travsd

Mae West Sings “Criswell Predicts”!

Happy birthday to the one and only Criswell! I previously paid tribute to the famed Second Sight Man and erstwhile media star here. But as we are now in the midst of West Fest, our big festival tribute to Mae West, I thought I would share this amazing artifact. During the 1950s, Mae was a huge Criswell fan, so much so that she recorded this astounding song “Criswell Predicts” in 1955. Criswell was actually Mae’s personal psychic for awhile!

 

 

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.