11,726 stories by "Trav S.D."
Filed under: Music, PLUGS, Rock and Pop Tagged: 50th anniversary, Blonde on Blonde, Bob Dylan, Hi Fi Bar, tribute
“Can the Big Apple Circus be saved?” asks the New York Times in this piece from the other day. Uh, yeah, if you’re not completely obtuse. They lost a few million in annual …
Today is the birthday of the great American heroic painter John Trumbull (1756-1843). I am distantly related to this artist; we both count the Pilgrims John and Priscilla Alden among our anc…
Today is the birthday of Helen Ford (Helen Barnett, 1894-1982). Ford started out in vaudeville as a singer in upstate New York, eventually moving up to Broadway, where she appeared in 14 pro…
Today is the birthday of Franklyn Farnum (William Smith, 1878-1961). Originally from Boston Smith (later Farnum) is said to have started out as an actor in vaudeville from age 12. (He is not…
Saddened to hear of the passing yesterday of three time World Heavyweight Champion Muhammad Ali. We had been expecting this news not just for years but for many decades. It’s startling…
In which we continue our ongoing series of Marx Brothers posts. (We observe this morning with satisfaction but not surprise that, after Charlie Chaplin, the Marx Brothers are the vaudeville …
Today is the birthday of legendary show biz scribe Abel Green (1900-1973). Most of us know him because he cowrote the super-useful book Show Biz: From Vaude to Video with Joe Lau…
Today is the birthday of Larry McMurtry (b. 1936), author of many a literary and cinematic success, including The Last Picture Show, Terms of Endearment and even (with collaborators)…
Today is the birthday of Robert Edeson (1868-1931). Born in New Orleans, Edeson was a second generation thespian, his father being the actor George E. Edeson. The younger Edeson made his pro…
Today in NYC it’s Pietro Cesare Alberti Day! On this day in 1635, the gentleman in question arrived in what was then New Netherland and became the first Italian American. You will find…
While it existed (1966-1982), there was no more controversial political organization than the Black Panther Party. The word “controversial” is often misused, but in this case it …
June is Immigrant Heritage Month. As I wrote a few days ago on a related topic (the related topic being Mexicans), though I do a lot of crowing here about my 400 year old American background…
Wanda Nevada (1979) Today is the birthday of Brooke Shields (b. 1965). Today we talk about her 1979 buddy picture with Peter Fonda, Wanda Nevada. In the cinema, Fonda is best kn…
Part two of our little tribute to Howard Hawks today, this one focusing on his comedies. In this area, I find Hawks downright anomalous. I don’t know of anything comparable among film …
Today is the birthday of Mike Donlin (1878-1933). Donlin is probably better known to the wider world for his main occupation — that of professional baseball player. He played for the N…
Today is the birthday of Irving Thalberg (1899-1936), a name well known to hardcore movie buffs as a visionary producer and studio chief; even better known to comedy buffs for his pivotal ro…
Today is the birthday of the great Hollywood producer/ director/ screenwriter Howard Hawks (1896-1977). He’s a big subject to tackle, and the king of many a genre. Today I’ll con…
We are apt to be pessimistic these days about so many things that we may forget the things there are to celebrate — and there are a great many of these, as well: more than you might su…
Today the nation observes Memorial Day, an official federal holiday since 1971, an unofficial one since the days following the Civil War, when there were 620,000 war dead to mourn (nearly ha…
Today is the birthday of Jazz Age playwright Avery Hopwood (1882-1928). Hopwood was long legendary for the feat of having four successful plays up on Broadway simultaneously, a feat la…
Preview performances for I’ll Say She Is, our revival of the lost 1924 Marx Brothers Broadway musical begin tomorrow! If you didn’t get your ticket yet, the more fool you! But th…
A thought occurred to me the other day: New York is such a large, complex and amazing city that events that would be earth-shaking elsewhere can go relatively unnoticed here. Case in point: …
This just in — and don’t be caught snoozin’! Bear Manor Media has announced a Memorial Day Sale, staring tomorrow May 28, 2016 and running through the end of the month. 30%…
 Today marks the 100th anniversary of the release date of the Charlie Chaplin comedy Police. Police was Chaplin’s last short for Essanay Studios. Rather spitefully, after he …
