travsd

Horvath’s Midgets

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Horvath’s Midgets (owned and operated by S. Horvath) were a troupe from Hungary who billed themselves as “The Smallest People in the World”. While based in Europe they toured the U.S. several times in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, sometimes with the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey sideshow. Decked out in evening clothes, the little people sang opera, danced ballet, performed magic and pantomime and generally cut up comedy capers for the enthralled throngs.

To find out more about the variety arts past and present, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold. And don’t miss Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, to be released by Bear Manor Media in 2013.

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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.

3 comments

  2. Thanks for this. I wasn’t familiar with them. If you have any info to share about the Singer Midgets (many of whom later appeared in the Wizard of Oz), I’d love to see it.

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    • As a matter of fact, yes! We have a post on Singer’s Midgets scheduled for May 3 (Leo Singer’s birthday). I hope you’ll stay with us that long!

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