11,728 stories by "Trav S.D."
 Today is the birthday of Lee Tung Foo (1875-1966). Born in California, Lee was a Chinese American singer in vaudeville from the mid 1890s through around 1890. Lee was formally trained, …
Huzzah! Today is the release date of the landmark new DVD release The Mishaps of Musty Suffer. “Musty Suffer” was a screen character developed by vaudeville comedian Harry…
 Today is the anniversary of the release date of the great Wheeler and Woolsey comedy So This is Africa (1933), directed by Eddie Cline, written by Norman Krasna. Esther Muir plays…
 Today is the anniversary of the release date of the hilarious Laurel and Hardy comedy Me and My Pal (1933). Hardy is a rich young executive who has worked his way all the way t…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the hilarious W.C. Fields short The Pharmacist (1933), directed by Arthur Ripley. This short, one of a handful Fields made for Mack …
 Today is the anniversary of the release date of the silent Laurel and Hardy short You’re Darn Tootin’ (1928), directed by Edgar Kennedy. The “tootin’&#…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Buster Keaton feature Sherlock Jr. (1924). While it didn’t do so well at the box office in its own time, Sherlock Jr. is today…
 Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Hal Roach feature Zenobia (1939). This is an interesting movie for all sorts of reasons. One is that it is a very late Oliver H…
Filed under: Burlesk, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: Baleful Burlesque, Edward Gorey, Parkside Lounge
 Today is the anniversary of the release date of one of the funniest comedies of all time, the silent Laurel and Hardy short Big Business (1929). In Big Business  the pair are a…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of Harold Lloyd’s hilarious 1924 classic Girl Shy. In my opinion, Girl Shy has one of the best climaxes of�…
Today is the birthday of motion picture pioneer Sigmund Lubin (Siegmund Lubszynski, 1851-1923). originally an optometrist, he invented his own version of the movie camera/ projector apparatu…
 Today is the birthday of Sidney Lanfield (1898-1972). Lanfield was a jazz musician and comedian in vaudeville before being hired as a gag writer for silent comedies by the Fox Film Corp…
 Today marks the 100 anniversary of the release date of the Charlie Chaplin comedy Twenty Minutes of Love. This one is notable for being the first movie Charlie had a hand in directin…
 Today is the anniversary of the release date of Buster Keaton’s The High Sign (1921). Technically The High Sign was Keaton’s first solo film, but he was dissatis…
 Today is the 100th anniversary of the release date of the Keystone comedy Mabel at the Wheel. There are all sorts of reasons this film is noteworthy. * This is one of the early films…
 Today is the birthday of Fay Tincher (1884-1983). One of the many high points of Steve Massa’s recent book Lame Brains and Lunatics is an entire chapter on this star, and she r…
 Today is the anniversary of the release date of Laurel and Hardy’s The Music Box (1932), considered by many to be the greatest comedy of all time. Its virtues are strictly f…
  Today is the anniversary of the Charlie Chaplin short The Cure (1917). The Cure is one of the perfect comedies the comedian made for the Mutual Film Corporation, a perio…
 Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Laurel and Hardy classic Way Out West (1937).  This charming genre spoof has Stan and Olllie pair delivering the deed to a m…
 Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Keystone comedy Teddy at the Throttle (1917). In addition to being highly funny in places, this film has multiple points of int…
  Today is the birthday of Gloria Jean (Schoonover) (b. 1926). No, she’s not a mash-up of Laura Brannigan and Michael Jackson songs! As any classic comedy fan can tell you, s…
 Today is the anniversary of the release date of the classic Charlie Chaplin comedy A Dog’s Life (1918), made for First National. A Dog’s Life is a longer, more a…
 Today is the anniversary of the release date of Charlie Chaplin’s landmark comedy short The Tramp (1915). Though this was Chaplin’s 38th comedy, this was the first one…
Today marks the anniversary of the release date of one of my favorite movies, Charlie Chaplin's Monsieur Verdoux (1947). Suggested by Orson Welles, Verdoux is Chapli…
