11,754 stories by "Trav S.d."
Today is the birthday of Knute Erickson (1872-1945). Though Erickson was of Swedish heritage, he wasn’t born there as he usually claimed, but in Ogden, Utah. He made his career in v…
Originally posted in 2010. Today is the birthday of Mamie Smith. No relation to Bessie, Mamie is best known today for recording “Crazy Blues” in 1920, which created the 1920s cra…
I missed this when it hit the Washington Post on Friday; thought it was scheduled for today. Celia Wren my old editor at American Theatre quotes me in her current piece about new burlesque h…
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 Robert Morley (1926-1992). I findÂ�…
Today is the 100th anniversary of the release of the Keystone short Toplitsky and Company starring Ford Sterling, Nick Cogley, Alice Davenport, and Edgar Kennedy. Sterling plays a helper at …
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 Peter Cushing (1913-1994). After sta…
Today is the birthday of Sammy Lee (1890-1968). (Though he was an important choreographer for several crucial years, I could only find a picture of his one-time vaudeville partner Ruby Norto…
Originally posted 2011 Today is the birthday of America's greatest philosopher/essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson. His Transcendentalist writings were a major influence on my Mountebanks Manifesto…
May 25 of every year (Bill Robinson’s birthday) is National Tap Dance Day! And how better to observe it than by learning about many of America’s great tap dancing artists on Trav…
Originally posted in 2009. This piece has special meaning for me — it’s actually the first vaudeville biography I ever wrote. I generated it as part of the book proposal for No A…
Well, the horse is already out of the barn, as they say (or do they?), since there’s only one performance left and that is unlikely not to be sold out — but I just wanted to than…
Today is the birthday of Frank “Fatty” Alexander (1879-1937). Originally from Washington State, Alexander had worked as a cowboy and a stagecoach driver until his enormous size a…
Filed under: Burlesk, Coney Island, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: Angie Pontani, Burlesque-a-Pades, Coney Island
On March 24 of this year the Palace Theatre turned one hundred years old. In celebration of the event, me and my American Vaudeville Theatre are presenting a Special One-Time …
May 25 in Queens, New York  2:00 pm MEMORIAL CONCERT AT JOPLIN’S FINAL RESTING PLACE Featuring the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra St. Michael’s Cemetery, Queens, New York …
Rule, Britannia! Britannia, Rule the Waves! That’s not how I feel necessarily…it’s just the music that goes with this picture. Today is Queen Victoria’s Birthday (181…
Adapted from a 2011 post. Today is Bob Dylan’s 72nd birthday — a fitting time to celebrate his biggest triumph as a live showman, his 1975-76 medicine show inspired t…
Today is Tommy Chong’s birthday, yo. Don’t tell me how you plan to celebrate, I don’t want to know. At least, not in writing. This may surprise you (or maybe it won’t…
Usually, the zoological nickname of a sideshow anomaly bears some relation to the performers’ physical appearance. The Alligator Girl has scales; the Leopard Woman has spots; the Pengu…
Today is the birthday of Franz Mesmer (1734-1815). He’s someone I’ve been planning to write a play about for over a decade. One of the great charlatans of all time (the best kind…
Today is the birthday of beloved character actor Benjamin “Scatman” Crothers (1910-1986). Scatman’s cheerful, bald-headed visage seems just as indispensable as his husky, m…
Originally posted in 2010. The man whose name became synonymous with "swashbuckler" began his adult life in tame enough a fashion. After a brief stint at Harvard and a desultory early st…
Today is the birthday of Jose Collins (Charlotte Josephine Collins, 1887-1958). The daughter of Lottie Collins, she was second generation English music hall royalty, which enabled her to mak…
Today is the birthday of Henri Brustad (1844-1899). Born on the Island of Ytteroy, Norway, he was to grow to a height of seven and a half feet tall and travel with shows in his homeland befo…
Starting at 8pm tonight and going all the way into tomorrow at 6am, TCM will be showing Harold Lloyd films, including four features and 16 shorts. The menu will range from the well-known (su…
