11,717 stories by "Trav S.D."
My pathway in to the fascinating career of Frankie Darro (Frank Johnson Jr, 1917-1976) came from learning that he had provided the voice of the bad influence/juvenile delinquent/ incipient a…
The subject of this post is not to claim that Jane Fonda (b. 1937) has ever been ha-ha-hilarious. I would never make the assertion that comedy is Fonda's strong suit, but it is an interestin…
We are amused to to observe that tenor Dennis Morgan (1908-1994) was typecast as an Irishman in such movies as The Fighting 69th (1940), Three Cheers for the Irish (1940), and My Wild Irish …
We pause now to appreciate the lovely, luminous silver screen star Irene Dunne (1898-1990). When we remember Dunne as Magnolia in the 1936 version of Show Boat, it feels significant to learn…
Beware when people in show biz (or writers about show biz) describe anyone as the first anything. Shirley Chambers (1913-2011) is often described as the first "Dumb Blonde", but, come now, t…
It is pretty much universally agreed upon that Charlotte Shelby (Lily Pearl Miles, 1877-1957) was a grasping, ambitious and domineering stage mother. What's more controversial is the belief …
Re-watching Bob Fosse's Lenny Bruce bio-pic Lenny (1974) the other day reminded us of the existence of Gary Morton (Morton Goldaper, 1924-1999). Morton had a supporting role in the movie and…
It happens more often than not " I go to work on a post about someone in show business, and the tunnel leads to a rabbit warren of similary accomplished relatives and/or collaborators. Thus …
My feelings about the Farrelly Brothers are…complicated. My principal reason for caring about them at all is that they are from my home state of Rhode Island, and represent it in their mov…
Like the heroes and heroines in our beloved silent melodramas and comedies, the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum has been valiantly holding the fort these last few months, surviving a pandem…
It's entirely possible that we will someday to do a post on contemporary Scottish actress Rose Leslie of Game of Thrones and The Good Fight, but first things first, and today is not the day.…
People just a little bit older than me have a much different picture in their heads of Anna Marie "Patty" Duke (1946-2016) than I do. When I first knew her, she was billed as Patty Duke Asti…
Most show biz buffs know one important thing about June Taylor (1917-2004): that she was the choreographer and dance captain of Jackie Gleason's various variety shows from 1950 through 1973.…
The Great Nicola (William Mozart MacNicol, 1880-1946) was a third generation Scottish magician, born in Burlington, Iowa, the son of immigrant John MacNicol, who billed himself as Nicoli, an…
Attention paid today to stage and screen star Dan Dailey (1915-1978). No relation apparently to earlier star Dan Daly, but like his differently spelled namesake, Dailey performed in minstrel…
Given that my ordinary beat is old time performers, I learned about Elyse Knox (Elsie Kornbrath, 1917-2012) the wrong way 'round. One of her daughters married Ricky Nelson and gave birth to …
Having had many occasions to mention Van Heflin (Emmett Evan Heflin Jr, (1908-1971) on this blog, we shine a lantern upon him on this his natal day. My first Heflin film was George Stevens' …
The above photo is of Dan Daly, most famous of six Daly siblings hailing from Revere, Massachusetts. It's an Irish name, and a common one, although this brood seems to be unrelated to either…
The media is abuzz today with the sad news that the 21 Club is the latest victim of Covid-19. Staff are to be laid off as of March, and there are no plans to reopen for the foreseeable futur…
Some readers may remember that back in mid-2016, I contributed to the Bowery Alliance of Neighbors' tremendous "Windows on the Bowery" project, which placed descriptive historical placards i…
Like something from out of one of his films, Luis Antonio Dámaso de Alonso (1905-1994) was the son and grandson of bullfighters who was forced to flee an invasion of his native Chihuahua,…
Your average conscientious classic movie buff knows Victor McLaglen (1886-1958) as a key member of John Ford's stock company (in particular the Cavalry Trilogy and The Quiet Man, though much…
Today we pay homage to the late Kirk Douglas with a look at some of his westerns. Funny to think of a a Jewish ragman's son from New York faring so well in oaters, but he did. It may not be …
I am old enough to have seen my first Douglas Fairbanks Jr (1909-2000) movie in a cinema on its first release; it was Ghost Story (1981), which also had Melvyn Douglas, Fred Astaire, and Joh…
An appreciation today for character actor John Qualen (Johan Mandt Kvalen, 1899-1987). Qualen is best known for playing Scandinavians in films, although he played a wide variety of character…
