11,758 stories by "Trav S.d."
Over the past few months I have been exchanging emails with an art conservator in Washington about a fascinating project she undertook a few years ago. Dawn Rogala spent two years traveling …
I labored long and hard* (and happily) on the liner notes for this new album, my second for Archeophone Records (the first was Nat M. Wills). Van and Schenck were BIG, man — they were …
This post is one of a series honoring Black History Month. Ulysses S. “Slow Kid” Thompson (1888-1990) was the husband and manager of Florence Mills from 1921 until her death in 1…
Today is the birthday of Mrs. Patrick Campbell, star of the legitimate stage, who would occasionally condescend to perform in vaudeville in exchange for very large checks. For my previous ar…
The terrific film make Heather Quinlan is having a screening/ fund-raiser tonight for her work-in-progress If These Knishes Could Talk: A Film About the New York Accent. I’ve seen clip…
What if Shakespeare’s contemporary and occasional collaborator Christopher Marlowe was a bitter rival, whose bitterness has only increased over the centuries as Shakespeare’s sta…
This post is one of a series honoring Black History Month. Today is the birthday of the great bluesman Lonnie Johnson. For his full bio go here. And here he is performing “Too Late To …
This post is one of a series honoring Black History Month. There is much to be said for getting a good idea first. In Conjure Times: Black Magicians in America, Jim Haskins and Kathleen B…
This Thursday at 8pm will be the final performance of Poor Baby Bree,’s Ragmen, Ragtime, and Ragamuffins: Historic Songs of the Lower East Side at Bowery Poetry Club (308 Bowery…
Philadelphoa native Francis Wilson (born this day in 1854) got his start in minstrelsy and old school variety as one of half of the blackface team of Mackin and Wilson. He’s not part o…
Today we celebrate the 200th birthday of one of my favorite writers (and no doubt the favorite writer of a couple of billion others), Charles Dickens. As the photo above records, I made a pi…
Marie Cahill (born this day in 1870) was one of the great transitional figures from the age of 19th century theatre to the vaudeville era. A Brooklyn native, she started out in legit theatre…
Today is the birthday of Babe Ruth. See here for his vaudeville connection. And watch the Sultan of Swat’s limited skills as a thespian in this Vitaphone Short “Home Run on the K…
This post is one of a series honoring Black History Month. There was a lot of Black Her(r)man(n) action going on back in the day — there are several of them, and we’ll explain th…
Today is the birthday of the conjoined Hilton Sisters (not Paris and Nicky, but Daisy and Violet. For their full bio go here.) A few weeks ago, the Countess and I had the opportunity to see …
Today is the birthday of Sidney Fields. For my full bio on this great burlesque comedian go here. And in honor of the day, here he is with Lou Costello, performing the famous “Slowl…
Today is the birthday of Red Buttons (born Aaron Chwatt, 1919-2006). Too late for vaudeville, he got his start in the Catskills (where he partnered with Robert Alda), Minsky’s burlesqu…
Veloz and Yolanda were a husband wife ballroom dance team who specialized in Latin numbers. Frank Veloz was born today in 1906; Yolanda Casazza, March 21, 1908. The sleek and chic couple…
Today is birthday of familiar Hollywood character actor Walter Catlett (1889-1960). He began to appear in operettas as a child (with a brief detour into pugilism) and graduated to a flourish…
Fay Marbe (born this day in 1899) was a Jazz Age siren who reportedly had “Society” origins. Discovered while dancing at a charity event, she was cast in the Broadway show Oh, Bo…
This post is one of a series honoring Black History Month. Johnson and Dean were a husband-wife dance team who bridged the era between minstrelsy and vaudeville, and are best known for devel…
This post is one of a series honoring Black History Month. Earl “Snakehips” Tucker (1905-1937), was billed as “The Human Boa Constrictor” and “The Gelatinous Da…
Today is the birthday of Benny Rubin. When I wrote No Applause and wrote his bio (here) all I knew about him came from books (but that was quite a bit — he was quite a legendary charac…
This post is one in a series that defines for the layman the various types of variety arts. For the full panoply go here. We present this edition in conjunction with Black History Month. Whi…
What, I ask you, could be more vaudevillian than a banjo-playing Harry Langdon impersonator? Answer: nothing! Born this day in 1908, Gene Sheldon’s act was that he would come out and c…
