11,758 stories by "Trav S.d."
Today is Babs’s birthday, a fitting time to do a little plug for Dan Callahan’s recently released book Barbara Stanwyck: The Miracle Woman. Stanwyck wasn’t a vaudevillian (…
Today is the birthday of the great vaudeville jazz belter Blossom Seeley (for her full story go here). See her in action below, singing “On San Francisco Bay” in the 1933 film Bl…
Today is the birthday of silent film comedian Larry Semon, a rival to Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd in his day (see his full bio here). Here is one of his funnier shorts The Show (1922) I especi…
Today is the birthday of Ginger Rogers (for her full story go here). The footage below is from her 83rd birthday celebration in 1994. Heartwarming to see how many fans she had even then: …
Today is the 100th birthday of Woodrow Wilson Guthrie, better known as Woody. I first learned about him in third grade from a very groovy music teacher (it was 1973), but didn’t really…
Just got the news from Ian Hill that George Stoney has passed away. He was my academic adviser during my short stint at NYU Tiisch, for no other reason than that he was randomly assigned. At…
Our friends Audrey Crabtree and Jeff Seal and several other performers are performing in an interesting project tonight. Here’s the skinny: Seven performers will have 24 hours to drama…
My pal Josh Mertz is reviving his cool show Batz (a mash-up of Batman and Gatz) at Joe’s Pub tomorrow night (and the following Friday, the 20th) at 11:30pm. I caught the show …
 Drawing by Carolyn Raship When it rains, it pours! Wouldn’t you just know that my two most momentous shows ever are happening at one and the same time? (Luckily not on the same nig…
Today is Berle’s birthday; for my full biographical piece go here. Attached a clip from his endlessly fascinating, narcissistic and yet honest semi-autobiographical 1949 film Always…
Marlene Weisman did the excellent postcard design for my current show Travesties of 2012, and used to the onscreen graphics for Saturday Night Live back in the 70s and 80s. Come …
Today is the birthday of the seminal magician Harry Kellar; for my full autobiographical squib on him go here. Below, a rare 1917 clip of him meeting with Houdini: To find out about the …
Today is the birthday of the great ventriloquist Jay Johnson: for my full blog on him go here. Here he is on the Letterman Show a couple of years back when he was promoting his Broadway s…
Today is the birthday of the Nat M. Wills, one of America’s first stand-up comedians, and certainly one of the VERY first to make comedy records. For my full biographical article on hi…
Trent Armand Kendall, one of our NYMF guest artists in Travesties of 2012 opens his own show in the festival tonight! For tickets and more info see NYMF.org
Today is the opening day of the New York Musical Theatre Festival, otherwise known as NYMF. In addition to my own show, opening in (ulp!) ten days, there’s around 30 other great shows …
New York Musical Theatre Festival and Trav S.D.'s American Vaudeville Theatre (Est. 1995) present JULY 19-28 "Variety at its finest" – -Time Out New York "One of the best entertainment…
Today is Ringo Starr’s birthday! For my full post on Ringo Starr, Vaudevillian go here. Â Here’s one of my favorite of his songs, co-written by George Harrison. The song has al…
I am a big fan of Ten Directions and also a Titanic buff so it was inevitable that I would go see their co-production of this show with Tribeca Lab. I didn’t get my fill of either from…
Today is the birthday of Australian swimmer, vaudeville performer and film actress Annette Kellerman. The clip above is from her 1914 silent film Neptune’s Daughter and includes …
Today is P.T. Barnum’s birthday (for my full article on him go here). Major American show business figures don’t have stature unless there is a preposterous, dreadful Hollywoo…
Today is also the great American songwriter Stephen Foster’s birthday. (see here for his bio). Here’s some of his music done with a twist. No matter who the composer is, Chet Atk…
Today (among other things to be celebrated) is George M. Cohan’s birthday (for his full bio go here). Sadly he hated the recording arts, so there’s very little film of him de…
Today is the birthday of the great stage and screen comedian Leon Errol, most famous for his comic drunk portrayals. (For more on Errol go here). Here he is in the 1931 film One Heavenly …
