11,726 stories by "Trav S.D."
Today is the birthday of the great American realist painter Everett Shinn (1876-1953),member of both the Ashcan School and “The Eight”. I discovered this remarkable artist from m…
Today is the birthday of Irene Ware (Irene Catherine Ahlberg, 1910-1993). And what are the “both worlds” of which we speak in our headline? Why, classic horror and chorus girl mu…
The Marx Brothers on Broadway: 1924-1929, An Illustrated lecture by Noah Diamond, sponsored by Zelda Magazine Date: Wednesday, November 30th Time: 7pm Admission: $8 Location: Morbid Anatomy …
 We’ll be blogging about comedian W.C. Fields all through November and December as part of our tribute to the comedian called Fields Fest. For a full list upcoming live Fields Fe…
Today is the birthday of the great Hollywood star Joel McCrea (1905-1990). Today McCrea is a beloved movie star in all genres, and I’ll wager that most of my show biz friends know him …
Over the past few decades the public has come to have a vague, simplistic and inaccurate image of the formerly-universally-beloved W.C. Fields — an image I call “the bobbl…
Though he’s rarely icon-ized this way (he’s usually shown with a top hat or boater and with the bulbous nose of his later years), this photo depicts what W.C. Fields looked like …
Tonight on Turner Classic Movies at 8pm Eastern: a timely screening of an extremely dated thingamajig, the 1964 “comedy” Kisses for My President. (Warning: you’ll alw…
Today is the birthday of William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878). 19th century America would be astounded to know that a man of his standing and eminence could be so swallowed up by time &#…
Today is the birthday of the great Hollywood star Burt Lancaster. The toothy tall one made many films in many genres, but for the sake of focus (and because I already have the notes written …
This new series of posts came out of the stunning realization that I have family in all 50 states. My ancestors lived in 14 of them, all on the eastern seaboard or adjacent, and I have writt…
Last Night’s launch of Fields Fest at the Lambs was a smash success. Thanks to all who helped us put it on and all who came! For information and updates about upcoming Fields Fest even…
I am extremely excited to be taking part in this special theatrical event by Peculiar Works Project. It’s a production of Androboros the first play written and published in Ameri…
Today is the birthday of actress Alice Brady (Mary Rose Brady, 1892-1939). She was the daughter of actor/ producer/ boxing promoter William A. Brady; his position as both a Broadway and movi…
Today is the birthday of character actor Paul Ford (Paul Ford Weaver, 1901-1976). Ford doesn’t easily fit into any of my usual content streams here: he wasn’t in vaudeville ro si…
Today is the birthday of Reginald Venable (1890-1964). Venable was a U.S. naval officer, and later a businessman. How on earth did he come to be in vaudeville? Well, it all has to do with hi…
December 25, 2016 will mark the 70th anniversary of the passing from our plane of the great stage and screen comedian W.C. Fields. To mark the occasion we have organized Fields Fest, a festi…
Today is the birthday of useful character actor Edward Van Sloan (1882-1964). If only he’d been born a few hours earlier! He’d fit so neatly into all our October Halloween-Mon…
Just a little photo essay of Jack O’Lanterns I saw just now at the brownstones around my neighborhood. Happy Halloween! And now, meet my neighbors — the Carvers! At this point I …
This new series of posts came out of the stunning realization that I have family in all 50 states. My ancestors lived in 14 of them, all on the eastern seaboard or adjacent, and I have writt…
90 years ago this very night, Harry Houdini shuffled off this moral coil. I happened to find myself near the Houdini Museum today, so I popped in to remember him (it’s located in the F…
 Happy Halloween! Today we continue our series of family background posts by relating some relatives with a spooky connection. I’m not really close kin to most of these characters,…
Happy birthday to the Romantic poet John Keats (1795-1821). It being also Halloween, today we share a narrative poem from his quill we found to be especially Gothic, the 42 stanza Spencerian…
Filed under: Halloween, Horror (Mostly Gothic), Movies (Contemporary), PLUGS, SOCIAL EVENTS Tagged: Addams Family, costume party, Halloween, Loew's Jersey, masquerade, screening
I was too busy getting married on October 15 to notice the big news that THIS masterwork had finally come out. Rob Bader provided a privileged few of us with some memories to last a life tim…
