11,754 stories by "Trav S.d."
Today is the birthday of Anna Sosenko (1909-2000). From 1933 through 1956, she was the manager and companion of Hildegarde, and a popular songwriter for Hildegarde and others, penning “…
The goodly clowns of Parallel Exit want you to know that they offering the following classes this summer. If the students turn out anything like the teachers, it’ll be money well spent…
Today is the 83rd birthday of Jim Nabors. Many people are surprised to learn that he’s still alive. Not only is he alive but he just got married this year, to his longtime (38 year) co…
Here’s an extremely interesting project opening tomorrow night, written by Clay McCleod Chapman; based on the Lon Chaney film and the novel on which that was based, and starring a cast…
One glaring omission you may notice on this blog (which concentrates so heavily on the variety arts) is an absence of coverage of contemporary television talent shows, though they are the cl…
One of the happy discoveries of Steve Massa’s new book Lame Brains and Lunatics is Marcel Perez (Manuel Fernandez Perez, 1884-1927). Well enough known in the silent era, Massa po…
On a whim the Duchess and I took our first trip of the season out to Coney Island on Sunday. For several years now this has been an especially exciting thing to do annually, as for severa…
Ben Model has accomplished rather a neat magic trick by managing to become a Renaissance man without ever leaving the very narrow field of silent film: primarily known as a silent film accom…
A few months ago we posted this rave review of Leslie Zemeckis’s documentary Behind the Burly Q: The Story of Burlesque in America. Now Skyhorse Publishing has released a compani…
Today is the birthday of Gene Wilder (Jerome Silberman, b. 1933). Wilder is unique in being one of the great modern comedy stars who is primarily a comic actor (as opposed to a comedian). Tr…
Today is the birthday of Dai Vernon (David Verner, 1894-1992), a.k.a. ‘The Professor” and “The Man Who Fooled Houdini”). Vernon’s father, an amateur magician fi…
These ladies are meeting up for a Suffragette style march in the theatre district tonight. Meet up is at 5:30 pm in the 50th-51st Street passageway adjacent to the Gershwin Theatre (222 W…
Today is the birthday of movie director Wesley Ruggles (1889-1972). The younger brother of actor Charlie Ruggles, Wesley too started out on the stage, acting in musical comedies, stoc…
We just received news that Harold Cromer (1921-2013), best known as the second “Stumpy” in the team of Stump and Stumpy (see earlier post here) has passed away. Comedian and nove…
Today is the birthday of Rich Hall (b. 1954). Hall was one of the ubiquitous American comedians of the 1980s, having been a regular on David Letterman’s Daytime Show (1980), Fridays…
Today is the birthday of Chester Arthur Burdett, a.k.a, Howlin’ Wolf (1910-1976). Influenced by Charley Patton, Jimmie Rodgers, Blind Lemon Jefferson and others, Burdett had been playi…
Today is the birthday of the great lion tamer and circus impresario Clyde Beatty (1903-1965). Beatty wasn’t the first in his line to use a whip and chair, but he was to become the perf…
Today is the birthday of Anita Berber (1899-1928), the epitome of decadent Berlin cabaret during the Weimar years. Berger began dancing in cabarets in 1916, and appearing in films two years …
Today is the birthday of William Leonard Hunt (1838-1929), a.k.a The Great Farini. Raised in rural Ontariom this seminal (and self-taught) funambulist made his professional debut in 1859 whe…
Today is the birthday of the remarkable trailblazer Sessue Hayakawa (1889-1973). A member of the Japanese nobility, he was thwarted in his ambition to serve in the military due to an ear inj…
Originally posted in 2011. Today is the birthday of James Edmondson, Sr., a.k.a Professor Backwards (1910-1976).  Edmondson was a comedian with a vaudeville nut who possessed the rare …
Originally posted in 2010. Like so many in this section of our annals, Hattie McDaniel may be described as an early pathbreaker now stigmatized for embodying a stereotypical role —…
The Gumm Sisters: Little Frances is on the right Originally posted in 2010. One of the two or three major factors that led your author to the subject of vaudeville was a childhood obsess…
Filed under: Burlesk, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: Circa Tabac, The Frolic
What a day for music! In addition to Skip James, Fred Waring and Cole Porter, it is also the birthday of Les Paul (Lester Polsfuss, 1915-2009). This Renaissance Man of the modern music indus…
