11,727 stories by "Trav S.D."
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the release date of the Charlie Chaplin comedy His Prehistoric Past. This was Chaplin’s last film for Keystone, so there’s a melancholy…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Harry Langdon comedy Feet of Mud (1924), directed by Harry Edwards. In this much-loved Langdon comedy, Harry plays a benchwarmer on …
Today is the anniversary of the release date of That Royle Girl (1925). This was D.W. Griffith’s second film for Paramount Pictures, and his second to star Carol Dempster. Mid-wa…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Laurel and Hardy comedy Nothing But Trouble (1944), directed by Sam Taylor. This movie is probably my favorite of the team’s p…
Happy Repeal Day! On this day in 1933, the disastrous experiment of Prohibition was overturned. The Keaton and Durante movie What, No Beer? might not be the funniest comedy…
We caught a good hunk of Peter Pan last night — not all of it, but enough to feel justified in expressing an opinion about the show. Let me preface it by saying we heartily appla…
Today is the 100th anniversary of the release date of the Keystone comedy Getting Acquainted, written and directed by Charlie Chaplin. Though Charlie is at the helm and the titular sta…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of Douglas Fairbanks’ second film Double Trouble (1915), directed by Christy Cabanne. Long thought lost, this feature turned up in an…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Charlie Chaplin comedy The Rink (1916). The Rink is a gem from Chaplin’s Mutual period, that magical stretch when he could do …
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the early Stan Laurel solo comedy The Pest (1922), produced by Broncho Billy Anderson. Stan plays a door-to-door book salesman who is de…
Today is the birthday of Harry Rickards (Henry Benjamin Leete, 1843-1911). A native Londoner, Rickards apprenticed to be an engineer like his father, but took to comic singing in the halls a…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Laurel and Hardy comedy Putting Pants on Philip, directed by Clyde Bruckman (1927). This is the first movie to officially bill the pair…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Harold Lloyd comedy Luke’s Movie Muddle (1916), directed by Hal Roach. “Luke” of course refers to “Lonesome …
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the all-star, multi-director Paramount film If I Had a Million (1932) The framing device (directed by Norman Taurog) is that dying milliona…
Today is the birthday of one of my favorite straight (i.e. non-comedian) screen actors of all time, Warren William (Warren Krech, 1894-1948). The son of a small-town Minnesota newspape…
Today is the birthday of Earle W. (E.W.) Hammons (1882-1962). A Mississippi native, Hammons established Educational Pictures (a.k.a Educational Films Corporation) in 1915 to produce educatio…
Happy birthday to the funny, lovable, histrionic, mellifluous, classy and highly discerning clown-chanteuse Bette Midler. In addition to writing about her in No Applause, we’ve blo…
Today is the anniversary of the great silent Laurel and Hardy spook comedy Habeas Corpus (1928), directed by James Parrott. In this short, the pair are hired by a mad scientist to …
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the W.C. Fields comedy It’s a Gift (1934), which is today one of the best known and loved films from Fields’s Paramount peri…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Harold Lloyd comedy Captain Kidd’s Kids (1919). Around this period, many of Lloyd’s films seem very much influenced by D…
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the release date of the Keystone comedy Leading Lizzie Astray. Minta Durfee plays the titular Lizzie, a farmer’s daughter. Roscoe “Fatty Arbu…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of W.C. Fields‘ second-to-last starring film from his brilliant late period at Universal: The Bank Dick (1940), directed by Eddie Cl…
Today is the anniversary of the release of the Laurel and Hardy comedy Another Fine Mess (1930), directed by James Parrott. The film is essentially a sound remake of the team’s e…
Today is the birthday of television and film actress Hope Lange (1933-2003). Already I hear you saying, “Good God, man, have you gone insane? How does television and film actress…
Three chances left to see Filler, the intriguing play by writer/director William Goulet at the 64E4 mainstage through November 30. I caught the show about a week ago and found my…
