11,754 stories by "Trav S.d."
Today is the birthday of magician Norm Nielsen (b. 1934). In the clip below, after some typical close magic with cards and coins, he builds to his best known trick, the Levitating Violin, wh…
Today is the birthday of the great singer/ songwriter/ producer Gene Pitney (1940-2006). I’d never heard his 1961 signature tune “Town Without Pity” until a friend sang it …
Today is the birthday of Ruth Clifford (1900-1998). A native of my home state of Rhode Island, she was orphaned as a teenager and moved to Los Angeles to live with an aunt who was an actress…
Today is the birthday of Bessie Bonehill (1855-1902). Bonehill was a British music hall singing comedienne and drag king, who started out in provincial West Bromwich before conquering, Londo…
Today is the birthday of the late Sonny Bono (1935-1998). A protege of Phil Spector, he brought his girlfriend Cher into the fold as a backup singer in 1962. They sang on some girl group hit…
Today is the birthday of Star of Vaudeville Edgar Bergen (see here for his full bio). In honor of the day we share with you one of last appearances, The Vent Event for HBO in …
Today is the birthday of J. Harold Murray (b. Harold Roulon, 1891-1940). A native of Maine, he started out a song plugger, becoming a singer in vaudeville circa 1918. He was such a hit that …
Today is the birthday of Kathleen Clifford (1887-1963). She began her career when still a teenager, in music comedies such as the 1907 show The Top o’ the World. By 1910 she was supple…
Today is the birthday of Patty Andrews (1918-2013). She passed away six weeks ago, and it was tempting to do a post then, but of course that day everyone was posting about the Andrews …
This is one in a series of posts we are producing in connection with our new book Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, available from Bear Ma…
American vaudeville’s second favorite Scotsman (after Sir Harry Lauder) was Will Fyffe (1885-1947). Fyffe was a second generation actor in stock companies who began acting with h…
Today is the birthday of Cesar Romero (1907-1994). The “Latin from Manhattan” (half Italian, half Cuban) got his start in a vaudeville and nightclub dance act with Janette Hacket…
Today is the birthday of British music hall star George Mozart (b. David John Gillings, 1864-1947). Mozart was gifted not only as a singer (mandatory in the halls) but also as an actor, clow…
Today is the birthday of Bud Jamison (1895-1944). The plus-sized actor enjoyed what must have been the most satisfying career it is possible to have for a supporting comedian. After a bri…
I had originally planned to do this post in May, but a recent development has pushed it to the front of the queue. Julia Pastrana (1834-1860) was a Native American woman from the mountains o…
100 years ago today, the first movie containing an appearance by a young unknown extra named Harold Lloyd was released to theatres. Using a tactic not unlike his “glasses” charac…
Today at 1pm (Eastern) on TCM: The Great Ziegfeld (1936). In this heavily bowlderized account of the life of this notorious ladies man, William Powell plays Florenz Ziegfeld as just a shade …
Not forgotten to the folks who actually watched it in the early 1970s…but younger people have been less fortunate! I had last seen the show when I was about 7 or 8 years old, so was ve…
This post is one of a series honoring Black History Month. Today is the birthday of the late, great Gregory Hines (1946-2003). While his brother and dad also tapped (the three — and…
Today is Teller’s birthday! Teller indulged me with a lengthy, generous interview when I researched No Applause. He is quoted there at length and you’ll have to buy it to lear…
In Joseph L.Mankiewicz's 1950 film All About Eve, a huffy Thelma Ritter rebuffs a slight from some character who belittles her career as a vaudevillian: "I closed the first half for eleven y…
In addition to being Valentine’s Day, today also happens to be the birthday of Star of Vaudeville #118: Jack Benny (for the full story on him go here). This day was frequently the occa…
“Jack Sprat Could Eat No Fat; His Wife Could Eat No Lean…” A love story for the ages! John Battersby (c.1831-1897) was a circus thin man who weighed at various times betwee…
A native of Oovonin, Oudh, Laloo Ramparsad (1874-1905) was born with a parasitic twin springing from his chest. The brother (although it was sometimes dressed as a sister) possessed arms, le…
I was thrilled to sit down with Martin Denton a few weeks back to talk about my long career in NYC as a playwright, discussing my diverse and sundry stageworks going back to the late 1…
