11,736 stories by "Trav S.D."
Filed under: Horror (Mostly Gothic), Melodrama and Master Thespians, PLUGS Tagged: acting class, Grand Guignol, melodrama
I think I can say with perfect confidence that Steve Massa is one of the most knowledgeable people in the world on the subject of early movie comedy. He has been at it since childhood, and h…
 Today is the birthday of Hank Mann (David Lieberman, 1888-1971), known best from his role as Charlie Chaplin’s boxing opponent in City Lights in 1931. Chaplin had known and …
 Today is the birthday of comedy screenwriter Edward Ullman (1903-1985). Initially a humor writer for magazines, he was hired by Columbia Pictures in 1932 to pen comedy shorts for the li…
The Hall of Hams is my series on some of my favorite actors who have brought the art of melodramatic acting into the modern era. Yes! It’s really true! Christopher Lee’s birt…
The Hall of Hams is my series on some of my favorite actors who have brought the art of melodramatic acting into the modern era. Today is the birthday to be esteemed for his stature…
Today is the birthday of James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok (1837-1876). After years as a famous law man, soldier, scout and trouble-maker, in 1867 he followed in Buffalo Bill Co…
Today is the birthday of Knute Erickson (1872-1945). Though Erickson was of Swedish heritage, he wasn’t born there as he usually claimed, but in Ogden, Utah. He made his career in v…
Originally posted in 2010. Today is the birthday of Mamie Smith. No relation to Bessie, Mamie is best known today for recording “Crazy Blues” in 1920, which created the 1920s cra…
I missed this when it hit the Washington Post on Friday; thought it was scheduled for today. Celia Wren my old editor at American Theatre quotes me in her current piece about new burlesque h…
The Hall of Hams is my series on some of my favorite actors who have brought the art of melodramatic acting into the modern era. Today is the birthday of Robert Morley (1926-1992). I findÂ�…
Today is the 100th anniversary of the release of the Keystone short Toplitsky and Company starring Ford Sterling, Nick Cogley, Alice Davenport, and Edgar Kennedy. Sterling plays a helper at …
The Hall of Hams is my series on some of my favorite actors who have brought the art of melodramatic acting into the modern era. Today is the birthday of Peter Cushing (1913-1994). After sta…
Today is the birthday of Sammy Lee (1890-1968). (Though he was an important choreographer for several crucial years, I could only find a picture of his one-time vaudeville partner Ruby Norto…
Originally posted 2011 Today is the birthday of America's greatest philosopher/essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson. His Transcendentalist writings were a major influence on my Mountebanks Manifesto…
May 25 of every year (Bill Robinson’s birthday) is National Tap Dance Day! And how better to observe it than by learning about many of America’s great tap dancing artists on Trav…
Originally posted in 2009. This piece has special meaning for me — it’s actually the first vaudeville biography I ever wrote. I generated it as part of the book proposal for No A…
Well, the horse is already out of the barn, as they say (or do they?), since there’s only one performance left and that is unlikely not to be sold out — but I just wanted to than…
Today is the birthday of Frank “Fatty” Alexander (1879-1937). Originally from Washington State, Alexander had worked as a cowboy and a stagecoach driver until his enormous size a…
Filed under: Burlesk, Coney Island, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: Angie Pontani, Burlesque-a-Pades, Coney Island
On March 24 of this year the Palace Theatre turned one hundred years old. In celebration of the event, me and my American Vaudeville Theatre are presenting a Special One-Time …
May 25 in Queens, New York  2:00 pm MEMORIAL CONCERT AT JOPLIN’S FINAL RESTING PLACE Featuring the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra St. Michael’s Cemetery, Queens, New York …
Rule, Britannia! Britannia, Rule the Waves! That’s not how I feel necessarily…it’s just the music that goes with this picture. Today is Queen Victoria’s Birthday (181…
Adapted from a 2011 post. Today is Bob Dylan’s 72nd birthday — a fitting time to celebrate his biggest triumph as a live showman, his 1975-76 medicine show inspired t…
Today is Tommy Chong’s birthday, yo. Don’t tell me how you plan to celebrate, I don’t want to know. At least, not in writing. This may surprise you (or maybe it won’t…
