11,715 stories by "Trav S.D."
Okay, stay with me, now: as Karl Dane is to George Arthur, so is Kit Guard to Al Cooke. Right now you're probably making a face like Guard (above) but I assure you there is a sense to this c…
A few words this morning on the colorful and worthy topic of Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Jane Cochran, 1864-1922). Bly was an investigative journalist who became a pop culture phenonemon on accoun…
Today is International Firefighters Day as well as the anniversary of Paris's terrible fire at Le Bazar de la Charité. It is fitting that we show firefighters appreciation and respect. H…
Ventriloquists frequently change their dummies, but here's a rare case of a dummy getting a new ventriloquist. Terri Rogers (born Ivan Southgate, 1937-1999) started out with a music hall ven…
We've already touched on various aspects of the career of Bing Crosby (1903-77) here, including posts on his early years with Paul Whiteman and the Rhythm Boys. his cinematic team-up with Bo…
Quite recently I watched an old 1980 Love Boat episode that shocked me by containing a performance by Walter Slezak (1902-1983). Those who remember him from Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat (1944…
Our main interest in actor Jack La Rue (Gaspare Biondolillo, 1902-1984) is in his association with Mae West. He was in Mae's historic Broadway production Diamond LIl (1928) which later becam…
I am that rare person who's not a big fan of Pete Seeger as a performer (1919-2014). I prefer my folksingers more rough-hewn and genuinely working class. And the gentle, soft-spoken, educate…
We'll stipulate that Brian Aherne (William Brian de Lacy Aherne, 1902-1986) was one of the more non-descript members of Hollywood's British colony during the classic studio years. We have st…
There is everything to love about Calamity Jane (Martha Jane Cannary, 1852-1903) and she has something for everybody. Frontier figure and drag king; teller of tall tales and participant in m…
May 1 is traditionally International Workers' Day in much of the world. What better way to observe it than with the release of Edward Einhorn's three part radio adaptation of Jack London's 1…
Loking to expand your ventriloquial library beyond Rick MItchell's Ventriloquism book (for which we wrote the introduction) and the great how-to classics by the likes of the Great Lester, Ed…
Prince Kar-mi, or simply Kar-mi, or Karmi, is one to add to our list of faux South Asians in the variety arts, for he was really Joseph Bryant Hallworth (1872-1956) of Chelsea, Massachusetts…
Some friends were asking about this just the other day, so I'm very excited to be able to share the news that Slate critic Dana Steven's upcoming book Camera Man: Buster Keaton, The Dawn of …
For International Dance Day, today we fondly share remembrances of the Dance Liberation Front. 20+ years ago (circa 1999), all of the performers and producers from Surf Reality and Collectiv…
Oh yeah, you know I'm all over this! So excited to announce that today is the release date for Johan Von Sydow's new documentary Tiny Tim: King for a Day. As I wrote here, I am a major leagu…
We have had occasion to mention Bryant Washburn (Franklin Bryant Washburn III, 1889-1963) several times in the past, for he starred in such silent fare as Twenty One (1918) with Gertrude Sel…
A brief introduction, should one be needed, to the life and work of Kitty Kelly (Sue O'Neill, 1902-1968). Standing a mere 4'11" in adulthood, the pint-sized Kelly first enters the documentar…
Guinn "Big Boy" Williams (1899-1962) was a protege of Will Rogers, who bestowed upon him his first movie roles as well as his nickname, which was often employed as his sole billing, and some…
Today we direct your attention to a beautiful eccentric of early television days, Dotty Mack (Dorothy Macaluso, 1929-2019). Mack was a a Cincinnati shop girl and mannequin (live in-store mod…
Well, here's one unexpected positive outcome of the Covid-19 epidemic: for the first time in decades I've seen nearly all of the films nominated in major Oscar categories. This is naturally …
I assumed that I would not like Thomas Vinterberg's Another Round, and at first I didn't. It seemed like it inevitably had to veer into one of two directions: 1) a high-concept, rather unsav…
While it's true that Sara Gilbert of Roseanne and The Connors, and Melissa Gilbert and Jonathan Gilbert of Little House on the Prairie, are important in television history, their grandfather…
The story of Libby Taylor (1902-1961) is often simplified to "she was Mae West's maid; she then played Mae's maid in movies, and used that as a springboard to her own career". But it wasn't …
An eye-opening benchmark, that Ryan O'Neal (b. 1941) is now an octogenarian, for those of us who remember him as the guy in that photo. While many people may know about his performing offspr…
