Thursday, January 11, 2024
A gent named Mark Thompson took the color pix I share below; I borrowed them from his spread on the RI Memories website, which I feel okay doing since I also link you to the full page here.�…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:42PMThe title of this post is a little bit of a “gotcha” for Coney Island fans. The fact is, Coney Island’s Luna Park was so culturally influential that scores of amusement parks all over …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:12PMToday’s homily (an occasional one here) concerns the truth that Hollywood is not necessarily the be-all and end-all for all performers. Case in point: singer-actor George Houston (1896-194…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:02AMWednesday, January 10, 2024
Our salute to Sal Mineo (1939-1976) contains what may amount to revelations to some. He departed this life during a lull in his career that I feel confident would not have been permanent. Bu…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:02PMElaine Devry, sometimes billed as Elaine Davis or Elaine Curtis, passed away back in September, and her life and career were interesting in several respects so I made a note to schedule a po…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:12AMTuesday, January 9, 2024
I imagine I first knew about Fernando Lamas (Fernando Álvaro Lamas y de Santos, 1915-1982) by way of his being kidded on Saturday Night Live — no less than twice. The first occasion was t…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:06AMThe Torn Page space in Chelsea is one of my favorite NYC venues. It’s located in the actual west side town house of the late Rip Torn and Geraldine Page! Tony Torn has directed a terrific …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:54AMMonday, January 8, 2024
Having already written posts about Chico’s sole progeny Maxine, and two of Groucho’s children, Arthur and Miriam, it seems equitable that this January 8 we pay birthday tribute to Harpo�…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:32AMSunday, January 7, 2024
No sooner did Funhouse Philosophers (Dick Zigun’s company) and Bread and Puppet Theater close their wonderful shows at Theater for the New City than we received all manner of additional bu…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:12PMHere’s an extraordinary fact: the screen career of Terry Moore (Helen Luella Koford, b. 1929) which began in 1940, remains technically open ended. Moore’s professional credits stretch ou…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:54AMSaturday, January 6, 2024
The above image is Olga Georges-Picot (1940-1997) as the Countess Alexandrovna in Woody Allen’s Love and Death (1974), probably her best known role to readers of this blog. She was hired t…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:12AMFriday, January 5, 2024
Exciting news for lovers of clown, mime, and all physical and movement-based theatre: PhysFestNYC, a new 10 day physical theatre festival produced at the Stella Adler Center for the Arts by …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:48AMJanuary 5 was the birthday of newspaperman Herbert Bayard Swope (1882-1958). You’d be correct in noticing that it’s unusual for us to give attention to a straight news journalist on this…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:42AMThursday, January 4, 2024
Marla English (1936-2012) only racked up 18 screen credits in a film career lasting just just over two years, but she left an imprint. The model and beauty pageant winner was still a teenage…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:48AMWednesday, January 3, 2024
Just learned from Jeff Lewonczyk’s heartfelt memoriam that an important member of the indie theatre community, photographer Ken Stein has been taken by cancer. Jeff’s tribute is definiti…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:02PMIn anticipation of your inevitable question, yes, Josephine Hull (Josephine Sherwood, 1877-1957) WAS related to Henry Hull, she was his sister-in-law. There were three thespian Hull brothers…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:48AMTuesday, January 2, 2024
Not that Roger Miller (1936-1992) did anything in particular so awful that I know of that requires redemption. His worst sin perhaps was allowing himself to be goofy for the amusement of aud…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:36AMMonday, January 1, 2024
Even among Little People actors, Verne Troyer (1969-1918) ranked as extraordinary. Standing 2′ 8″ (two and 2/3 feet) he made actors like Billy Barty or Michael Dunn seem unremarkable. He…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:06PMMickey Mouse is always in the news, but in recent weeks that truth has stepped up a notch in light of a timely development: as of today, the earliest versions of Mickey have lapsed into the …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:48AMSunday, December 31, 2023
We had no sooner gotten wind of the death of Maurice Hines and were mulling some sort of comment on the sad event (and–Ye Gods–its 20 years since we lost Gregory) than the news arrived t…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:54AMPeggy Davis (Mary Margaret Laird, 1899-1931) left behind few fans but many questions when she drove her car off a 600 foot cliff at the age of 31. The Birmingham, Alabama native had been sin…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:48AMToday’s post concerns Everett Marshall (1901-1965) the star of musicals, not Everett Marshall the professional wrestler, who was almost exactly the same age. Originally from Lawrence, Mass…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:32AMSaturday, December 30, 2023
The stage and screen couple of Joe Bologna (1934-2017) and Renée Taylor (Renée Adorée Wexler, b. 1933) are top of mind at the moment, as they were in the movie Tango Shalom (2021) with my…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:36PMFriday, December 29, 2023
Ya see what I did there? 23 — it’s just like the chromosomes! As we are wont to do this time of year, we take a look back on what we’ve accomplished during the preceding twelvemonth. D…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:06PMDecember 29 was the birthday of the late Mary Tyler Moore (1936-2017). When Moore passed away (yipes, seven years ago) I dashed off a tribute that was grief-stricken and glowing but a little…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:12PMThursday, December 28, 2023
Today marks the 100th anniversary of Woodrow Wilson’s last birthday (he passed away in February, 1924). We’ve previously done posts on Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Lincoln, Teddy Roosev…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:36AMWednesday, December 27, 2023
Very sad to be the bearer of the news that Tommy Smothers has left us at the age of 86. He embodied so much that I love. Springing out of the culture of the folk music revival of the ’50s …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:18PMA salute today to German-Jewish comedic actor Sig Arno (Siegfried Aron, 1895-1975). Originally from Hamburg, Arno started out as a stage comedian and began appearing in silent films as early…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:02AMTuesday, December 26, 2023
Released this day in 1973: William Peter Blatty‘s The Exorcist, directed by William Friedkin. An unholy spectacle for Boxing Day! I was 8 when this groundbreaking movie came out; it’s di…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:02AMMonday, December 25, 2023
The Sting was released this day in 1973 — 50 years ago. I had just turned 8 when the film came out. It was definitely one of the key films in that heavy period of Hollywood nostalgia of th…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:24AMEarle Foxe (1891-1873) made his mark in two completely different callings. Originally from Oxford, Ohio, he followed his older cousin Robert T. Haines into the acting trade, gaining his firs…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:18AM 
