travsd

The Mules of Travalanche

I haven’t been able to learn what movie Charley Chase is promoting in the still above, but he certainly seems well attuned to the comic potential of the mule. It’s Mule Appreciation Day and we thought we observe the occasion by doing what we have done for lions and Elephants and dogs and birds and will surely do for other beasts: create a post that bundles together all of our relevant posts about them. Yes, believe it or not, we’ve done a few posts about mules, and we’ll likely do more. I come from a family that owned them and used them for beasts of burden ’til the mid 20th century. As a consequence I have great affection for them, though I wouldn’t want to live with one. If you’re so inclined, please check out these mule posts:

On the Francis the Talking Mule Films

An Exploration of the Song “Mule Skinner Blues”

The 1976 Disney Comedy Gus (scroll down)

Grace McDaniels, The Mule Faced Woman

For other show business animal acts go here.

For more on show business history, please see No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous.

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.