11,718 stories by "Trav S.D."
Just got the memo that off-off-Broadway lioness Edith O'Hara has passed at age 103! I may do a longer encomium but have my hands full today. til then there's this piece I wrote about her and…
Will Rogers fans may know the name of influential Wild West showman Colonel Zack Mulhall (Zachariah P. Vanderveer, 1847-1923) " he's the gent who gave Rogers his start in show business. He's…
Some obligatory props today for classic comedy co-writer and Colum alum Morris "Morry" Ryskind (1895-1985). Ryskind has the same birthday as Margaret Dumont, who spoke many of his words on s…
Today, an overdue look at African American stage and screen star Rex Ingram (1895-1969). Ingram grew up in Cairo, Illinois, the son of a worker on the riverboat Robert E. Lee. He was the fir…
Today we exhume Boston Blackie " "an enemy to those who make him an enemy, friend to those who have no friend." I first became aware of this enigmatic fictional character in 2006 when we pre…
We've mentioned the Big Apple Circus nearly 50 times on this blog, and have reviewed several editions of the show but have not had as yet given its story a dedicated post. I owe much to the …
As a native Rhode Islander it gives me special pride today to give attention to "Colonel" Reuben Allen Steere (1838-1915). Born in Glocester, RI, Steere stood 44 inches in adulthood, and wei…
Tribute today to the late Gary Austin (1941-2017), founder of the L.A. improv and sketch comedy company and school known as The Groundlings. Oklahoma-born Austin was a member of the San Fran…
Released October 18, 1920: The Saphead. The Saphead is a bit of an anomaly in the career of Buster Keaton " though a major release and a big step in his career, most of his fans don't consid…
From 2006 notebook entries. I've evolved somewhat in the decade and a half since then in some areas, but I publish this mostly unedited, as I think there's more to be gleaned from full-throa…
A brief shout-out for B movie actor Robert Lowery (Robert Lowery Hanks, 1913-1971). Missouri-born Hanks was reportedly related to Nancy Hanks, Abraham Lincoln's mother. His father was a Kans…
My previous apartment was about a ten minute walk from the Quaker Cemetery in Prospect Park which contains the last remains of Montgomery Clift (1920-1966). Double damn the exile that preven…
A wink and a nod to stage and screen character actress Sarah Padden (1881-1967). Half English/ half Irish, Padden immigrated to the U.S. as a child. During her stage career she supported Oti…
This year, the landmark 1980 comedy Airplane! turned 40; having referenced that film and its influential creators many a time on this blog, this seems an appropriate time to shine a spotligh…
Rex Bell (George Francis Beldam, 1903-1962) was one of the last silent movie cowboys and the husband of one of Hollywood's biggest stars, but almost certainly his most significant life's wor…
Before we get to the best known acting credit of Jan Miner (1917-2004), I think it advisable to paint a broader picture of the complete artist. A Boston native, Miner studied with Lee Strasb…
Some props this morning for Oscar winning character actress Jane Darwell (Patti Woodard or Woodward, 1879-1967). Stout, sturdy Darwell was a familiar face on screens for a half century in ro…
Fans of The Masked Singer may be interested to know that the concept is nearly a century old. Joseph M. White (1891-1959) began appearing on radio as "The Silver Masked Tenor" in 1923 on sta…
Gertrude Howard (1892-1934) is best known today for playing Mae West's maid Beulah in I'm No Angel (1933), sadly one of her last films. Howard had been in movies since 1925, starting with th…
I've never been able to unsee Robert Walker (1918-1951) as a big creep after firm seeing him in Strangers on a Train (1951). It was his penultimate film, though. Theoretically he's the boy-n…
Indiana born Victor Potel (1889-1947) was a 21 year old kid when he started out at Chicago based Essanay studios in 1910. By the time the sun set on his career he was in nearly 450 films. Po…
Lowell Sherman (1888-1934) cut a rare figure in show business, both an actor and a director of both stage and screen. A third generation he went from working with David Belasco to D.W. Griff…
Missouri native Marian or Marion Shockley (1911-1981, her name was spelled both ways professionally) was studying to be a history teacher when a lucky audition sent her down the primrose pat…
If things had gone another way, today John Lennon would be turning 80 years old today; we are also coming up on the 40th anniversary of his murder. Shortly we will know a post-Lennon world l…
There is much to savor about the work stage and screen director Rouben Mamoulian (1897-1987). Though Mamoulian directed fewer than a dozen and a half Hollywood films, several are classics or…
