A Peek at Rose’s Royal Midgets and Other Little People of Vaudeville
Saturday, October 26, 7pm: A Peek at Rose’s Royal Midgets and Other Little People of Vaudeville
Atomic Books, 3620 Falls Rd., Baltimore
410.662.4444
Join Trav S.D. (author of (No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous and the blog Travalanche), Vaudevisuals Press editor Jim R. Moore, and Shocked and Amazed’s James Taylor for a look at their 2021 book Rose’s Royal Midgets and Other Little People of Vaudeville.
The name “Rose’s Royal Midgets” held an important place at theatres, circuses and fairgrounds across three continents a century ago, even if each component of the troupe’s name crumbles to dust by the light of day (“Rose” was a pseudonym, the company held no Royal patent, and the word “midget” has passed out of use in polite society). This large vaudeville touring production of Little People was the creation of one of show biz history’s great impresarios, Ike Rose, now forgotten but once in a league with names like P.T. Barnum and Florenz Ziegfeld as men who delivered full value for the price of a ticket. The book offers a glimpse into a vanished world, one as cynical as it was magical, but one that was also always fascinating. Rose’s Royal Midgets contains essays by show biz chronicler Trav S.D., a complete reprint of Rose’s own 1925 promotional booklet, dozens of restored historical photographs from the collection of editor Jim R. Moore, a foreword by sideshow maven James Taylor (Shocked and Amazed), and interviews with relatives of troupe member Gladys Farkas.
In addition Rose's Royal Midgets (2020), Trav S.D. is the author of the 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 was an organizer of Marxfest, a month-long celebration of the Marx Brothers held in New York City in 2014, 2017 and 2024. He was a producer of the first ever revival of the Marx Brothers’ 1924 Broadway musical I’ll Say She Is, and directed its initial reading and 2014 staging at the New York Fringe Festival, before it went on to an Off-Broadway run in 2016. Trav has written for The New York Times, The Village Voice, Time Out New York, and American Theatre. He created and maintains the blog Travalanche, the world's most expansive online resource of biographies of variety performers (over 2,000) with over 6,000 additonal articles on related pop culture related topics.
The October 26 event will feature an illustrated slide show and talk by Trav S.D., and short presentations by Moore and Taylor. The collaborators will be available to sign books.
More info:
Atomicbooks.com
