travsd

Cliff Gordon: The German Senator

Elder brother of legendary Broadway producer (and former vaudevillian) Max Gordon, Cliff Gordon (1880-1913) was best known in vaudeville for delivering stump speeches as “The German Senator”. Born Morris Saltpeter, it was he who changed his name to Gordon first, younger brother Max followed suit to simplify things. Born to immigrant Jewish parents on the Lower East Side, much like Weber and Fields he hid his occupation from his folks until he was making over three times their salary. He thrived in small time and burlesque before touring with his own music comedy The Merry Whirl during the 1909-1910 season. He died mysteriously at the age of 32 after performing on a bill with Sarah Bernhardtat New York’s Majestic Theatre

To find out more about  the history of vaudeville, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold.

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Published by travsd

Writer and performer Trav S.D. (www.travsd.com) is best known for his books "No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous" (2005) and "Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube" (2013). He has written for the NY Times, the Village Voice, American Theatre, Time Out NY, Reason, the Villager and numerous other publications. Trav has been in the vanguard of New York’s vaudeville and burlesque scenes since 1995 when he launched his company Mountebanks, presenting hundreds of acts ranging from Todd Robbins to Dirty Martini to Tammy Faye Starlite to the Flying Karamazov Brothers. He has directed his own plays, revues and solo pieces at such venues as Joe’s Pub, La Mama, HERE, Dixon Place, Theater for the New City, the Ohio Theatre, the Brick, and 6 separate shows in the NY International Fringe Festival. In 2014 he produced and directed the smash-hit "I’ll Say She Is", the first ever revival of the Marx Brothers hit 1924 Broadway show in the NY International Fringe Festival.

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