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Avner the Eccentric
Today a long overdue tribute to that leader among the New Vaudevillians, Avner the Eccentric (Avner the Eccentric, b. 1948). I’m quite certain I first learned about Avner from the 1988 book Acrobats...
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Born 150 Years Ago Today: Zona Gale, First Female Pulitzer Playwright
August is both Women’s Equality Day and the birthday of writer Zona Gale (1874-1938). Today happens to be the 150th anniversary of her birth. As Gale was a suffragist and a feminist, the alignment of...
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Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell, There Was Harry Hill’s
From the Lambs’ Joe Laurie Jr Collection Harry Hill (1827-1896) died of an August 27. The exact date of birth is not known; he was not of the class that kept careful track of such things. Hill was...
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The Descent of Charles Rocket
This one comes with a trigger warning, because the story gets pretty dark. In fact it approaches maximum darkness. I’ve occasionally gone there in my writing, though not so often on this blog per se...
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The Rediscovery of Will H. Dixon
Don’t get the wrong idea! I almost never take requests on this blog, maybe one time in a thousand. The fuel that this blog runs on is its author’s own whims. Has to come from me. In fact, the best way...
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The Dinah Washington Centennial
Born 100 years ago today, blues, jazz and pop vocalist Dinah Washington (Ruth Lee Jones, 1924-1963). Washington started out singing and playing piano with gospel choirs in her native Tuscaloosa. She...
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60 Years Ago: Carol Doda and The Birth of Topless Dancing
August 29 was the birthday of exotic dancer Carol Doda (1937-2015). And learning about her has provided delights beyond the obvious. To wit: I had long wondered about when American culture...
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The 15th Annual NYC Unicycle Festival Launches Today!
I think we can go ahead and call my old friends of The Bindlestiff Family Cirkus a New York institution by now. Among their many programs and activities (their Open Stage Variety Show, the Flatbed...
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Centennial: King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band: Released Today
Today is a banner day for lovers of early American jazz — it’s the release date for Archeophone Record’s epic new box set Centennial: King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band. The centenary it celebrates is the...
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Taking the Measure of Big Tiny Little
There were two generations of Tiny Littles in this miniature musical dynasty. The elder, Irvine “Tiny” Little (1902-82) was originally from Goldfield, Iowa, but eventually settled in Worthington,...
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The Sunny Jim McKeen Centennial
Born 100 years ago today, child star Lawrence “Sunny” McKeen (1924-1933). McKeen was only two years old when he was cast as Snookums in a series of silent comedy shorts based on George McManus’s comic...
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This Day in 1966: The Hope-Mao March
This is something I only became aware of a few days ago, on a recent trip to the Museum of Modern Art. On September 1, 1966, artist Öyvind Fahlström staged and filmed a work of street theatre that...
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An Introduction to Helen Falconer Buck
This one goes out to my good buddy Kevin Fitzpatrick, who made me more aware than I might otherwise be of Helen Falconer Buck (1890-1968), and who enhanced her Find a Grave entry substantially....
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World Coconut Day: Great Moments in Coconut Culture
September 2 is World Coconut Day! We observe it as we did with National Banana Day last year, with a little survey of key moments when the humble coconut (sometimes spelled cocoanut) has inspired or...
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R.I.P. James Darren
Thanks, Eve Golden, for the intel that James Darren (James Ercolani, 1936-2024) left us yesterday. I am going to lead with the elephant in the room, which most other obits have been either too polite...
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Billie Carleton: First Victim of the Jazz Age?
If the Jazz Age followed hard upon World War One, no one was in more of a hurry to pivot than British stage star Billie Carleton (Florence Leonora Stewart, 1896-1918), whose sordid drug death occurred...
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Two Upcoming Marx Brothers Events
Save the dates and stop the presses! For those who missed Marxfest, the Marxian fun is not yet over by a long way! I have two upcoming launch events tied to the release of my new book The Marx...
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Ray McCarey: Leo’s Kid Brother
No foolin’–Leo McCarey’s younger brother Ray (1904-1948) was also a hard-working screen director, one also associated with comedies. I’m not quite sure why this is an obscure fact. Leo is often spoken...
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Julie Kavner: 50 Years a Star
It’s Julie Kavner’s birthday as I type this (b. 1950), but we’re also a couple of days shy of a second benchmark — 50 years since many of us have known who she is. Rhoda premiered on September 9,...
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50 Years of “Land of the Lost” (and RIP Spencer Milligan)
Holly, Rick, Unidentified Sleestak, Will A bulletin has just reached my desk about yet another half-century anniversary. Today marks 50 years since the premiere of the original Land of the Lost...
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