Wednesday, December 27, 2023
A 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 08:18AMSunday, December 24, 2023
Today marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of George Martin Lane (1823-1897), a Harvard Latin Scholar who wound up playing an unlikely and small role in pop culture. A Boston native, Lan…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:32AMSaturday, December 23, 2023
As we reported back on St. Nicholas Day, today marks the 200th anniversary of the first publication of the Clement Clarke Moore poem A Visit from St, Nicholas, or ‘Twas the Night Before …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:48AMThe above photo depicts Harry Shearer (b. 1943) as I first became aware of him, as a cast member of Saturday Night Live, as a replacement for the void left by John Belushi when he left to be…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:42AMWe are delighted to be in receipt of the 11th hour news that New York’s Film Forum will be presenting Charlie Chaplin features all week, beginning today with a newly restored print of A Wo…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:36AMFriday, December 22, 2023
December 22, 1949 is a cherished date, or ought to be, for fans of classic comedy, vaudeville, and Buster Keaton. It was on that date that Buster made his television debut on The Ed Wynn Sho…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:32AMDecember 21 is the birthday of talk tv pioneer Phil Donahue (b.1935). How perfect that this guy with the wintery hair was born of a winter solstice. This won’t be a celebration, per se, be…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:18AMThursday, December 21, 2023
We are delighted to discover this morning that, in addition to being the Winter Solstice, December 21 was the birthday of British author Anthony Powell (1905-2000). I first learned of this a…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:24AMWednesday, December 20, 2023
What follows was adapted from a talk I cooked up in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the epic comedy movie It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (November 7) as well as the centennial anni…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:06PMAnd how will YOU be celebrating the centennial of the birth of writer/director/ producer Rod Amateau (1923-2003)? If you’re like most people, finding out who he was! I am quite certain I b…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:42AMTuesday, December 19, 2023
Yes, it’s true: Jean Genet (1910-1986) shared a birthday with Edith Piaf and Barbette! Now, that’s a three-way I’d watch through any peephole! Genet was a 20th century literary giant, …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:18PMMonday, December 18, 2023
That’s right! Thomas Abthorpe Cooper (1775-1849). Wanna make something of it? Most people (or many people) would guess Edwin Forrest, but he was just America’s first native-born stage st…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:42PMIf you’re like me, you are apt to mix up Gladys Cooper (1888-1971) with Alice Cooper, and, folks, don’t do that. They had very different acts. Most Americans know Cooper for her Hollywoo…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:42PMSunday, December 17, 2023
As it happens today (December 17) is International Day to End Violence to Sex Workers. I mention this more to marvel at the synchronicity than to imply that Filthy Lucre, Jonny Porkpie’s b…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:12PMJust a brief squib to mark the 130th anniversary of the birth of the great German stage director Erwin Piscator (1893-1966). Along with his sometime colleague Bertolt Brecht, Piscator was on…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:54AMA look today at the much-neglected progressive Southern author Erskine Caldwell (1903-1987), born 120 years ago today. Caldwell was decidedly not neglected in his own time; that’s the whol…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:54AMSaturday, December 16, 2023
A proper post today on Sir Noël Coward (1899-1973), our previous one being of the perfunctory sort from the early days of the blog when I was much less ambitious about the sort of things I …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:02AMFriday, December 15, 2023
I’ve been sitting on this news impatiently for months and am so glad to have the greenlight to leak it (with the aid of Noah Diamond’s premium artwork): May 2024 will see a bright, shiny…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:18PM1923 was a crucial year in the life of young John Henry Hammond II (1910-1987). That was the year the precocious young lad went on a family trip to London and saw the all-black show From Dix…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:54AMThursday, December 14, 2023
You heard it right, folks! This may be the only blog on the planet that has TWO posts about tv comedian Morey Amsterdam (the previous one is here) and we’ve even got a third one planned! W…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:42PMJust got the message in my in-box that this is the last week of shows at the Kraine Theatre, at least under the management it has known for the past however-many years. I’ve known the day …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:42PMOn this day in 1934 Hal Roach released his deeply twisted Christmas classic Babes in Toyland a.k.a. March of the Wooden Soldiers starring Laurel and Hardy et al. It’s the day of the year w…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:33PMDecember 14 was the original air date of the first remake of the holiday classic Miracle on 34th Street in 1955. Oddly, we learn that the release date of the original 1947 was in June, and w…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:18AMWednesday, December 13, 2023
Among those few who’ve even heard the name Larry Parks (1914-1975) there is a tendency to know just two or three things: that he made a big splashed playing Al Jolson in The Jolson Story …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:36AMJust got the unhappy news that Andre Braugher (b. 1962) has passed away at the young age of 61. News report are vague as to cause, mentioning only a “brief illness”. Typically we write a…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:54AMTuesday, December 12, 2023
I raved my my spiritual soul sister Kathy Biehl’s previous Eat, Drink and Be Wary here two and a half years ago. And as it happens, my own next book release won’t be until early ’24, s…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:48AMMultiple benchmarks go toward justifying today’s spotlight on the late Bob Barker (1923-2023). He was born 100 years ago ago today; he passed away back in August, just a couple of months s…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:42AMI’ve done posts on Young Frank and Old Frank, but not one yet on Middle Frank, which is arguably the peak of his art. To be accurate, Late-Middle Frank is probably the real peak. Early-Mid…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:36AM 
