travsd

Colonel and Mrs. Reuben Steere

As a native Rhode Islander it gives me special pride today to give attention to “Colonel” Reuben Allen Steere (1838-1915). Born in Glocester, RI, Steere stood 44 inches in adulthood, and weighed 43 pounds. He performed with Stone & Murray’s Circus, Karl Stefan Bailey’s Circus, the Liliputian Opera Company, et al. In 1880 he married fellow little person Rebecca Ann Myers, originally from Indiana. They performed and traveled together as a couple until 1906, when they retired to Chepachet, RI. In their twilight years, they operated a poultry farm, restaurant and candy shop, and the Colonel worked as a local truant officer. I bet he was a Holy Terror.

For more on performing little people please check out Rose’s Royal Midgets and Other Little People in Vaudeville. 

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.