Ben Model and Steve Massa have announced the exciting news that they are working on a new DVD compilation of film starring the great silent screen comedienne Alice Howell, whom we wrote abou…
FOLSOM AT FIFTY/ Thursday, May 3, 7:30pm (running time: 45 minutes)/ Dixon Place/ 161A Chrystie Street, NYC/ FREE! Johnny Cash‘s classic 1968 live album At Folsom Pri…
This post has been a long time coming. I’ve blogged about dozens of aspects of, and artists involved with, my favorite movie The Wizard of Oz (1939), and I mention it in my book No …
I’ve been holding this post on Don the Talking Dog so it could coincide with the new edition of Smithsonian, which features an article on same in which I am quoted. The canine prodigy …
Born this day, Marceline Day (Marceline Newlin, 1906-2000). Originally from Colorado Springs, and raised in Salt Lake City and Venice, California, Marceline Day was the younger sister of Ali…
It’s been several years in the making but the horror film I’m in, The Moose Head Over the Mantel, by Inappropriate Films is having its first public NYC screening on April 26. Ove…
April 22 is the natal day of television magnate Aaron Spelling (1923-2006). Because I have already written about some of his productions, and plan to write about others, it made sense to das…
No, not THAT member! Get your mind out of the gutter! A member is any constituent part of a whole. The noun applies to all limbs and natural protuberances on any creature, and today I regret…
There are many ways to skin a cat. Edward Albert Heimberger’s (1906-2005) pathway to the top in show business was unconventional but it got him there. The kid who would become “E…
Brooklyn-born singer and songwriter Walter Van Brunt (1892-1971), a.k.a. Walter Scanlan, a.k.a. Walter Scanlon came into the world this day. Van Brunt discovered the joy of singing as a boy …
Belle Bennett (1891-1932) was born of an April 22, to Minnesota circus owner William J.C. “Billy” Bennett and his wife Hazel. Part of her childhood was spent in a convent, part w…
Mabel Barrison (Eva Farrance, 1882-1912) was born on this day. (Her genuine name being Farrance, she was clearly no relation to the notorious Barrison Sisters, perpetrators of the legendary …
I had several reasons for wanting to see Little Pink House, which opens today in seven cities. One is that I love Catherine Keener. The other is that it is set in, and was shot in, New Londo…
Gregory Ratoff (Grigory Vasilyevich Ratner, ca. 1893-1960) was a rarity in Hollywood: equally accomplished as both an actor and director, and also an occasional producer. He also acted and d…
Lottie Briscoe (1893-1950), an interesting figure of stage, screen and vaudeville, was born on this day. She joins our Lotta Lotties: Lottie Gilson and Lottie Collins, not to mention Lotta C…
Well, I couldn’t let the anniversary of the San Francisco Earthquake (112 years ago today) pass without brief word of praise about The Confession of Lily Dare, Charles Busch’s ne…
I have my own unique tickler system that tells me whom to write about every day. Today, when I saw “Noble Johnson” (1881-1978), I was like, “Surely I have already written a…
We would be remiss in our duties were we not to inform you that one of vaudeville’s greatest stars Nora Bayes is getting some long overdue tribute at Woodlawn Cemetery this Saturday, A…
April 17 was the natal day of the late Wayne Rogers, whom we eulogized here upon his passing a couple of years ago. I thought today would be a good occasion to straighten out a little sitcom…
In April 1988, the first professional production of a Trav S.D. play occurred. The photo above is only tangentially relevant — it’s the only pic I could find that was relatively …
Screen comedienne Fay Holderness (nee MacMurray, 1881-1963) came into the world on April 16. Her brother, musician Frederick MacMurray, Sr. was the father of movie and tv star Fred MacMurray…
Elizabeth Montgomery (1993-1995), born on April 15, that unlucky calendar date when the Titanic Sank and Abraham Lincoln succumbed to his gunshot wounds. I suppose it’s a bias but I…
Czech American director Milos Forman died today at the age of 86. The Eastern Bloc, much as Nazi Germany had before it, enriched American culture by causing its great artists to flee to our …
A tribute today to the great character actor Rod Steiger (1925-2002). One of the most famous proponents and exponents of the so-called Method, there is a wonderful surprise in the late actor…
The late Don Adams (Donald James Yarmy, 1923-2005) was born on this day. I have blogged about him before, very purposefully NOT writing much about his most famous vehicle on that occasion, i…