11,717 stories by "Trav S.D."
A few jottings on Virginia Valli (Virginia McSweeney, 1895-1968), a star of the silent era and the first couple of years of talkies. Today she is most notable for co-starring with Carmelita …
Having just got the news of Phil Spector's death, and realizing that 2021 will mark the 20th year since George Harrison's passing, and that we JUST passed the 50th anniversary of the release…
Applause this morning for American stage star Edna Wallace Hopper (Edna Margaret Augusta Wallace, 1872-1959). The San Francisco native started out in vaudeville and with stock companies, ori…
British born William Northcroft (1863-1935) went by Wilfred North as a man of the stage, and Wilfrid North as an actor and director in films. Of his early years little is known but between 1…
The Father of Modern Comedy, Molière (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, 1622-1673) was baptized of a January 15, though probably born a day or more earlier. His professional name is likely derived fr…
Today we doff our top hat to circus "fat lady" Ida Williams, born Columbus Ohio, circa 1860s. Ida's maximum weight was in the neighborhood of 566 lbs. She is known to have performed from the…
Like millions of people I'll bet, I first knew Marjoe Gortner (b. 1944) from his key role in the 1974 blockbuster Earthquake. There are many remarkable, memorable things about this landmark …
If there hadn't been a guy named Harry Bernard (1878-1940), I might have invented one, for his handle combined the first names of Harry Langdon, Harry Gribbon, Harry Richman, Harry Jolson, H…
We promise we aren't going through a "Jayne Mansfield's husbands" phase; it's just that Matt Cimber's birthday falls less than a week after Mickey Hargitay's. And that's the end of the strea…
I've got little biographical info on Lloyd French (1900-1950) " I just know that he was front and center of classic comedy shorts during the period of their peak. Because of the similarity o…
Tribute today to the great star Red Barry (1912-80). That opening sentence is plainer than a lot of others might have made it, but I find myself unwilling to pigeonhole this actor. You might…
At least you do if you're my age. Beatrice Colen (1948-1999) was a ubiquitous character actress of the 1970s. This was my peak TV watching time as a child, so I was a big fan of her, though …
A few scraps about the mysterious impresario whom many writers in exasperated defeat refer to simply as "Wood". What follows are the theatricaln activities of two, possibly more, men. The di…
Another very sad Covid casualty, friends. It was a rumor, now it's official. Halloween Adventure, that indispensible East Village costume emporium will be closing. With no exaggeration, ther…
55 years ago today (January 8, 1966) saw the U.S. premiere of Samuel Beckett's Film starring Buster Keaton. Film is one of those projects that is known and discussed by more people than have…
A few words today about a cool figure from Indian cinema today, my first post out of over 6,000 to visit that topic. It concerns Indian film star Fearless Nadia (Mary Ann Evans, 1908-1996). …
Alexander Gray (1891-1976) was a musical star for over 20 years and he didn't even set out to be one. From rural Pennsylvania, Gray had worked a bewilderingly diverse number of jobs before g…
Little Person Sophia Schultz was working on a triple pitch: she could bill herself as a minutely statured, bearded fat lady. The last two are of course cultivated attributes, and truth to te…
The jubilant and historic news of the election of Georgia's first black Senator coincides nicely with the birthday of Georgia-born Harry Pace (1884-1943), founder of Black Swan Records, and …
Rarely has there been such perfect casting as Arnold Schwarzenegger playing the part of Mickey Hargitay in The Jayne Mansfield Story (1980). It was Hungarian born bodybuilder-turned-actor Mi…
I first became aware of Harold Waldridge (1900-1957) from the 1932 comedy The Heart of New York, in which Waldridge and Ruth Hall play George Sidney's fun-loving, bratty teenage kids. This m…
No, I am not obsessed with Pamela Sue Martin (b. 1953). I am, however, obsessed with The Poseidon Adventure (1972), the first movie I ever saw in a cinema, and as it happens, she is the last…
Anyone who knows their beans knows that the title of this post comes from Shampoo (1975). Warren Beatty offers this information to a bank manager in the hopes it will help him to secure a bu…
It is emblematic of our age that I learn the news of Gerry Marsden's death, not from a newswire, not from television or radio, not from the New York Times, but from Sir Paul McCartney. He ju…
Today we pay homage to the great American cultural critic Gilbert Seldes (1893-1970). Odd that today his daughter, actress Marian Seldes is probably better known and remembered " Seldes the …
