Saturday, February 24, 2024
February 24 was the natal day of William M. Ruthrauff (1881-1969), inventor of Pepsodent. At least, he’s the inventor according to this excellent article at the Made in Chicago Museum. The…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:06AMFebruary 24 was the birthday of “Chrome Dome Frome” a.k.a. Texaco Star Theatre’s Second Best Milton, Milton Frome (1908-1989). (No one ever called him those things, I just thought them…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:36AMFriday, February 23, 2024
Born 150 years ago today May Davis Wait (1874-1956). Just over a century ago, Wait’s husband, a sometime cough syrup manufacturer name Pearle, invented Jell-O; May’s the one who named it…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:18AMThursday, February 22, 2024
February 22 is the birthday of respected veteran character actor James Hong (b. 1929). He’s 95 as I pen this, and still toiling at what he loves, which is pretty incredible. Hong’s fathe…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:24AMWednesday, February 21, 2024
Hello, you must be going! The long-awaited return of Marxfest will take place over two glorious weekends in NYC, packed with once-in-a-lifetime events calculated to thrill the obsessive Marx…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:48AMIt amuses me especially to title this post “the OTHER Charles King” since it’s likely that precious few readers have ever heard of the first one we wrote about here. As it happens, tod…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:36AMTuesday, February 20, 2024
Gloria Vanderbilt (1924-2019) was born 100 years ago today. Hers is a name that has meant something different to every American generation. Contemporary people may or may not recognize her a…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:42AMMonday, February 19, 2024
Happy Presidents Day! Young people may not know this, but ostensibly this is not a day for ALL the Presidents, just Washington and Lincoln. We used to celebrate them each as separate holiday…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:32AMIt is our pleasure this morning to tell you about Early American Renaissance Man William Dunlap (1766-1839). Dunlap’s most significant contributions were in the theatre, but he was also a …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:32AMA few words on the brief career of Hope Hampton (Mae Elizabeth Hampton,1897-1982). Hampton was a Philadelphia beauty pageant queen who was spotted by pioneering producer Jules Brulatour whil…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:24AMSunday, February 18, 2024
Though we have been writing about lots of corporate brands of late, we regret to advise that today’s post is not about the pizza chain. Nor even the 1931 gangster movie with Edward G. Robi…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:12AMSaturday, February 17, 2024
For a goodly stretch there, when I was about 20 years old, my very favorite movie in all the world was Roger Corman’s original 1960 Little Shop of Horrors (which is one of the many reasons…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:54AMFriday, February 16, 2024
On this day in 2011, Professor Hokum W. Jeebs (Robert Stabile, b. 1951) breathed his last. This is a story of the New Vaudeville, but sounds for all the world like something from the Very Ol…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:42AMThursday, February 15, 2024
150 years ago today: the birth of Polar Explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922). It gives me particular pleasure to write about him on the day after Valentine’s Day, for Shackleton was …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:24AMWednesday, February 14, 2024
And though it is Jack Benny’s birthday, and I am developing a longish piece about Benny’s movies, the precipitating cause of this post is that February 14 ALSO happens to be the birthday…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:12AMSomething appropriate there is about the fact that National Ferris Wheel Day and Valentine’s Day are one and the same. I can’t think of a more romantic date activity than a ride on one o…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:02AMTuesday, February 13, 2024
According to the master calendar that makes this blog happen, there are numerous new people I could be writing about on this Fat Tuesday — but I find I want to talk some more about George …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:06AMMonday, February 12, 2024
I say “the other” because the better known David Steinberg was a Canadian stand-up comedian who was popular in the 1970s. The one who concerns us today was David J. Steinberg (1965-2010)…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:36AMI’ve little original to say upon the the topic, but I cannot let it go unobserved: today marks 100 years since George Gershwin premiered his Rhapsody in Blue at Aeolian Hall in New York (F…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:24AMSunday, February 11, 2024
The R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company was incorporated on this day in 1890. I’m not here to celebrate or endorse their product, but RJR did leave a camel print in the shifting sands of show bu…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:42AMSaturday, February 10, 2024
Harry Beaumont (1888-1966) is not regarded today as a great cinematic auteur, and perhaps he shouldn’t be in terms of such matter as camera placement, shot composition, and so forth (and t…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:02PMFriday, February 9, 2024
Today’s post on Carmen Miranda (1909-1955) goes out to another Carmen M, my friend Carmen Mofungo (Michele Carlo), one of the many performers influenced and inspired by the Brazilian star.…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:02PMI categorically discourage this sort of thing but an acquaintance recently approached me and asked whether the James Murray he saw in some vintage advertising for a vaudeville bill that feat…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:48AMThursday, February 8, 2024
You see what I did there, right? It wasn’t easy. Just TRY to find an unglamorous photograph of James Dean (1931-1955). Naturally, to focus my search, I went to “as old man in Giant“, c…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:54AMWednesday, February 7, 2024
Sudden death always feels like a sucker punch, sometimes more than others. I just got the word that Kenyan actor Charles J. (“Charli”) Ouda has passed away at the age of 38. I had the ha…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:24PMToday we pause to acknowledge actress Gloria Talbott (1931-2000). We’ve had a handful of occasion to mention Talbott here, chiefly in relation to her horror films: she has key roles in The…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:54AMTuesday, February 6, 2024
The bad news — my hard drive died so I won’t be churning out a few thousand new daily words for a couple of days. The good news? I’ve just opened up to the public over 900 additional p…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:12AMMonday, February 5, 2024
This one is far from an exclusive but the show biz angle lured me in. I’m quite sure I first heard of Ronald Pellar (1930-2013) a.k.a Dr. Dante a.k.a. Ronald Dante a.k.a. Mr. Hypnotist as …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:36AMSaturday, February 3, 2024
Melanie (b. 1947) passed away a week ago. I’d already planned a post for her birthday, which is today, so I thought I’d save the obit and let this one, regrettably, do double duty. Melan…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:06AMFriday, February 2, 2024
Launching today in New York: Sapph-o-Rama, Film Forum’s 30 film series of movies “exploring the eccentric, enduring, and genre-encompassing history of the Lesbian image in cinema”. The…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:42PMA somewhat unusual case to contemplate today: a father and son, both of whom made well-known, well-respected and popular movies in two countries: France and America. Maurice Tourneur (Mauric…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:32AM 
