Sunday, December 3, 2023
Today would have been the 90th birthday of talk show host and actor Les Crane (Lesley Stein, 1933-2008). There is an Icarus-like quality to Crane’s brief fame. He was nationally prominent …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:24AMSaturday, December 2, 2023
Well, I’m still grinning from ear to ear. I was one of the lucky few hundred who were at last night’s invited dress for ONEOFUS’s latest holiday panto at the Abrons Arts Center, Sleepi…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:12AMFriday, December 1, 2023
Yes, it’s true, Sarah Silverman (b. 1970) has the same birthday as Woody Allen, Bette Midler, Richard Pryor, and Dick Shawn. Did she just decide to become a combination of all of them? She…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:18AMOur most devoted readers know that the mission of this blog and our books, talks, podcasts, etc has to do with much more than some kind of “salute to vintage pop culture”. That may well …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:06AMThursday, November 30, 2023
For Scotland’s National Day we celebrate a Glasgow venue that many claim is the oldest music hall in Great Britain, The Britannia Music Hall (also known in later years as The Panopticon…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:24AMNovember 30, 1912 was the date of the first Royal Variety Performance, also known as the Royal Command Performance. Attentive readers know that this writer is no fan of monarchy and pretty h…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:18AMJust the briefest of tributes to Australian swimming champ Beatrice Kerr (1887-1971), for she had the briefest of show biz careers. Kerr was only about 17 when she won several contests and b…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:06AMFull disclosure: I don’t know that I ever would have done a post on Shuggie Otis (b. 1953), all things remaining the same, though indeed I did do a post on his legendary father Johnny Otis…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:06AMWednesday, November 29, 2023
Thanks once again (and thanks daily) to Eve Golden, Cup Bearer to Thanatos, for the sad yet timely knowledge that Spanish burlesque legend Sticky Vicky, a.k.a. Vicky Leyton, a.k.a. Victoria …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:24PMExciting news for fans of Coney Island USA founder Dick Zigun. His new rock opera Killin’ Republicans opens tomorrow night (Thursday, November 30) at Theater for the New City. Though best …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:18AMBorn 90 years ago today, British Blues revivalist John Mayall (b. 1933). This year also marks the 60th anniversary of the formation of his influential band, the Bluesbreakers. Most people va…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:06AMTuesday, November 28, 2023
Where my Albanians at? Tell me: are there any Albanians in “da house”? Okay. I won’t put you through any more of that. November 28 is Albanian Independence Day. It commemorates the dat…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:24AMMonday, November 27, 2023
Maurice “Muzzy” Marcellino (1912-1997) was a singer, musician, big bandleader, and professional whistler. We’ll obviously get to the latter accomplishment, it’s the most vaudevillian…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:32AMSunday, November 26, 2023
Tina Turner (Anna Mae Bullock, 1939-2023) passed away back on May 24. This was too momentous for a hasty, ad hoc memoriam, so I opted to wait and do a more thoughtful tribute on her birthday…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:18PMSaturday, November 25, 2023
Harley Granville-Barker (1877-1946) was a pioneer of the modern English-speaking theatre, with important contributions to nearly every discipline within that compound art form: acting, direc…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:02AMFriday, November 24, 2023
Author Laurence Sterne (1713-1768) was born on this day. For those tracking 18th century English (or Anglo-Irish) comic wits, this makes him a bit younger than Swift, slightly younger than F…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:06AMThursday, November 23, 2023
“Thanksgiving” (1935) is the most famous painting of American artist Doris Lee (1905-1983). I thought it worth contemplating today for a couple of reasons. One is that it is from that ve…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:42AMWednesday, November 22, 2023
Today marks the 60th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. It’s the date we tend to think of when honoring this President. No one remembers his birthday (May 29). They remem…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:12PMMae West passed away on this day in 1980. If she were alive, she would be 143 and couldn’t even pull off Sextette. Yet on this particular November 22, Westian mourners may have some new/ol…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:48AMTuesday, November 21, 2023
November 21 was the birthday of James T. Drummond (1834-1897), the founder, 150 years ago, of the Drummond Tobacco Company. And that would probably be of little interest here but for the fac…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:12AMMonday, November 20, 2023
Oh, fiddlesticks, the most important movie ever made is The Wizard of Oz. Anyway, thanks, Kevin Maher, for reminding me that today marks the 40th anniversary of the original broadcast of the…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:36PMToday, we shine a light on Evelyn Keyes (1916-2008), not to be confused with Evelyn Kaye, who played the violin, or Jerry’s Piano Girls, who played the keys. Keyes was a Hollywood chorus g…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:06AMSunday, November 19, 2023
This is the farthest thing from a timely post: it contains some old news and some even older news, and is (seemingly) irrelevant with regard to the crisis news of the day, although I believe…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:12PMA shout-today to actor Steve Railsback (b.1945). As Bela Lugosi is to Dracula, so is Steve Railsback to Charles Manson, for better or worse. Having played the sixties cult maniac in the defi…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:48PMSaturday, November 18, 2023
Released to cinemas 40 years ago this very day, the unlikely holiday classic A Christmas Story (1983). I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t love this movie, ranging from people old enough t…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:18AMLoring Smith (1890-1981) was a veteran of vaudeville, Broadway, film and television, with a career spanning around 50 years. A native of Fairfield County, Connecticut, Smith first took the s…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:06AMFriday, November 17, 2023
The Rolling Stones are very much alive in our house at the moment. Not just because the remaining members of the band released their first new album of original music in 18 years only a mont…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:54PMLearned about this just in the nick of time! Tomorrow, Nov 18 at 3pm EST, Cleveland burlesque artist Bella Sin is offering this free and timely talk which invites you to challenge the way yo…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:32PMThis one goes out to friend Edward Einhorn, longtime champion of the work of Vaclav Havel, both through his own Havel Festival and now as the newly appointed artistic director of the Rehears…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:24AMThursday, November 16, 2023
How appropriate that the birthday of voice-over actress Joan Gardner (1926-1992) was in the lead up to the holidays? Her best known credits were in holiday specials. She was Tiny Tim in Mist…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:24AMIrish-American comedian Paddy McGuire (born ca. 1884) died this day in 1923 — a century ago today. McGuire’s career was short but prolific: nearly 80 films in a little over five years. B…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:12AM 
