11,725 stories by "Trav S.D."
I was so grateful Kelly “Killy” Dwyer flushed me out of my hiding place yesterday to come see the last performance of her work Not Show Business in the Frigid Festival at Under S…
Tonight on TCM at 10:15pm (EST): a wonderful, obscure oddity from 1973:Â The Last of Sheila. This all-star murder mystery was co-written by no less than Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkin…
Today is the birthday of stage and screen Sir Rex Harrison (Reginald Harrison, 1908-1990). It’s safe to say that Harrison was the first serious English actor with whom I had any …
Today is the birthday of the influential illustrator Howard Pyle (1853-1911). A mutual love of illustration was one of the first things that brought my wife and I together — our second…
Today is the birthday of George Shelton (1884-1971), best remembered (when at all) as one of the panelists on the popular radio show It Pays to Be Ignorant. Born on New York’s Lo…
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 14 of them (all on the eastern seaboard or adjacent), and I …
Today is the birthday of dashing stage and screen actor Edmund Lowe (1890-1971). The son of a California judge, Lowe considered careers in the ministry and the law before his love of languag…
Filed under: BROOKLYN, Indie Theatre, PLUGS Tagged: Brick Theater, BROOKLYN, Greg Kotis, Lunchtime, Theater of the Apes
Today is the birthday of the pathbreaking Ruby Dandridge (Ruby Jean Butler, 1900-1987). Dandridge was one of the few “pushy stage mothers” of famous performing children to achiev…
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 14 of them (all on the eastern seaboard or adjacent), and I …
March is Women’s History Month. How I wish it could be an opportunity to celebrate America’s first female President this year, instead of bemoaning a President who represents the…
Filed under: Buster Keaton, Comedians, Comedy, Hollywood (History), Movies, PLUGS, Silent Film, Travel/ Tourism Tagged: Buster Keaton, Niles Essanay Film Museum, silent comedy
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 14 of them (all on the eastern seaboard or adjacent), and I …
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 14 of them (all on the eastern seaboard or adjacent), and I …
Today is the birthday of the great Zero Mostel (1915-1977). It would be par for the course that such an eccentric actor and performer as Mostel would also have a highly idiosyncratic career …
On Feb. 26, 1917, exactly 100 years ago, The Original Dixieland Jass Band (ODJB) made the first-ever commercial jazz recording,”Livery Stable Blues,” for the Victor Talkin…
Today is the birthday of the great Romantic novelist, playwright, essayist, and political figure Victor Hugo (1802-1885). I have many future posts within me about this great artist; one unav…
Well, this is more of a headline that a blogpost, I’m afraid. It seemed like a nice heretical stunt until I tried to draw up the list. I started with ten, and then realized I’d b…
Filed under: BROOKLYN, Coney Island, Dime Museum and Side Show, PLUGS, SOCIAL EVENTS Tagged: BROOKLYN, Coney Island USA, Coral Jubilee, Mermaid Parade, Spring Gala
February 25 is International Commedia dell’Arte Day! Commedia is the root of everything, and I’m thinking it’s no accident the planners hold this annual event so close to C…
I saw this bar graph on social media this morning and found it very telling. It explains a lot. Â The chart shows Democrats and Republicans differing wildly in their perceptions of whether…
In recent days we’ve been seeing footage of Town Hall meetings across the country as congresspeople meet with their constituents to hear what they have to say about our first month of …
In November, 2016 America elected a reality television star and periodically bankrupt heir to a real estate fortune to the most powerful office in the world, purportedly on the strength of h…
No one is happier than this commentator to see actor/director Charles Lane re-emerging from wherever he’s been for the past 20 years. Lane’s day in the sun was 1989-1993, when he…
There’s only one way to spend Presidents Day in the age of Drumpf — that’s by rejecting the present office holder utterly and vociferously, and refusing to include him in a…
