11,744 stories by "Trav S.D."
Today is the birthday of The Great Lafayette (Siegmund Neuberger, 1872-1911) one of vaudeville’s few literal martyrs. He moved to the U.S. from his native Munich at age 19 and b…
At the Brick Theater, that is! Why it’s just the Brick’s latest zany-themed indie theatre festival comin’ your way in a couple of months, that’s all! To find out how …
I am usually indifferent to the annual Oscar charades: I find the presentation grating and I’ve generally not seen any of the films, and that really doesn’t leave much to sink on…
Your correspondent likes to think he has a heart that can be touched. The list of Disney movies at which I've cried, now that I tally it up, is long indeed, and I was moved to tears in a cin…
Today is the birthday of Dave Apollon, the Yakov Smirnoff of the mandolin community (see my full bio here). Here he is with is swinging Fillipinos, performing “Sweet Sue” To find…
This post is one of a series honoring Black History Month. Today is the birthday of a pioneering African American musician James Reese Europe (for my full bio go here). And here he is with h…
Jules Munshin (born today in 1915) is the poor shlub who was one of the trio in On the Town, but is neither Gene Kelly nor Frank Sinatra. If you think that’s not an indignity, look at …
And now, here’s the final tid-bit from Shane Baker‘s Yiddish story-telling act,a little bit of magic – the next part of our Vaudephone series: Vaudephone is a co-…
 Today is the birthday of Hollywood film director Roland West. Born Roland Van Zimmer this day in 1885, he was part of a family of actors from Cleveland, OH. He began acting in vaudevill…
Seeing this movie got put off for awhile because I normally see first run movies with my kids and I assumed this wouldn’t be for them. But we rented it a few weeks ago and it passed th…
Today is the birthday of character actor Billy DeWolfe. (For my full article on him go here.) Here he is in full-on drag (with no effort to hide his famous mustache) in an ad for Ban Roll-on…
This post is one of a series honoring Black History Month. Trixie Smith (1895-1943) is no relation to Mamie Smith, Bessie Smith, and really no relation to Kate Smith. She is best known for h…
Quick! Run to your TV! Jacques Tati’s warm, hilarious semi-silent comedy M. Hulot’s Holiday is on TCM this morning at 10:30 Eastern! Go here to learn more about Tati. Now, go! Ru…
Tomorrow the Royal Hanneford Circus opens for a three day run in White Plains. And drat! Wouldn’t you know it, but this book project won’t even allow me even a few hours to go se…
Oh it makes me very happy to work on this post. For many reasons. One: Kathleen Freeman has been in everything. Go to IMDB and you will find about a thousand credits there. You already know …
This post is one of a series honoring Black History Month. Ida Forsyne was a largely self-taught dancer who started out performing for pennies on Chicago street corners. She joined up with a…
That's Chester Conklin on the left. I shudder to speculate what he is teaching his class.
Eddie Peabody (born today in 1902) was known as the “King of the Banjo” and the “Happiness Boy”. A Massachusetts native, he broke into vaudeville after being released…
Today is the birthday of the great ventriloquist Edgar Bergen (see here for his full bio). In honor of the day we share with you his 1936 Vitaphone short subject “Nut Guilty”. No…
Ed Sanders was a key member of one of the seminal rock bands of the 1960s, The Fugs, and the author of The Family, one of the best books about the Manson Family, and one of my many sources f…
February 15th – April 8th I have to agree with the Irish Rep’s assessment that O’Neill is America's greatest playwright. Furthermore, I'm very much not in accord with the m…
 Junie McCree (born Gonzalvo Macrillo this day in 1866) earned a good living writing jokes, sketches and song lyrics for other vaudevillians, and performing on variety, vaudeville, burle…
And now, here’s the divine songstress Rebecca Joy Fletcher , the next installment in our Vaudephone series. The tune she sings was written in Warsaw in 1937 to make fun of a crazy gove…
The Castles Today being the official day to celebrate romance, I thought it might be fitting to tip a hat to some of vaudeville’s great couples. There are just a handful of famous, lon…
Today is the birthday of Benjamin Kubelsky, a.k.a Jack Benny. For my full biographical article on him, go here. Benny was still around when I was a kid and I loved him even then. Here…
