11,708 stories by "Trav S.D."
April 10, 1963 marked the debut of the legendary San Francisco (and later, also L.A.) based improv comedy troupe The Committee. Formed by Second City alum Alan Myerson (b. 1940) and others, …
Today marks the 100th birthday of actress and performer Jane Kean (1923-2013), who performed for many years in a two-act with her sister Betty Kean (1914-1986). Fortuitously, it also happens…
It's National Zoo Lovers Day by someone's decree, so we thought it would be a good idea for a look in brevis at a topic we have touched on lightly before, the public exhibition of animals. O…
Most lovers of movie history know the name Eadweard Muybridge (Edward Muggeridge, 1830-1904); he's the eccentric English gent who invented a form of proto-cinema in the late 1870s, using tha…
Having treated much of moveable feasts lately, including posts on Santa Claus/Christmas and April Fool's Day and Carnival, it would seem to be indicated that one on the Pagan origins of East…
I couldn't let International Romani Day pass this year without adding a piece to our recent spate of posts about the roots of theatre and the variety arts. I'm pretty sure most folks don't k…
I haven't looked into it but surely someone has done a book or an essay or a paper on the Big Five of New Hollywood: (Coppola, Lucas, Spielberg, Scorsese, and De Palma). They're fascinating …
If you're like me, you can't read the name William Jefferson (1876-1946) without your brain involuntarily supplying "Clinton" after it. It's a conditioned response, it can't be helped. But t…
I was inspired to write this post by Showtime's excellent 4 part documentary series Spector (2022). The title is a little bit of a distortion, if an understandable one; one of the series' pr…
As often happens, I became aware of African American performer and impresario Leon Claxton (1902-67) over the course of putting together my recent post on the Royal American Shows. Claxton r…
Born 150 years ago today, French chanteuse Mistinguett (Jeanne Florentine Bourgeois, 1873-1956). The daughter of Paris laborers, Mistinguett (originally Miss Tinguette) initially sang while …
Great News! My writing for Chelsea Community News (and that of distinguished colleagues like Michael Musto, Scott Stiffler, and Charli Battersby) just won an honorable mention at the New Yor…
Well, I was feeling down yesterday but now I am up again in rather a major way (and not just because of a certain historical event happening today in a criminal court in Manhattan). I'd sche…
International Tap Dance Forum Tuesday, April 11, 2023 (10am -12noon EST & 9pm " 10pm EST) ATDF Artistic Director Tony Waag reconvenes a meeting of International Tap Artists, teachers and…
Great news for fans of classic comedy: in honor of the centennial anniversary of the release of Safety Last (1923), Criterion will be showcasing now fewer than 42 of Harold Lloyd's comedies …
Yes, 19th century actor John E. Owens (1823-1886) was born 200 years ago on this day. Never heard of him? That's alright, neither had I until a few weeks ago when a good friend to this blog …
Happy New Year! and April Fools! I don't mean the opening salutation as an April Fool's Day joke. Maybe you'd better sit down for this, because it's the truth and not a prank, and it's compl…
Born this day 80 years ago, Ronald "Christopher" Walken (b. 1943). Pop culture has done Walken a disservice, I think, by making him a sort of pop culture punchline, largely due to impression…
Happy National Doctors Day! In keeping with our usual modus operandi, we observe this celebratory day less by honoring the actual medical heroes themselves than their representation in vaude…
Shame on me for never thinking of such a post before, but the 88th day of the year is always World Piano Day! So here's a post linking to you to many of the folks we've written about who are…
Always hold out for something better, that's today's lesson. I had four potential performing artists flagged whom I might have written about this morning but I could work up an enthusiasm fo…
Hard to believe but my second little (literally) baby is now a tween! Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube was released ten years ago today, on March 2…
While researching my upcoming book on television variety I came upon the interesting fact, related by that inveterate show biz scribe Joe Laurie, that as an early TV experiment, 20th Century…
The Fox Sisters were not a vaudeville sister act, nor were they related to vaudeville/stage performers like Harry Fox, George L. Fox, Will H. Fox, Imro Fox, Joe Fox, Della Fox, or The Foxy G…
March 27 is World Theatre Day and it finds me in a certain place at the moment, gathering a lot of key ideas I keep coming back to over the years, and rearticulating them. I thought it would…
