11,729 stories by "Trav S.D."
The Hall of Hams pays tribute to some of our favorite actors who helped bring the art of melodramatic acting into the modern age. Today is the birthday of Louis Calhern (Carl Vogt, 1895-…
 Today marks the anniversary of the release date of what may be W.C. Fields’ best remembered (certainly most iconic) film You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man (1939). Artistic…
Today is the birthday of the dwarf actor Angelo Rossitto (1908-1991). The 2′ 11″ Rossitto has the interesting distinction of being the only member of the sideshow cast of Todd Br…
Tonight on Turner Classic Movies, several Oscar winning films from 1962 with connections to many of our previous blog subjects: 8:00pm:Â Gigot The Great One Mr. Jackie Gleason’s one …
Today is Sonny Bono’s birthday. As I’ve already blogged about Sonny here and Cher here, I thought today I’d write about a highly interesting movie I watched a few weeks ago…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Laurel and Hardy comedy classic A Chump at Oxford (1940). This was the team’s second to last picture for Hal Roach and it show…
Today is the birthday of the great comic foil Vernon Dent (1895-1963). It eludes me how I have failed to do a post on this key comedy supporting player until now! Comedy fans will grasp the …
Unless you’re a night owl, this is a job for your DVR. Tomorrow at 2:00 am (EST), Turner Classic Movies will be showing the great early musical The Love Parade (1929). Directed b…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of Salome, starring Alla Nazimova (1923). The film has long been regarded as the notorious Nazimova’s Waterloo. A star of films since 19…
Today marks the anniversary of the release date of the Charlie Chaplin comedy A Night Out (1915). This was Chaplin’s second film for Essanay Studios and (in addition to being fun…
Filed under: BROOKLYN, Indie Theatre, LEGIT, EXPERIMENTAL & MUSICAL THEATRE, PLUGS Tagged: Candide, Theater 2020
Today is the birthday of Gordon William Lillie (1860-1942) better known as Pawnee Bill. Lillie was an actual frontiersman working at the Pawnee Indian Agency in Indian Territory when h…
Filed under: African American Interest, Blackface & Minstrelsy, Indie Theatre, PLUGS Tagged: Jewel Box Stories, Langston Hughes, Sandy Moore, Simple Stories
Today is the anniversary of the release date of Groucho Marx’s last starring comedy A Girl in Every Port (1952). In the film Groucho and The Life of Riley’s William Bendix …
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the 1916 Douglas Fairbanks comedy His Picture in the Papers, written by Anita Loos and directed by her husband John Emerson. One of the mo…
Today is the birthday of George Segal (b. 1934). Most of us know him as a likable comic (sometimes dramatic) actor and (like Elliott Gould and Dustin Hoffman) one of the first generation of …
Filed under: Burlesk, Contemporary Variety, HOLIDAYS, FESTIVALS, MEMORIALS & PARADES, Jazz (miscellaneous), PLUGS Tagged: Angie Pontani, Brian Newman, burlesque'jazz, Burlesque-a-Pades, …
Today is the anniversary of the Harry Langdon comedy The Chaser (1928).  Often pointed to as a symptom of his late twenties decline, it’s a movie I rather enjoy. The film was …
Look at the head of hair on this hep cat Something must be in the air. I just got word that the great Sid Caesar had passed away. A Yonkers native, Isaac Sidney Caesar (1922-2014)Â Â got…
In the early 90s I finally got to go to my dream college, NYU Tisch. Enrolled in the film and television undergrad program, I encountered a lot of heavy competition to get into practical pro…
Today is the birthday of Lorne Greene (Lyon Himan Green, 1915-1987). The son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Greene grew up in Ottawa and took up dramatics and radio broadcasting while at coll…
One in our series of old time radio posts in celebration of Valentine’s Day. The wonderful picture above, from the official Danny Kaye website, really has little to do with the clip. I…
Just got word that Mrs. Shirley Temple Black has passed away. Temple was the most popular child star in history, and one of the few who didn’t disintegrate or self-destruct. Her life i…
Today is the birthday of Anna Christiansen (1886-1953), better known by the professional name Madame A. Strakai. Born Anna Annisman in Magilure, Russia, she was second generation circus folk…
One in our series of old time radio posts in celebration of Valentine’s Day. Big bandleader Ozzie Nelson and his wife Harriet started out on radio before they brought their popular sit…
