
A post in celebration of Women’s History Month. Wowsa! This one’s a labor of love, one of the few posts on this site that’s nearly all primary research. That’s of nec…
 Beloved character actor Edward Everett Horton (1886-1970), foil of Fred and Ginger, (and player in dozens more Hollywood movies), narrator of Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons, and even …
Today is the birthday of Nellie Wallace (Eleanor Jane Wallis Taylor, 1870-1948). A second generation performer, she was born in Glasgow, and began singing and dancing with her two sisters on…
A new feature wherein we record and chronicle contemporary busking performers for fun and very little profit. This gentleman was improvising on his cello at the 14th Street F platform last w…
