11,758 stories by "Trav S.d."
A slice of New York busking magic. I caught this gentleman showboating with two trumpets in Washington Square Park last Friday: To find out more about the variety arts past and present, cons…
Today is the birthday of blues singer Edith Wilson (for more on her and her background in the black vaudeville circuits go here). Here she is laying down the “Rules and Regulations of …
Today is the birthday of Hollywood character actor Jack Norton (for more on him and his background in vaudeville go here). One of his most beloved turns is as the drunken film director in W.…
A multiplicity of uni’s! I caught a bunch of the grand unicycle parade on the Brooklyn Bridge yesterday (the opening leg of the NYC Unicycle Festival, now under way today and tomorrow …
Today is the birthday of the great Broadway star Marilyn Miller (for more on her and her early vaudeville career go here). The 1929Â clip below is from her stage and screen hit “Sall…
Today is the birthday of James J. “Gentlemean Jim” Corbett. To find out what he has to do with vaudeville go here. And now here he is in action during his heyday, in rare footage…
Today — by order of an official proclamation by Borough President Marty Markowitz — is Brooklyn Unicycle Day: Festivities begin with a mass ride over the Brooklyn Bridge (3pm) to…
It takes a spoonful of dopamine to make the medicine go down. Such is the case anyway with comedy writer and professor David Misch’s new tome Funny, The Book: Everything You Always …
Today is the birthday of operetta, musical and vaudeville star Fritzi Scheff (for my full article on her go here). The clip below is very rare — Ms. Scheff didn’t make any record…
Today is the birthday of the tough but adorable Joan Blondell (see my full article on her here). In commemoration of the day, we present this funny scene from the 1931 comedy Blonde Crazy…
Most people (over a certain age) know him as “Steve Douglas” from the tv show My Three Sons (1960-1972) and a star of silly Disney movies like The Shaggy Dog (1959),�…
Well, this has just been the slam-bangingest year. Having just come off a big play work-shop, the completion of my new book, and a big vaudeville production a few weeks ago I found myself in…
Today is the birthday of second generation vaudevillian Donald O’Connor (for more on him and his performing family go here). Here he is with recent (though deceased) centenarian Gene K…
The word came down the other day that the Great Coney Island Spectacularium will be closing “right after Labor Day”….both good news and bad news for me, who still hadn̵…
Today is the birthday of “The Big Mouth”, Martha Raye (for more on the life and career of this second generation vaudevillian, go here). Here she is cutting up with Red Skelton i…
New Yorkers! Tonight through November 5, the Film Forum will be running all of Harold Lloyd’s silent features and one talkie on Monday and Sunday nights. See below for some of my…
Today is the birthday of the great rural comedian Chic Sale (for more on him go here). Despite having been a nationally known stage and screen star in the early part of the twentieth century…
Today is the birthday of the great burlesque comic Rags Ragland (full article here) — the perfect time to announce that I’ll be directing Angie Pontani’s big new show Bu…
Today would have been the 100th birthday of Gene Kelly (for my full bio on him go here). In celebration of that incredible entertainer we post this charming clip of The Muppets trying to coa…
I don’t know this company’s work so I neither condemn nor endorse…but I like the sound of it! And here’s their trailer:
Odd how this feels almost like a nostalgia item. David Brenner, whom I assure you was OMNIPRESENT in American living rooms in the 1970s is opening a split week run at the Metropolitan Room t…
Today is the birthday of the amazing, once-in-a-century Dorothy Parker. One of these years I’ll write a proper blogpost about her on August 22. Today I’ll just let you know that …
Today is the birthday of jazz guitar pioneer Nick Lucas (for my bull article on him go here). Now here he is in action! To find out more about these variety artists and the history of vaudev…
