Today is the birthday of Rosa and Josefa Blazek (1878-1922). They were a pair of conjoined twin sisters from Bohemia (now Czech Republic). Exhibition of the girls at local fairs began from t…
Today is the birthday of Arthur “Arte” Johnson (b. 1929). He broke into television in the mid-50s, often playing nebbishy types (vertically challenged and bespectacled as Johnson…
Today is the 117th birthday of Nathan Birnbaum, a.k.a George Burns. For more on him and the legendary act he had with his wife Gracie Allen go here. I usually re-post it on Gracie’s bi…
Today is the birthday of French chanteuse Yvette Guilbert (for my full original post on her go here). Here she is singing “Quand on vous aime comme ça”: To find out more about…
Today is the birthday of Star of Vaudeville # 285 Ruth St. Denis (for my original post on her go here). Here she is performing an “East Indian Nautch Dance” in 1932: To find out …
Today is the birthday of Star of Vaudeville #286: Rosco Ates (for my original post on him, go here). Now here he is as the sidekick to Tex Ritter in the 1940 Mongram feature The Cowboy from …
Today is Phil Everly’s birthday! The influence of the Everly Brothers is incaluable: Lennon and McCartney patterned their early sound after them; Simon and Garfunkle modeled their whol…
Today is the birthday of one my favorite writers Edgar Allen Poe (1809-1849). To mark the date I thought I’d double your pleasure by looking at Vincent Price’s long relationship …
Today is the birthday of Janis Joplin (1943-1970). No need to trudge over well-trod territory and gab about what you already know about her here. I’m more interested in another element…
Today is the birthday of John Wyman, Jr. (1816-1881), one of the first American-born magician/ventriloquists, billed as “Wyman the Wizard”. A favorite entertainer of Abraha…
January 19, 2013 at 3pm: Free! I am very excited (and honored) to be joining Theatre Askew artistic director Tim Cusack in conversation in the Coffeehouse Chronicles series at La MaMa. Coffe…
This is one in a series of posts we are producing in connection with our new book Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, available from Bear Ma…
Rose’s Royal Midgets were a troupe of 25 little people gathered together from across Europe (mostly Germany) by American impresario I.S. Rose. Company members danced, did acrobat…
Opening tonight at Triskelion Arts in Williamsburg, a line up of killer clowns! I mean, a killer line up of clowns! CIRQUE OFF January 17 – 20 @ 8pm Tickets: $15 A smorgasbord of rare …
Today is the birthday of that great genius of comedy, performance art, theatre and the Great American Hoax, Andy Kaufman (1949-1984). About ten years ago, a prominent journalist was intervie…
This is one in a series of posts we are producing in connection with our new book Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, available from Bear Mano…
Today is the birthday of Nils Asther (1897-1981). A Danish-Swede by birth, he first found fame on the silent screen in Scandinavia and Germany before coming to Hollywood in 1927Â to make h…
Julian Rose 1879-1935 was a Hebrew dialect comedian, whose most famous monologue was a speech called “Levinsky’s Wedding”. Originally an accountant in Philadelphia, his act…
Today is the birthday of George Kelly (1887-1974). The younger brother of famous vaudevillian Walter C. Kelly, “The Virginia Judge” (both men were uncles of Grace Kelly), he foll…
Continuing on with today’s Cole Porter theme, today also happens to be Star of Vaudeville #424: Ethel Merman’s birthday (for more on Merman and her early career go here). Here…
Today is the birthday of Star of Vaudeville #284: Irene Bordoni (for more on her, go here). The French coquette had a long association with Cole Porter on stage and screen; here she is singi…
“I’d like to read,” goes a new tv commercial I like to boo and hiss at, “but who has the time?” Well, never mind books on tape, the best friend the universal…
“What’s the biggest act in vaudeville?” In terms of fame, the answer to that is a poser; you could argue about that ’til the cows come home. But in terms of actual ph…