Sig Mealey: From the Follies to Babe La Tour’s Bed

Posted on April 16, 2015 by Kevin Fitzpatrick

Kensico Vaudeville Project #: 8 Name: Sig Mealey Act: Acrobat Born: 20 June 1881, possibly Sweden Died: 1951 Sig Mealey was an accomplished acrobat who appeared in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1909, on the same bill with headliners Nora Bayes and Eva Tanguay, at the Grand Opera House. He was briefly married to burlesque and vaudeville star Babe La Tour. He’s buried in the National Vaudeville Association burial ground with his real and stage name. Continue Reading →

Algonquin Round Table and National Poetry Month

Posted on April 10, 2015 by Kevin Fitzpatrick

April is National Poetry Month. This is a good time to remember the poets who were members of the Vicious Circle: Franklin P. Adams, Dorothy Parker, and John V.A. Weaver. I thought about adding Frank Sullivan to the list, since he wrote the Christmas Letter in The New Yorker for so many decades, but decided against it. If you disagree with my decision, tell me on Twitter. Here are my three Algonquin Round Table members Continue Reading →

The Kid Acrobat James Bird

Posted on April 9, 2015 by Kevin Fitzpatrick

Kensico Vaudeville Project #: 7 Name: James Bird Act: Acrobat Born: About 1875 Died: 21 August 1935, New York City In 1890 James Bird’s name appeared in the New York Times, and it wasn’t in the theater department. The headline says it all: “Minors in the Law’s Eyes” and tells: “The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children… cited Marcus Jacobs and Robert Nelson, managers, respectively, of H. R. Jacobs’s Third Avenue Theatre and Continue Reading →

The Mysterious Soldier, Andrew Joseph Basso

Posted on April 2, 2015 by Kevin Fitzpatrick

Kensico Vaudeville Project #: 6 Name: Andrew Joseph Basso Act: None Born: 16 November 1892, New York City Died: 22 March 1943, New York City There is only one gravestone in the National Vaudeville Association plot that was given by the Veterans Administration, the federal agency that provides official monuments for U.S. servicemen and women. This is for Andrew Joseph Basso, and his tie to vaudeville and show business can’t be confirmed. Basso was born Continue Reading →

From Mississippi to Stage and Screen with Charles Barney

Posted on March 26, 2015 by Kevin Fitzpatrick

Kensico Vaudeville Project #: 5 Name: Charles Barney Act: Actor-Writer Born: 12 October 1884, Columbus, Mississippi Died: 30 April 1929, New York City Comedy actor and writer Charles Barney (aka Charlie Barnes and Charles Burns) played the vaudeville circuit from New York to Seattle and appeared in early silent pictures. He also wrote fiction and screenplays. Charles Gorham Barney, Jr., was born 12 October 1884, in Columbus, Mississippi. He and his mother, Frances, moved to Continue Reading →

Sad Demise of Dorothy Parker’s Uncle on the Titanic

Posted on March 25, 2015 by Kevin Fitzpatrick

The sinking of the RMS Titanic 103 years ago next month is a milestone never forgotten. The disaster also had a huge impact on the life of Dorothy Parker, who lost her uncle in the tragedy at sea, an event that in some small way contributed to the declining health of her father. Reading the stories about the Titanic and the aftermath in New York City, it’s not hard to picture an 18-year-old Dorothy Rothschild Continue Reading →

Incredible 1920s Documentary Discovered

Posted on March 24, 2015 by Kevin Fitzpatrick

A new video surfaced recently that’s just sensational to watch for anyone that adores the 1920s and the Algonquin Round Table era. It is called New York in the Twenties, and first aired on American TV in 1961. This has to be one of the best videos of the era. The amount of home movies found in the piece is amazing. Among the 1920s celebrities included in it are Heywood Broun, Enrico Caruso, Charlie Chaplin, Continue Reading →

Thomas Banahan, The Forgotten Stage Dad

Posted on March 19, 2015 by Kevin Fitzpatrick

Kensico Vaudeville Project #: 4 Name: Thomas Banahan Act: Juggler Born: 9 March 1883, Chicago Died: 24 April 1929, New York City The juggler Tommy Banahan was a star in the era before World War I and was the father of silent movie child stars Jane and Katherine Lee. Born on Chicago’s South Side 9 March 1883, he left the Midwest to become an actor. He married an Irish dancer, Irene Lee, and lived off Continue Reading →

Meet the High Diver’s Mother, Anna B. Anderson

Posted on March 19, 2015 by Kevin Fitzpatrick

Kensico Vaudeville Project #: 3 Name: Anna Bylund Anderson Act: None Born: 31 July 1868, Salt Lake City Died: 26 Mar 1929, New York City This is the final resting place of a woman whose only tie to show business was her daughter, a vaudeville swimmer and high diver. Anna Susanna Bylund was born 31 July 1868 in Salt Lake City, Utah, to immigrants from Norway and Sweden. In 1890 she married George A. Anderson, Continue Reading →

New Article on the HuffPo About Condé Nast and Dorothy Parker

Posted on March 17, 2015 by Kevin Fitzpatrick

I just had my fourth article published on the Huffington Post. Condé Nast Hired Dorothy Parker 100 Years Ago marks the centennial (and really, who else but me would make note of it) of the momentous event. I like anniversaries, and this was one I didn’t want to pass by. I write: Parker wrote some of the earliest trends pieces for Vogue. From being a secret knitter (“People look at me, and sooner or later, Continue Reading →