11,727 stories by "Trav S.D."
With portions of the country under six feet of snow, and many other regions just beginning to feel the bite of winter (still technically three weeks away), one can always console oneself wit…
Filed under: Comedy, Laurel and Hardy Tagged: Laurel and Hardy, Oliver Hardy, pilgrims, Stan Laurel, Thanksgiving
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the silent comedy short Fiddlesticks (1927), starring Harry Langdon, with he help of his dream team Harry Edwards (director), and Frank Capra …
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Harold Lloyd film Dr. Jack (1922). Dr. Jack is easily my least favorite (and the weakest) of Lloyd's features. He plays a c…
I don’t think it’s too much to say that Lola Rock’N’Rolla is now my favorite film-maker. The Mad Marchioness and I attended the world premiere of Lola’s new opu…
Filed under: BROOKLYN, Coney Island, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: Adam RealMan, Coney Island, Stuff Yourself Silly
Today is the birthday of Eddie Lyons (1886-1926). Lyons started out in vaudeville and musical comedy. His first film The Villian Foiled, was co-directed by Mack Sennett and Henry Lehrman …
Today is the birthday of Dagmar Oakland (Edna Andersen, 1893-1989), one half of the vaudeville team the Oakland Sisters. Her sister Vivien is better known today — she’ll get h…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Laurel and Hardy short Dirty Work (1933). This little comedy rests on duel premises, either of which would be right at home in a Thr…
A great day for comedy on TCM. They’re following up today’s Joe E. Brown festival with a sampling of films from the upper echelon of silent film comedians. I’ve written abo…
Today is the birthday of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901). We recently saw MOMA’s exhibition The Paris of Toulouse-Lautrec: Prints and Posters and since it was so close to his …
How fortunate we were to get to see Mokwha Repertory Company’s adaptation of The Tempest during its brief three-day run at La MaMa. The South Korea based company specializing in bringi…
Tomorrow on Turner Classic Movies, a day long tribute to the great comedian Joe E. Brown (for a full bio on Brown, read my post here). Best known today for his late turns in films like So…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the one reel Charley Chase comedy All Wet (1924), directed by Leo McCarey. This is one of the series of Hal Roach comedies in which Chas…
 When Uke Rumble VII was going on a few days ago I was occupied several blocks away seeing Filler (look for the review here in a few days). Fortunately, the multi-talented Kathy Biehl…
Filed under: Burlesk, Drag and/or LGBT, PLUGS, VISUAL ART Tagged: art modelling, Botanic Lab, Dr Sketchy
 In No Particular Order: 1. Charlie Chaplin 2. Buster Keaton 3. Leo McCarey 4. Preston Sturges 5. Jules White 6. George Stevens 7. Mack Sennett 8. Hal Roach 9. Ernst Lubitsch 10. Jer…
Tomorrow at 6:00 am (EST) Turner Classic Movies swill be showing one of my favorite films, Charlie Chaplin’s first talkie The Great Dictator (1940). By the 1930s there was no…
Today is the birthday of Francis Leon (Francis Patrick Glassey, b. 1844). Eventually billed simply as “Leon” or “The Only Leon”, he was the foremost female impersonat…
Filed under: BROOKLYN, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: Bushwick, Cobra Club, Force Majeure, new vaudeville, Sara Valentine, Tanya Solomon
Today is the birthday of Tennessee-born silent film actress and comedian Jobyna Ralston (1899-1967). Ralston was named after stage and screen actress Jobyna Howland by her mother, a…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Mack Sennett produced short Her Painted Hero (1915). In this early Polly Moran comedy, Polly moons around a stage door hoping for a …
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Charlie Chaplin comedy A Night in the Show (1915). This short from Chaplin’s Essanay period is extremely interesting for two r…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the silent Laurel and Hardy short Do Detectives Think? (1927). This is an interesting one — it’s one of the first films in w…
Only recently I made a notation to write soon about my second experience in the cinema and its great power over me. Sadly now there’s an occasion that makes it topical. The first…
