11,754 stories by "Trav S.d."
Today is the birthday of Adolph Amrein, a.k.a Ade Duval (1898-1965). He began his vaudeville career in the arly twenties with Andrew Blaeser in an act billed as the Duval Brothers. When the …
Okay, last one today, I promise! The musical stars must be truly alligned for December 30. It’s also Michael Nesmith’s birthday. I’ve already written a bit about the Monkee…
Today is the birthday of Ellas McDaniel, better known as Bo Diddley (1928-2008). While not usually placed in the pantheon of influential 50s rockers that includes Elvis, Chuck Berry, Buddy H…
A lot of music in the air today (and a couple of more posts after this!). Today is also the birthday of holy-punk-poet-saint Patti Smith. I first saw her/ heard her during her performance on…
Today is the birthday of Bert Parks (1914-1992). He started out as a singer and straight man on Eddie Cantor’s radio show in the early 30s. He went on to host several games shows, and …
Today is the birthday of Del Shannon (1934-1990). Since 1961, Shannon has been almost exclusively known for his #1 hit “Runaway”. And if you were only to be known for only one th…
Today is the birthday of Noel “Paul” Stookey (b. 1937). When I was a kid I played by dad’s old Peter, Paul and Mary records (especially their eponymous debut record) over a…
Today is the birthday of Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936). I was gratified to learn this weekend that my sons had studied his 1899 poem “The White Man’s Burden” in school, and t…
Today is the birthday of Johnny Wild (1843-1898). Born in Manchester, England he moved to the U.S. as a child, running off to join the fly-by-night Arlington and White’s Minstrels at t…
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 Manor Media…
English comedian Billie Reeves (1864-1943) was among those who played the part of the drunk in "Mumming Birds" with Fred Karno prior to Charlie Chaplin. He went on to be featured in se…
Today is the birthday of Denzel Washington (b. 1954). He is a naturalistic actor, thus, I wouldn’t want to include him in my Hall of Hams (although I did see him as Richard III at the …
Today is Dame Maggie’s birthday (b. 1934). For someone of my age or younger it’s impossible to imagine she was ever not an old, crusty, imperious dowager. Only in retrospect d…
Today is the birthday of Lew Ayres (1908-1996). The original Dr. Kildare in films, he did not start out in vaudeville, but came awfully close. Originally a medical student, he ended up playi…
Today is the birthday of Emmett Blackwelder (1923-1996). Born in North Carolina with limbs (all four of them) that stopped at the joint, the highlight of his act consisted of juggling with w…
People my age or a littler older will cry “Not forgotten!’ but I have polled many people even a little younger than myself who have never seen or even heard of this show, even wh…
Today marks the birthday of beloved Hollywood character actor Sydney Greenstreet (1879-1954). Millions of fans know him from his brief (8 year) career as part of the incredible Warner Brothe…
Marlene Dietrich (born today in 1901, died 1992) came to the U.S. too late to be in American vaudeville, but she performed in the German equivalent, the Berlin cabaret scene during th…
Today is the birthday of jazz pioneer William Gary “Bunk” Johnson (1879-1949). The origin of the name is possibly due to his capacity for exageration (it has often been impli…
Today is the birthday of Oscar Levant (1906-1972). An anomaly in American public life, he managed to straddle both high art and popular culture. He was a composer and an interpreter (pianist…
Today is the birthday of George Auger, a.k.a the Cardiff Giant (1881-1922). The nickname springs from the fact that he was actually born in Cardiff, Wales; he has no connection to the…
Today is the birthday of Phil Spector (b. 1939). I remember during the 1990s when I heard that Celine Dion had put the kibosh on a planned collaboration with him. He was the most legendary r…
Today is the birthday of Alan King (1927-2004). When I was a kid I thought of him as the archetypical, old-school, middle-aged Borscht Belt style comedian. Now that I look at old clips I can…
Today is the birthday of Steve Allen (1921-2000). Steve-a-rino is one of my heroes, and I’ve written about him before (I penned a lengthy appreciation for The Comic Bible when he…
I only became aware of Una Mae Carlisle (1915-1956) two days ago, when I saw her in the film Boarding House Blues (1948) with Moms Mabley, Dusty Fletcher, Stump and Stumpy, the Berry Brother…
