11,725 stories by "Trav S.D."
I believe The Wizard of Oz put it best: “A heart is judged not by not much how you love, but by how much you are loved by others.” The phrase never made a lot of sense to me unti…
One of the questions I have been frequently asked in the context of having written No Applause is “Did you have relatives in vaudeville?” and my usual answer is along the lines o…
To be born in the modern age is to discover many of the great figures of past ages backwards. We encounter them by reputation or in classrooms and we usually are introduced to them at their …
Time once again to celebrate the birthday of Leonard “Chico” Marx (1887-1961). Today seems to me an appropriate time to float a notion I came up with the other day, a way of look…
Rock in Peace, Chuck Berry! I have little to add to the tribute I wrote in 2010, except 90 is a damn good run, Rudolph. One good measure of the value of a songwriter is the number and qualit…
Born on this date in 1863: Charles Chaplin the Elder: the father of his better known namesake, comedian and movie star Charlie Chaplin. It’s not as well known today that in his time th…
March 17 isn’t just St. Patrick’s Day; it also happens to be the birthday of Frank Buck (1884-1950). What an interesting American character! Born and raised in Texas, Buck sta…
Filed under: Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: Bingo-a-Go-Go, Dandy Dillinger, DJ La Linda, Ethyl's
This new series of posts came out of the realization that I have relatives and roots in all 50 U.S. states. My ancestors lived in 13 of them (all on the eastern seaboard or adjacent), and I …
On March 14, 1913, New York’s Princess Theatre opened for business. Aside from a couple of exceptions (e.g., the Palace, Niblo’s Garden) we don’t typically write about spec…
We all associate Coney Island with summer (it’s a beach and amusement park after all), but it may be a lesser known fact that there’s stuff happening at Coney Island USA all thro…
Originally posted on Silent-ology: There is much to love about Georges Méliès. He was a technical wizard, a delightful performer, and an artist whose gorgeous work can still inspire awe. �…
Today’s a good a day as any to tell you about Albert Carroll, an extraordinarily talented and well-known guy in his day to have become so obscure in ours. Carroll was a Broadway act…
Filed under: Frenchy, PLUGS, Singers Tagged: cabaret, French, Gay Marshall, Gay's Paree, Pangea, singer
Billie “Buckwheat” Thomas was born on this day in 1931. Thomas was all of three years old when he began to appear in Hal Roach’s Our Gang (Little Rascals)Â comedy shorts …
Filed under: Broadway, PLUGS, Television Tagged: Alfred Molina, Broadway HD, BroadwayHD, Eugene O'Neill, Long Day's Journey, streaming
Filed under: Contemporary Variety, Magicians/ Mind Readers/ Quick Change Tagged: Cheating Death, magic, Nelson Lugo, The Tank
Tomorrow, March 11, 2017 at 2:30pm, at Lincoln Center Library, the Silent Clowns Film Series will present the hilarious Raymond Griffith feature Hands Up! (1926). Griffith’s stoc…
A few tidbits on Marie Wallace (1895-1961),whom I came across in Marjorie Farnsworth’s Ziegfeld Follies book. She was born in Massachusetts to parents who’d emigrated from Ire…
Today is the birthday of Louise Beavers (1902-1962). Originally from Cincinnati, Beavers moved to the Los Angeles area with her family at age 11. Her mother was a singing instructor. Through…
Someone to celebrate on International Women’s Day, my 6th cousin 3x removed Christine Ladd-Franklin (1847-1930)…not exactly a household name, which is the very point in tellin…
Filed under: CULTURE & POLITICS, Protests, Women Tagged: protest, rally, Washington Square Park, Women's Strike
Today is the anniversary of the attack by police thugs on protesters at the first march in Selma, Alabama in 1965. The town of Selma was founded by my 6th great uncle. I am related by marria…
The three words in the title of this post may SOUND like Speakeasy passwords, but they all came together in a semblance of sense yesterday. The fabled Algonquin Hotel acquired a couple of…
Today is the birthday of Guy Kibbee (1882-1956). Â Character actor Kibbee became a professional performer at age 13 in his native El Paso, wracking up nearly 35 years of stage experience o…
