11,745 stories by "Trav S.D."
Dreadful sorry to hear the news that Vaclav Havel passed away today. I and about a hundred of my friends were fortunate to have gotten close to Mr. Havel’s magic thanks to Edward Einho…
If you are of a certain age, you’ve undoubtedly seen Al Kelly — he was a frequent guest on tv shows fronted by the likes of Ed Sullivan, Steve Allen, Ernie Kovacs and Soupy Sales…
Thanks to Circus NYC for this scoop! The King Charles Unicycle Troupe will be performing today Sunday, December 18th at NOON the NY Knicks open practice game. This blog has covered the King …
Saturday, December 17th 3:00pm – 6:00pm Holiday Tea at Three with Vince Giordano & the Nighthawks Eleven-piece band playing music of the 1920s & ’30s There will be …
Today is the birthday of magician Horace Goldin. Here’s a clip of him in action from the 1930s: To find out more about the history of vaudeville, consult No Applause, Just Throw…
Billy Hagan (1888-1986) started out as a boxer and a straightman to his brother in small time vaudevill. But he earned his greatest fame as a burlesque comic, earning his nickname from the e…
I am rarely as downright excited by events on Broadway as I am by this announcement — it represents a perfect storm of Trav-appeal! The Gershwin’s Porgie and Bess is easily one o…
Max Linder (born Gabriel-Maximilien Leuvielle on this day in 1883) is the cinema’s first comedy star. You never heard of him? Shame on you! Linder was a French music hall comedian who …
This is part of a little series of post-Thanksgiving mini-posts I'm doing about items you might want to consider as Holiday gifts. Would you like to give your loved one a tee shirt or a swea…
Today is Rosetta Duncan’s birthday; for the full article on the sisters go here. Here they are, already a little past their prime in Surprise, a 1935 Warner Bros. “Broadway B…
Block and Sully were the pre-eminent Dumb Dora (i.e. male-female comedy) act who weren’t Burns and Allen. Jesse Block (born this day in 1900) started out as a child performer in …
This is part of a little series of post-Thanksgiving mini-posts I'm doing about items you might want to consider as Holiday gifts. NYTE is of course the New York Theatre Experience, that won…
Two rare chances to see Curtis Eller and his American Circus this week: Tonight: Thursday, December 15 @ 9:00pm Rèst Âü Ránt 30-01 35th Ave. (@ 30th St.) Astoria, NY 718.729.9009 ht…
Tonight! Thursday, December 15th 7 P.M., Sid Marty Lovecraft Presents an ALL-NEW GHOST STORIES LIVE! … “One Classic, One New, One True” Featuring the WORLD PREMIERE of a NE…
Tonight join Mark Stewart & Rob Schwimmer for Spike Jones’ 100th Birthday Party! Two shows–7 and 9:30! Featuring soprano Melissa “The Note” Fathman! Polygraph Lou…
Today is the birthday of Spike Jones (see full bio here). Now, here’s Spike’s band performing that television variety perennial “The Sabre Dance” To find out more abo…
 Herschel Henlere (born this day in 1890) wrote songs (such as the famous one above), was an accompanist for the likes of Anna Held and others, and had his own big time novelty piano …
Today is the birthday of Morey Amsterdam (full bio here). In honor of the day, we present a clip from the short lived 1950 show the Morey Amsterdam Show featuring Art Carney: To find out mor…
Here now, the fifth installment in our Vaudephone series: Kyle Peterson, the Brooklyn Juggler in “Wheelin’ and Dealin’”: Vaudephone is a co-production of Travalanche/…
This is part of a little series of post-Thanksgiving mini-posts I'm doing about items you might want to consider as Holiday gifts. I can’t recommend this book highly enough! One of the…
Florence Moore (born this day in 1886) is best known to posterity as the first female emcee at the Palace. Born in Phillie, she started out in stock companies with her brother Frank. Her…
This is part of a little series of post-Thanksgiving mini-posts I'm doing about items you might want to consider as Holiday gifts. As you’ve probably guessed, there’s something v…
