Sunday, August 4, 2024
Pin-up model, movie starlet, and golf hustler Jeanne Carmen (1930-2007) sometimes went as a blonde, sometimes as a brunette, but wherever she went, she was all gal! Haha, I made that up all …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:13PMAugust 4 was my late mother’s birthday; it also happens to be National Psychics Day, which facts combine to remind me of the occasion when I was in my late teens, during which my mother an…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:07AMSaturday, August 3, 2024
It’s how we define kitsch, isn’t it? At least, it’s what I always think of to illustrate the concept: a painting of a sad clown on black velvet. It’s National Clown Day. I’ve writt…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:56AMToday marks the 100th birthday of the elusive creature Connie Converse (Elizabeth Converse, b. 1924) and this year also marks many other round anniversaries connected with the woman besides.…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:44AMFriday, August 2, 2024
Well, not only were Carol O’Connor and James Baldwin born 100 years ago today, but so was Alan Abel (1924-2018) — that’s the emmis. In the age of Trump and QAnon it may be difficult to…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:19AMJames Baldwin (1924-1987) was born in Harlem 100 years ago today. The one-two punch of the films I’m Not Your Negro (2016) and If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) brought Baldwin’s genius …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:46AMThursday, August 1, 2024
August 7, 1974 was the date that French acrobat Philippe Petit made his unthinkable (and quite illegal) tightrope walk across the Twin Towers of the original World Trade Center. As I chronic…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:04AMHappy International Clown Week, which always falls the first week of August. I’d like to kick it off by referring you back to this recent post plugging the upcoming Coney Island Clown Skoo…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:42AMWednesday, July 31, 2024
The performance that made me curious about Salem Ludwig (1915-2007) was his role as Peter Sellers’ father in one of my favorite sixties comedies I Love You, Alice B. Toklas (1968). That sa…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:54AMTuesday, July 30, 2024
A salute today to the singing McGuire Sisters, all of whom were with us quite recently! The trio was comprised of Christine (1926-2018), Dottie (1928-2012, not to be confused with actress Do…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:02AMMonday, July 29, 2024
Yes, I know. Joe Exotic is so 2020. I had contemplated doing a post on him when he first made his big splash that year, but (much like, let’s say, a cat) I always resist moving with the he…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:12AMSunday, July 28, 2024
While I do occasionally post about authors and illustrators per se on this blog, there actually is a show biz angle (my more usual beat) to the story of Beatrix Potter (1866-1943). As I post…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:32PMThose of us of a certain age are apt to associate Sally Struthers (b. 1947) with a single role, but as you will see, it’s an injustice to do so. The prologues and epilogues are substantial…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:12AMSaturday, July 27, 2024
I have no idea how so major a stage star as Truly Shattuck (Clarice Ferguson, 1875-1954) evaded my notice for so long, nor how she did eventually come to my attention, but I am delighted to …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:18AMFriday, July 26, 2024
This one goes out to my friend Seth Shelden, Harpo interpreter and peace-monger extraordinaire. Today is Stanley Kubrick’s birthday. Having already done a general post on the great directo…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:42PMThursday, July 25, 2024
The above was taken back in April, and it depicts my joyous opportunity to reunite and catch up with actress/author/presenter Illeana Douglas (Illeana Hesselberg, b. 1961) I knew Illeana sho…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:32AMWednesday, July 24, 2024
I first heard the name Frank Silvera (1914-1970) when I was working in the back office of Theater for the New City; I think the Frank Silvera Writers Workshop had presented work there, or ma…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:36AMTuesday, July 23, 2024
Today we celebrate Ruth Duccini (Ruth Robinson, 1918-2014) whose place in history is assured by being the last female surviving cast member of the 1939 classic picture The Wizard of Oz. Ducc…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:02PMMonday, July 22, 2024
A few days ago I took advantage of my membership in The Lambs to start diving into their remarkable archives, starting with the papers of the Homer of Vaudeville, Joe Laurie Jr, whom I first…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:48PMComedy writer and producer Bob Booker (1931-2024) no longer resides in the Land of the Living. Booker has been top of mind for me lately, as I had ample chance to talk about one of his more …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:02AMSunday, July 21, 2024
This is my beautiful wife during our recent trip to the Laurie Beechman which I wrote about yesterday. She hates having her picture taken so I always have to sneak candids like this one, but…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:02PMSaturday, July 20, 2024
This piece started out as a review, and then it grew to two related reviews, in the midst of which circumstances then dictated that it also include some hard news reporting, which then sugge…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:32PMFriday, July 19, 2024
An interesting if belated new edition to our Stars of Slapstick series, screen comedian Addie McPhail (Addie Dukes, 1905-2003). McPhail was born in Kentucky, but moved to Chicago with her fa…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:12AMMost of the photos one finds online of character actor Dallas (sometimes Dal) McKennon (1919-2009) look like this one: a grizzled, bearded western sidekick type. One might be apt to mix him …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:02AMThursday, July 18, 2024
All hail Dion (Dion Francis DiMucci, b. 1939)! I’d inevitably have written an appreciation of this great idol of the interregnum between Elvis and the Beatles anyway, but certain news came…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:02AMWednesday, July 17, 2024
This week I was honored to be the first guest (but somehow also, seemingly, the host) on Dick Zigun’s new youtube show. Best known as the Founder of Coney Island USA, the Mermaid Parade, a…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:18PMNo, I’m not a month late in eulogizing Donald Sutherland (1935-2024). Today was the late actor’s birthday, the day on which I had already been scheduled to write about him. And it’s pr…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:12PMTuesday, July 16, 2024
When I first moved to NYC the big local scandal of the day was the Bess Mess, a bribery beef centered around the Commissioner of the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Bess Myerson (1924-20…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:02AMMonday, July 15, 2024
Born 100 years ago today: Armenian-American character actor Val Avery (Sebouh Der Abrahamian, 1924-2009). Avery’s family was among the persecuted Armenian minority in Ottoman Turkey. He gr…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:18AMSunday, July 14, 2024
Well, my friend the author Eve Golden had scarcely announced the launch of her new website Eve’s Obits when two prominent celebrities obligingly demonstrated its usefulness by dying within…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:24PMFriday, July 12, 2024
Juy 10 was the birthday of filmmaker Dudley Murphy (1897-1968); 2024 marks the centennial of one of his best known works Ballet mécanique (1924), an avant-garde film co-directed with Fernan…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:02PM 
