Today is the birthday of Paul Swan (1883-1972). Swan is not only one of the most remarkable people I’ve come across in my research, but I think it can be safely said that he was one of…
Last night’s benefit for the Theatre Museum at the Players Club was a humdinger, and no mistake. Hats off to Mr. Broadway Stewart F. Lane (of the Palace Theatre, and Chair of the Theat…
Filed under: Indie Theatre, PLUGS, SOCIAL EVENTS Tagged: Blind Pig, Fourth Arts Block
Today is the birthday of pianist and composer Erno Rapee (1891-1945). Born and trained in Hungary, he began his career as a conductor there and in Germany. He toured America first as a co…
Today is the birthday of Robert Earl Hughes (1926-1958). Along with General Tom Thumb, Hughes was one of the first famous “human anomalies” I was ever aware of. This is because d…
Originally posted in 2009. A sinuous idol that enslaves and incites mankind…it was as though the jazz, catching on the wing of the vibrations of this mad body, were interpreting, word …
Today is the birthday of Lili St. Cyr (Willis Marie Van Schaack, 1918-1999). Having studied ballet as a child in her native Minneapolis, she first broke into show business as a chorus girl. …
Today is the birthday of Leo Gorcey (1916/1917-1969). If there is a second edition of Chain of Fools (and I hope events warrant one!), one major thing I’d change is to include a sectio…
Today is the birthday of visionary show biz entrepreneur Chuck Barris (b. 1929). Â We celebrate him for many reasons today. In chronological order: His uncle Harry Barris was a member of t…
Today MAY be the birthday of Paulette Goddard. No two accounts of her early years are alike, and there is much murk surrounding her actual date of birth, her birth name and other aspects of …
Today is the birthday of  Maurice Evans (1901-1989). One of the great Shakespearean actors of the 20th century he is of course chiefly known in the U.S. for his cheese, namely his role as…
Filed under: HOLIDAYS, FESTIVALS, MEMORIALS & PARADES, Horror (Mostly Gothic), PLUGS, SOCIAL EVENTS Tagged: NYC Zombie Crawl
Filed under: Contemporary Variety, Music, PLUGS, Singers, Singing Comediennes Tagged: Happiness Waits, Jennie Lee Mitchell, Jennifer Lee Mitchell, Last Cyrclist, Rebecca Joy Fletcher, Terezi…
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the release of the hilarious Keystone comedy Barney Oldfield’s Race for a Life. A melodrama parody, it features Ford Sterling in top form as the mu…
Today is the birthday of jazz singer, dancer and trumpet player Valaida Snow (1904-1956). Raised in a musical family by a college-educated mother in Chatanooga, TN, she was mistress of te…
Today is the birthday of Huldah Pierce Warren Bump (1849-1879), the sister of the more famous Lavinia Warren, wife of General Tom Thumb. Like her sister, Minnie performed as a singer, and wo…
Mercy Lavinia Warren Bump (1841-1919) was the most famous female little person of the 19th century, but more than that — she was one of the most famous people of the 19th century perio…
The Magri brothers were a pair of Italian performing little people of the 19th century. Count Primo Magri, a.k.a Count Rosebud (1849-1920) was the 2 ft, 8 in. second husband of Lavinia…
Born in June 1876, Harry Watson, Jr. started out in circus, burlesque, vaudeville, and Broadway with a trio with George Bickel and Ed Lee Wrothe called Me, Him and I. His Broadway career�…
Filed under: Burlesk, Circus, Coney Island, Contemporary Variety, Dime Museum and Side Show, PLUGS Tagged: burlesque, Coney Island, Mermaids of the Gowanus
Filed under: Comedy, Hollywood (History), Movies, PLUGS, Silent Film Tagged: Charlie Chaplin Days, Essanay, film festival, Niles Film Museum, silent comedy
At least once per season (sometimes several times) Metropolitan Playhouse presents a play I am downright tickled to death about and absolutely have to see — and I never, ever regret ha…
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 beloved character actor Frank Morgan…
Bessie Wynn (1876-1968) was billed as “The Lady Dainty of Vaudeville” and “The Venus with the Velvet Voice”. Born in Chicago in June, 1876, she took singing lessons a…
The 10th annual NYC Musical Saw Festival is tomorrow starting at 2pm in Astoria, Queens. For full information go to http://musicalsawfestival.org/ Filed under: Contemporary Variety, Music…