11,726 stories by "Trav S.D."
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Wheeler and Woolsey comedy Cracked Nuts (1931), directed by Eddie Cline. The film is interesting for many reasons. One is that, much…
Just the thing for a spring morning! The bud are out, the birds are singing — a perfect day for zombies, ghosts and grave robbers from RKO and producer Val Lewton! 7:45am (EST):…
Today is the birthday of Adrian Constantine “Cap” Anson (1852-1922). Anson was one of the first Major League Baseball stars, achieving greatest fame as first baseman and manager …
Tonight at the Loew’s Jersey cinema palace, a double header of classic movies that demonstrate the thesis that, as Lou Reed put it, “A life in the theatre is certainly fraught wi…
Today is the birthday of Lester “Les” Tremayne (1913-2003). Tremayne is easily one of “those guys” whose face and voice you know intimately from lots of high profile …
Today is the 104th anniversary of the sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic. We wrote earlier here about our obsession with this disaster. A few months ago, while researching my ancestry, I came acr…
Filed under: Burlesk, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: burlesque, Matt Knife, MGM, Wizard of Oz
Filed under: Burlesk, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: Nurse Betty Burlesque, Shelly Watson
1896 news item from the Worcester Daily Spy about my first cousin, 4x removed: “Levi Heredeen, the blacksmith of North Oxford, while driving in the road between the new creamery …
Today is the birthday of Ann Miller (Johnny Lucille Collier, 1923 — 2004). Born in Texas, her father was a lawyer who defended Bonnie and Clyde, and Baby Face Nelson. Her mother was ha…
I’ve been impatient for this day to come! Noah Diamond’s excellent new book about the Odyssey of realizing his dream of getting I’ll Say She Is on the boards is now availab…
This Sunday, April 10, 2016, at 11am the Film Forum in New York will be showing the 1953 George Pal version of War of the Worlds. When I was a kid, this was my fourth favorite movie, …
Thanks, Derek Davidson, for tipping me off to the fact that today is the 40th anniversary of the release of one of the seminal movies of my childhood, Michael Ritchie’s The Bad News…
I hope you will check out my grand, brand spankin’ new web site www.travsd.com! Designed by the multi-talented Noah Diamond, to these eyes it’s a glorious and beautiful thing.Â�…
Today is the birthday of Rosemary Lane (Rosemary Mullican, 1913-1974), one of a brood of performing sisters  known as the Lane Sisters. Writing about them is a bit of a tangle, as they al…
Today is the birthday of Carmel Myers (1899-1980). The beautiful Myers was the daughter of a San Francisco rabbi. The family moved to Los Angeles when she was in her teens. The lore is that …
It’s Tartan Week here in New York. This year there are a surprising number of Scottish-American friendship events planned: concerts, talks, parts, all culminating with the big Tartan D…
Filed under: Burlesk, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: Beauty Bar, Behind the Velvet Curtain, burlesque
A happy outcome of having this blog is the number of grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great nephews and nieces of rank and file vaudevillians (and many famous ones) I have gotten to c…
Each year the Library of Congress sponsors a workshop where experts from around the country congregate and watch old films (mostly silent) and segments of film which lack I.D. information, s…
Today is the birthday of the (still kicking!) Doris Day (Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff). Day came along too late for vaudeville, our usual stomping grounds (she was born in either 1922 or 1924, …
Today is the birthday of the great turn-of-the-last-century actress Margaret Anglin (1876-1958). Anglin started out in life with some slight advantages — her father was the Speak…
Tonight (April 2, 2016)!  BroadwayHD will be streaming live Signature Theatre’s production of Old Hats with Bill Irwin and David Shiner so you can see it from the convenience of …
Today we treat of English-born actress Mrs. Thomas Whiffen (Blanche Galton, 1845-1936). From the Restoration era (when women first trod the English stage) through the early 20th century, it …
This Sunday (April 3, 2016) at 11am, New York’s Film Forum will present an excellent triple bill of classic silent comedy shorts. On the menu are the following films (click on the titl…
