11,726 stories by "Trav S.D."
It’s John Wayne’s birthday! Why aren’t you having a party? You what? You don’t like John Wayne!? Haha, funny joke! I didn’t hear that! Now I’ve already do…
Today is the birthday of the late, great Levon Helm (1940-1912), the only American in The Band, but I think most of his fans will agree that he had enough America in him for a million Americ…
Today is the birthday of the great pugilist Robert “Bob” Fitzsimmons (1863-1917), a.k.a. “Ruby Robert” and “The Freckled Wonder”. Contemporary description…
It’s Fleet Week in New York as of this morning — and this reminded me that there’s many a classic comedy involving ships, sailors and sailing. And so here’s a selecti…
Happy National (and apparently International) Tap Dance Day! One of the things I enjoy doing is reading criticism from outside the accustomed vineyards in which I generally toil. Which i…
Marxfest, and the Fringe production of I’ll Say She Is (both 2014) were such a flurry of activity that I didn’t get to finish all that I set out to do during those months. The…
Today is the 75th birthday of that mod, mad minstrel Bob Dylan (Robert Zimmerman). Writing about an artist who’s so important to me is a Cow in a Can I have kept kicking down the road …
Today is the birthday of the great thespian Richard Mansfield (1857-1907). Mansfield’s background is every bit as interesting as his stage career (which I can’t wait to get to, e…
Happy Birthday to Charles Wilde Stewart, as fine a fellow as ever breathed, and gettin’ finer all the time. He asked for a copy of “Leaves of Grass” for his birthday —…
Filed under: Burlesk, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: Beacon, Blue Revue, burlesque, Dr. Lucky, Hudson, Town Crier, variety
Just got word that the lovable Alan Young has passed away. English born/ Scottish raised entertainer Angus “Alan” Young (b. 1919) Â had a radio background at the Canadian Broad…
Today is the birthday of the most famous of all 20th century Stewarts, James “Jimmy” Maitland Stewart (1908-1997). Â Stewart was a member of an elite club, what might be called…
Filed under: Comedy, Contemporary Variety, Indie Theatre, Magicians/ Mind Readers/ Quick Change, PLUGS Tagged: Celebration of Whimsy, Deserted Island Adventure, Magic Brian, Variety Cruise
Today is the birthday of Johnny Arthur (John Lennox Arthur Williams, 1883-1951). The whining, whimpering, simpering Arthur is best known to classic comedy fans today for playing Darla&…
Follow this link to my new Chelsea Now piece about the reopening of the South Street Seaport Museum and their exhibition Street of Ships: The Port and Its People. One detail I didn…
Originally posted on FROM THE BYGONE: The “Black Bottom” refers to a dance which became popular in the 1920s, originating among African Americans in the rural South. It was adopt…
All kinds of cool things are turning 50 and 100 these days — I’ll never catch them all. Both Pets Sounds and Blonde on Blonde hit the half century mark yesterday. I h…
100 years ago today Charlie Chaplin released The Floorwalker, the first of twelve classic comedy shorts he would make for the Mutual Film Corporation. Mutual was the firm that had prev…
Today is the 100th anniversary of the release date of the Charlie Chaplin comedy The Floorwalker (1916). The Floorwalker was the first of Chaplin’s Mutual comedies and he uppe…
In the sideshow world there are two kinds of human anomaly: the born freaks (your little people, your giants, your conjoined twins, etc) and the made freaks (your bearded ladies, your tattoo…
Today is the birthday of the late Bea Arthur (Bernice Frankel, 1922-2009). Her sit-com Maude (1972-1978) was a big hit of course; I’m sure no one my age or older has forgotten it…
Filed under: American Folk/ Country/ Western, AMERICANA, BROOKLYN, Music, PLUGS Tagged: 2016, Bayou 'n' Brooklyn, Jalopy Theatre, music festival
Just got the sad news that the Musee Conti Wax Museum in New Orleans folded a couple of months ago! It seems like kismet that we got to see it. I’d wanted to check it out for years and…
The old cliche is that you’re supposed to grow more conservative the older you get. “A Democrat, huh?”  Joe Flaherty rants to his daughter Linda Cardellini on Freaks …
Filed under: BROOKLYN, Contemporary Variety, Indie Theatre, Magicians/ Mind Readers/ Quick Change, PLUGS Tagged: Corn Mo, magic, Tanya Solomon, Truth Assassin, Voorhees Theater
