11,726 stories by "Trav S.D."
Continuing our month-long series of classic horror posts launched here, today we survey Universal Picture’s Dracula franchise. As we know there have been countless reboots of the…
When I said yesterday that the Americans didn’t take a back seat to the Germans in the business of morbidity and horror  even during the 1920s, I was thinking chiefly of director To…
Far be it from me to lay all the morbidity of the world at the feet of the Germans (after all, neither the English nor the Americans take a back seat to them in the category we are discussin…
Burlesque being what it is, there aren’t many dancers who came up through its ranks during the classical era who broke through to mainstream fame. Lili St. Cyr was one of the few who d…
Today is the 100th anniversary of the release date of the Charlie Chaplin comedy Shanghaied (1915). In this funny Esssanay comedy, Charlie plays a poor shlub who loves the daughter (Ed…
As we have observed, it is Buster Keaton‘s birthday today. But it’s also the Halloween season, and so (we think) what better way to explore it than by celebrating some of Keaton&…
Tonight (tomorrow morning, really at 12:45am Eastern) Turner Classic Movies will show the 1925 horror classic The Phantom of the Opera starring Lon Chaney. This seemed a fitting day to…
Tonight on Turner Classic Movies: two classic westerns directed by William Wyler. 8:00pm (EST) The Big Country (1958) Big sprawling epic of the late ’50s type, co-produced by Wyler and…
This post grew out of the introduction to a talk I gave at Clay McLeod Chapman’s Fear Mongers panel series a few years ago. The bulk of my talk was about a favorite tv show of mi…
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the release date of W.C. Fields’ second film, the 1915 silent short His Lordship’s Dilemma. Sadly, this movie is thought lost and v…
Today is the birthday of actor  Alan Dinehart (1889-1994). Originally from St. Paul, Dinehart dropped out of school to act in repertory theatre and vaudeville, eventually making his way t…
Tomorrow at 11am, as part of their Film Forum Jr. series, the Film Forum in New York will be showing the Abbott and Costello  comedy Hold That Ghost (1941) This is the first of A & C&…
Today is the birthday of the indispensible Henry Hull (1890-1977) . Originally from Louisville, Kentucky, he was one of a trio of thespian brothers, the other two being Shelly Hull …
Tonight on Turner Classic Movies, in celebration of the Halloween season: several films set in haunted (or otherwise evil) houses. 8:00pm (EST) Two on a Guillotine (1965) If you’d aske…
Today being the birthday of Bud Abbott AND the early days of the Halloween season today we thought we’d do a little post on the horror comedies of Abbott and Costello. And, no, A…
Today is the birthday of actress/ author Florence Nash (1888-1950). As with her sister Mary Nash, her stage name also comes from her stepfather Philip F. Nash, an important vaudeville …
Could you die? Tomorrow, starting first thing in the morning, Turner Classic Movies will be showing the films of the mature Bob Hope — for 14 straight hours! Get ready to set your DVR …
If only H.P. Lovecraft had known while he was alive that some day he would have an entire international cult of devotees! But given his truck with the supernatural I’ll just bet he DID…
Today is the birthday of the late Richard Harris (1930-2002). I have yet to induct him into my Hall of Hams, though that event is inevitable. I thought it more pressing to discuss a particul…
I just heard from the grapevine who shares my apartment that John Guillermin has passed away. Even if you don’t know the name, you know his work. He directed several films in the 1960s…
Let the Halloween season officially begin! Every day in October I’m going to do at least one post (some days several) on horror films and spook comedies, mostly ones from the classic s…
On Tuesdays and Thursdays in October, Turner Classic Movies will be presenting a series of programs called Trailblazing Women, hosted by none other than Ileana Douglas. This seemed an au…
Despite yesterday’s oppressively nasty weather, the Mad Marchioness and I finally shook off our summertime torpor last night and poked our heads out into the world. It’s been mon…
Coincidentally, two different friends are releasing films for home consumption and I can’t recommend either of them highly enough! Heather Quinlan’s terrific documentary If These…
Phillips Carlin (1894-1971) was a radio broadcaster who got his start locally at New York’s WEAF, and then was the announcer for several national programs on NBC, as well as the 1926, …
