11,730 stories by "Trav S.D."
Every Sunday in September TCM will be showing dozens of works by Alfred Hitchcock from morning until…well into the next morning. It’s not the entire canon, but it’s enough …
Today is the birthday of Arthur Godfrey (1903-1983). Godfrey began as an announcer in radio around 1930 first in Baltimore, then in Washington, anchoring local shows, playing records, occasi…
Special thanks to Norman Frisch for the news tip. A few days ago we published a post here about Leo Gorcey  and his father Bernard. It turns out Leo’s sister (Bernard’s daught…
Today is the birthday of William Saroyan (1908-1981), the literary equivalent of William Henry Johnson, Barnum’s “What is it?” Many have read Saroyan’s fiction. The w…
The Art Stars came out in profusion for last night’s world premiere of Satan, Hold My Hand. Written by the Sainted performance Goddess Rev Jen Miller, produced by Jonathan Ames (…
Joan Blondell was one of those vaudevillians whose career spanned so long those of us growing up in the 1970s knew her entirely from contemporary entertainment, little dreaming of the four d…
Originally posted in 2010. Fritzi Scheff (b. Fredericka Scheff Yarger on this day in 1879) was a prima donna in every sense of the word. A second generation grand opera singer from Vienna, a…
Originally posted in 2012 Most people (over a certain age) know him as “Steve Douglas” from the tv show My Three Sons (1960-1972) and a star of silly Disney movies like …
I’ve had a lump in my throat for the past hour. The word just came down that Martin and Rochelle Denton are retiring nytheatre.com on September 15. This pioneering web site didn’…
Toight at 9:15pm Eastern As part of their Glenda Farrell festival, TCM will be showing….The Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933), directed by Michael Curtiz. More beautiful in …
Today is the birthday of pioneering be bop alto sax player Charlie “Bird” Parker (1920-1955). Here’s his composition “Bird Gets the Worm” which he record…
Filed under: Hollywood (History), Movies, PLUGS Tagged: Cinecon, film festival
Today is the birthday of Ingrid Bergman (1915-1982). No one lovelier than Bergman ever acted in motion pictures but today we dishonor her memory by rubbernecking at one of her rare weak spot…
Today is the birthday of Preston Sturges (Edmund Preston Biden, 1898-1959), one of the American comedy film’s last, best hopes. A much more extensive post here on Sturges awaits, but i…
Mirth! Mystery! Mishegas! A double shot of schtick at Coney Island. Tanya Solomon, New York’s first lady of funny magic, plays with sharp knives, creamed corn, and your dearest beliefs…
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the release of the Keystone short Mabel’s New Hero, directed by Mack Sennett and starring Mabel Normand, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, Ed…
Today is the birthday of Sidney Drew (1863-1919). Drew was from a famous American acting dynasty, and uncle to John, Lionel and Ethel Barrymore (he was their mother’s brother, possibly…
Today is the birthday of Robb Wilton (Robert Wilton Smith, 1881-1957). Hailing from Liverpool, Wilton was a popular comic monologist in British music hall. He toured American in vaudeville i…
Today is the birthday of Margaret O’Rene “Peggy” Ryan (1924-2004). Ryan was still a toddler when she joined her parents’ vaudeville act, “The Merry Dancing Ryan…
Originally posted in 2010 He was born in 1925, and raised in "the O'Connor Family"the Royal Family of Vaudeville". Theirs' was a family act, consisting of singing, dancing and acrobatics. Th…
Today is the birthday of the great jazz saxophonist Lester Young (1909-1959). This one blew my mind — to learn that Lester Young, whom I think of as the ultimate be bop hep cat, had a …
Today is the birthday of Paul Rubenfeld a.k.a Paul Reubens a.k.a Peewee Herman (b. 1952). I’m real surprised I didn’t think of this when I was writing Chain of Fools but I&…
Tonight the terrific Jason Trachtenburg and his band Pendulum Swings will be playing a gig at 54 Below, right there in the belly of the beat in the Broadway District. (https://www.facebook.c…
Today is the birthday of the great American author Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945). We’ve already mentioned him fleetingly on this post. His brother was the popular Tin Pan Alley songwrit…
As we pointed out in our earlier post this morning, today is Martha Raye’s birthday. What better time then to talk about her obligatory late-career weirdy role, Benita Bizarre on Th…
