Three Terrific Trav S.D. Talks on Coney Island

Look, Looka, Looka! Come One, Come All! Come to the Coney Island Museum 3 Saturdays in August and Hear 3 Great Trav S.D. Talks! Stay all day at the beach! Go on the rides! And cap off the day with informative and coolicious true stories in my Fun-Filled Fact-o-rama! Here’s what’s coming up:

Saturday, August 5, 5pm: Coney Island 101

A rare chance to get the big picture of The People’s Playground’s many incarnations as an amusement district, from its early days as a resort with hotels and racetracks, to its numerous storied amusement parks, sideshows, vaudeville and burlesque houses, cinemas, restaurants, and of course, beaches, right up to the present day (and guesses about tomorrow). Trav S.D., author of the books No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous and Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nicklodeons to Youtube lays out the whole amazing narrative in this colorful illustrated talk.

Saturday, August 12, 5pm: Coney Island and the Movies

It stands to reason that America’s premiere Amusement district would play a key role one of America’s favorite entertainment pastimes: going to the movies. Coney’s amusement parks were a center for some of the world’s first nickelodeons, and many cinemas graced the neighborhood through the first half of the twentieth century. At the same, Coney Island was immortalized in films, from the earliest silent days, all the way to Woody Allen’s upcoming period comedy Wonder Wheel, scheduled to be released in November, 2017. Author and blogger Trav S.D. leads this entertaining illustrated talk, and shares some entertaining clips.

Saturday, August 19, 5pm: More than Munchkins: A History of Performing Little People 

For centuries Little People have been a mainstay of popular entertainment. In this illustrated talk, author and performer Trav S.D. traces the historical ups and downs of very short-statured entertainers from medieval times through the era of P.T. Barnum and dime museums, to side shows and circuses, to vaudeville, to movies and television. Along the way, we trace the evolution of the Little Person’s image in popular culture, from one of cruel derision in the age of the court jester…to one of glamour, as personified by sex symbol and Emmy-winning actor Peter Dinklage…to a virtual return to carny days on reality tv.

Admission to the Coney island Museum and these talks is a mere $5 for Adults, $3 for Seniors, Kids (under 12) and residents of  Zip Code 11224. More info and directions about the Coney Island Museum and Coney Island USA are here.

Happy Valentine’s Day from the Littlest Lovers: Tom Thumb & Lavinia Warren

“There’s someone for everybody” goes the old matchmaker’s expression, and perhaps no words rang truer on February 9, 1863, the day that professional little person Tom Thumb (Charles Stratton) married Lavinia Warren at Grace Church, New York. (I believe that’s Lavinia’s sister Minnie Warren as Maid of Honor; and Commodore Nutt as Best Man). This little stunt, the “Fairy Wedding” by the press, lightened people’s hearts during the depths of the Civil War. We present it to you in the same spirit today.

 

It wasn’t just a publicity stunt, however; the two were a real couple. But even so, their boss P.T. Barnum was probably not too unhappy when the big event resulted in coverage like this:

“I love you completely, my own, my all. But above all, I love this front page coverage in Harpers!”

Klinkhart’s Troupe of Midgets

I stumbled across this image the other day and got curious. I could only find a few facts: this troupe of little people was managed by German born Oscar Klinkhart (ca.1897-1975). They were with with the Al G. Barnes show between 1926 and 1931. According to some sources, they were later with Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus and got stranded near Riverside, California ca. 1936, where they founded one of the many legendary “Midgetville” communities. Later Klinkhart retired to Logsden, Orgeon.

For more on show biz history, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold.

More Than Munchkins: An Illustrated History of Performing Little People

Today happens to be the birthday of both Fleming W. Ackerman (a.k.a “Colonel Speck”) and Major Edward Newell (a.k.a. “General Grant, Jr.”). (Click on the links to learn more about these illustrious Little People.

If the odds of a Little Person being born are small, and the odds of a performing Little Person even smaller, think how small the odds of TWO performing Little People being born on the same day! Seems to me an auspicious time to announce here my upcoming talk at the Morbid Anatomy Museum, entitled More Than Munchkins: An Illustrated History of Performing Little People. 

For centuries Little People have been a mainstay of popular entertainment. In this illustrated talk, I will trace the historical ups and downs of very short-statured entertainers from medieval times through the era of P.T. Barnum and dime museums, to side shows and circuses, to vaudeville, to movies and television. Along the way, we trace the evolution of the Little Person’s image in popular culture, from one of cruel derision in the age of the court jester…to one of glamour, as personified by sex symbol and Emmy-winning actor Peter Dinklage…to a virtual return to carny days on reality tv.

The talk will take place Monday August 22, 2016 at 7pm at the Morbid Anatomy Museum, 424 Third Ave, Brooklyn. Tickets are $8

More info and tickets are here: http://morbidanatomymuseum.org/event/more-than-munchkins-a-history-of-performing-little-people-an-illustrated-lecture-with-trav-s-d/

Fleming W. Ackerman, a.k.a “Colonel Speck”

Today is the birthday of Fleming W. Ackerman (1863-1946), known professionally and informally as Colonel Speck. Amazing, but true, he shares the same birthday with General Grant, Jr! Someone should take a look at their mother’s horoscopes!

The son of a prosperous Moravia, New York businessman, Ackerman was normal sized until he reached the age of four years old, whereupon his growth slowed down considerably. His tallest height in adulthood was four feet four inches. Extremely gifted at music he began singing and playing in local amateur theatricals at around age 8 or 9. His first professional engagement was at a local theatre in Owego with the Tremaine Brothers in 1875. He undertook a regional tour with one Mademoiselle Leon the following year. In 1876 he received an offer of work from P.T. Barnum (he had not yet reached his full height). The family turned it down because the boy was only 13. In 1878 he attended a music conservatory in New York City. While there he not only studied, but he performed professionally and became friendly with the happy quartet of General Tom Thumb, Lavinia Warren, her sister Minnie, and her husband Major Newell. 

This association was fortunate, for the following year Warren engaged him as a performer with the Liliputian Opera Company, which toured all over the U.S. and Canada. In 1882 the company folded when their unscrupulous manager fled with the box office take, stranding them in Chicago. They played another season as the Pigmie Picnic Party [sic] under new management and then disbanded. Following this, Speck worked for several months in solo engagements, but overworked himself to the point that he permanently blew out his voice and was forced to retire from show business.

Fortunately he had inherited his father’s acumen as an entrepreneur, and became a successful local businessman in Moravia and surrounding towns operating a photography studio, a telephone exchange and a bus line. He also kept a hand in performing as the Drum Major of a local brass band, Huff’s Cornet Band, which played parades, fairs and other events.

For all the information you will ever need on this interesting character, I recommend The Drum Major of Company A: A Biography of Fleming W. Ackerman a.k.a. Colonel Speck by Frank S. Foti, which may be purchased here. 

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

On Hervé Villechaize: There’s More There Than Meets Ze Plane

 

Hervé Birthday? Happy Hervday?

At any rate, as if to either reaffirm or retract our last post (I can’t decide which) we write now to celebrate the late Hervé  Villechaize (1943-1993). Actually I can decide, it’s a reaffirmation. While Villechaize was the subject of ridicule during his life,  his story is full of tragedy, and it ought to give you pause (which is why, I understand, Peter Dinklage is developing a screenplay about him).

A Paris native, the diminutive Villechaize originally studied and practiced visual art. He moved to the U.S. in 1964 and his size created opportunities in the theatre just as off-off-Broadway and the avant-garde were taking off. This led to underground and then mainstream film, including The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight (1971), Greaser’s Palace (1972) by Robert Downey Sr, and biggest and best of all, the James Bond thriller The Man With The Golden Gun (1974). This naturally led to his very similar role as Tattoo on the TV show Fantasy Island (1977-1984), a classic case of success being a curse and familiarity breeding contempt.

Once you have pointed at the sky and yelled, “Ze Plane! Ze Plane!”, there is no escape from that island. He became reduced to a laugh line and a catch phrase, and all in a rather mean spirit. From the time of Fantasy Island going forward, almost all the work Villechaize could get consisted of humiliating cameos as himself, of the sort that were clearly based on the comedy premise, “Wouldn’t it be funny if Hervé  Villechaize showed up?” After many earlier attempts, he finally successfully committed suicide at the age of 50 by putting a gun to his head and pulling the trigger.

Here is his last gig, on The Ben Stiller Show:

To find out about  the history of show business, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold. For more on silent and slapstick comedy please check out my new book: Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, just released by Bear Manor Media, also available from amazon.com etc etc etc

 

 

Angelo Rossitto a.k.a. “Little Angie”

Today is the birthday of the dwarf actor Angelo Rossitto (1908-1991). The 2′ 11″ Rossitto has the interesting distinction of being the only member of the sideshow cast of Todd Browning’s Freaks to have had a real film career, appearing in over 70 films in a 60 year stretch between 1927 and 1987.

Rossitto’s career was a lot like the better known Billy Barty’s in that it ranged from real substantial roles…to jobs as an extra…to brief appearances in sight gags…to parts where was buried in a costume and you couldn’t see him at all. He played performing little people in circus movies, monstrous sidekicks in horror flicks, space aliens, elves, and of course set dressing in scenes of Roman or Weimar decadence. Interestingly, unlike most performers of his type I find no indication that he was ever a performer in sideshows, circuses or live theatre. Billed under his own name, or sometimes as “Little Moe”, “Little Angie” or “Angelino” the Omaha-born Rossitto took movie roles on the side to supplement the income he made from his Los Angeles news stand.

His first movie was The Beloved Rogue (1927) with John Barrymore and Conrad Veidt. Other roles that afforded decent amounts of screen time (and face time) included Freaks; two horror team-ups with Bela Lugosi, The Corpse Vanishes (1942) and Scared to Death (1947);

another horror part in Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971); a semi-regular role as Little Moe on the tv series Baretta (1977), and the mad scientist “Master” (who rode on the back of “Blaster”) in the dystopian Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (1987).

But he’s often present in subtler ways. In Laurel and Hardy’s Babes in Toyland (1934) he plays one of the Little Pigs.

He was a regular performer on the Syd and Marty Kroft kid’s shows H.R. Pufnstuf (1969-1970) and Lidsville (1971).

Other movies he appeared in over his long career included Dante’s Inferno (1935), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935), Hellzapoppin (1941), Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves (1944), The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (1947), Samson and Delilah (1949), The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), Carousel (1956), The Story of Mankind (1957), and Dr. Doolittle (1967).

To learn more about show biz history, 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 my new book: Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, just released by Bear Manor Media, also available from amazon.com etc etc etc