11,726 stories by "Trav S.D."
Our pal Cyndy Fujikawa’s play The Last Vaudevillian opens in previews in L.A. tonight. Cyndy guest blogged about her remarkable show business family in a six part series that sta…
As we’ve written previously (here and here) I have been a major league fan of singer/songwriter/ actor Loudon Wainrwight III Â since I was a teenager. Hearing that he was workshoppin…
Today is the birthday of Memphis Minnie (Lizzie “Kid” Douglas a.k.a. Minnie Lawlers, 1897-1973). To me, she is one of the most incredible figures in blues history, on account of …
Tonight on Turner Classic Movies at 10:15pm (EST), Leo McCarey’s last comedy film Rally Around the Flag, Boys (1958). Although he directed films in several genres, comedy was McC…
Well, this old vaudeville lover is busting at the seams, and you orta be, too. Tomorrow at 10:15am (EST) TCM will be showing the 1930 film Rain or Shine, directed by Frank Capra and starr…
Long time followers know of our affection for mystical horror/ fantasy scribe (and Pride of Providence) H.P. Lovecraft, and may even have read our account of the Providence Lovecraft walking…
It’s Clint Eastwood’s birthday — I happen to think he’s pretty awesome no matter what genre he works in, and he just gets better with age. But westerns were his found…
Tonight on Turner Classic Movies: two John Wayne vehicles from the turn of decades. Warning: we always include spoilers!  8:00pm (EST): The Cowboys (1970) A film with much personal me…
In 1904 the great Russian (and then proto-Soviet) writer Maxim Gorky, in exile from Tsarist Russia, undertook a fundraising tour of the U.S. for the Bolsheviks along with his lover the great…
Another post in honor of Bob Hope’s birthday — Here are some thoughts on 17 random Bob Hope movies (not counting the ones he made with Crosby, which I wrote about here). The Big …
Today being Bea Lillie’s birthday and all I thought I would observe it by paying tribute to one of her very few film appearances, MGM’s Exit Smiling (1926), directed by Sam Taylo…
Filed under: Burlesk, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS, Women Tagged: Asisan Burlesque Spectacular, Calamity Chang, Drom
Tonight at 9pm (EST) NBC will premiere its new series on the Manson murders Aquarius (with the rest of the series available to binge-watch via live stream tomorrow)….or you can just…
I had the highly pleasurable privilege the other day of catching a preview of James Habacker’s new movie The Cruel Tale of the Medicine Man. Habacker is the full-on auteur of …
I love this poster because it’s an illustration of the fact that definitions and taxonomy are bullshit, at least around the edges. M.B. Leavitt, considered a pioneer of burlesque, also…
My friend is opening a play with a vaudeville setting in a couple of weeks. She asked me to make a little vaudeville timeline for her program, and it turned out to be a kind of fun, instruct…
In honor of Vincent Price’s birthday (more on him here), we pay tribute to his first starring role — oddly enough, a western. In Sam Fuller’s western The Baron of Ari…
Tonight on TCM at 11:45 (EST), Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye (1973). Warning: we always include spoilers. When I first knew about The Long Goodbye I didn't know from Robert Altma…
Today is the birthday of William “Willie” Best a.k.a “Sleep ‘n’ Eat” (1916-1962). Like a character out of one his own films, Best came to Hollywood as a c…
As we observed earlier today, it’s the Duke’s birthday. We thought we’d observe it by looking at some of his lesser known movies, from the first leg of his career, the deca…
Today is Al Jolson’s birthday (for more on that once-in-a-century performer read my full bio here). There’s more than enough writing been done about The Jazz Singer (and I&…
The Fighting Kentuckian (1949) Today is the birthday of John Wayne (1907-1979). What better way to bridge our preoccupation with classic comedy with an increasing interest in westerns …
Today is the birthday of Jay Silverheels (Harold J. Smith, 1912-1980). Most famous of course for playing Tonto on the tv series The Lone Ranger (1949-1957) and some Lone Ranger films, …
What was the climax to my Memorial Day? I might say mourning or remembering a lost New York, but that’s only a half truth, for Penny Arcade’s new work-in-progress Longing Lasts L…
Jill Freedman: Circus Days at Higher Pictures through Mar 9 Â Higher Pictures presents the first New York exhibition of Circus Days by Jill Freedman. The show will include over twenty vint…
