11,704 stories by "Trav S.D."
Having already written posts about Chico's sole progeny Maxine, and two of Groucho's children, Arthur and Miriam, it seems equitable that this January 8 we pay birthday tribute to Harpo's ol…
No sooner did Funhouse Philosophers (Dick Zigun's company) and Bread and Puppet Theater close their wonderful shows at Theater for the New City than we received all manner of additional bull…
Here's an extraordinary fact: the screen career of Terry Moore (Helen Luella Koford, b. 1929) which began in 1940, remains technically open ended. Moore's professional credits stretch out ov…
The above image is Olga Georges-Picot (1940-1997) as the Countess Alexandrovna in Woody Allen's Love and Death (1974), probably her best known role to readers of this blog. She was hired to …
Exciting news for lovers of clown, mime, and all physical and movement-based theatre: PhysFestNYC, a new 10 day physical theatre festival produced at the Stella Adler Center for the Arts by …
January 5 was the birthday of newspaperman Herbert Bayard Swope (1882-1958). You'd be correct in noticing that it's unusual for us to give attention to a straight news journalist on this blo…
Marla English (1936-2012) only racked up 18 screen credits in a film career lasting just just over two years, but she left an imprint. The model and beauty pageant winner was still a teenage…
Just learned from Jeff Lewonczyk's heartfelt memoriam that an important member of the indie theatre community, photographer Ken Stein has been taken by cancer. Jeff's tribute is definitive s…
In anticipation of your inevitable question, yes, Josephine Hull (Josephine Sherwood, 1877-1957) WAS related to Henry Hull, she was his sister-in-law. There were three thespian Hull brothers…
Not that Roger Miller (1936-1992) did anything in particular so awful that I know of that requires redemption. His worst sin perhaps was allowing himself to be goofy for the amusement of aud…
Even among Little People actors, Verne Troyer (1969-1918) ranked as extraordinary. Standing 2′ 8″ (two and 2/3 feet) he made actors like Billy Barty or Michael Dunn seem unremark…
Mickey Mouse is always in the news, but in recent weeks that truth has stepped up a notch in light of a timely development: as of today, the earliest versions of Mickey have lapsed into the …
We had no sooner gotten wind of the death of Maurice Hines and were mulling some sort of comment on the sad event (and"Ye Gods"its 20 years since we lost Gregory) than the news arrived that …
Peggy Davis (Mary Margaret Laird, 1899-1931) left behind few fans but many questions when she drove her car off a 600 foot cliff at the age of 31. The Birmingham, Alabama native had been sin…
Today's post concerns Everett Marshall (1901-1965) the star of musicals, not Everett Marshall the professional wrestler, who was almost exactly the same age. Originally from Lawrence, Mass.,…
The stage and screen couple of Joe Bologna (1934-2017) and Renée Taylor (Renée Adorée Wexler, b. 1933) are top of mind at the moment, as they were in the movie Tango Shalom (2021) with my…
Ya see what I did there? 23 " it's just like the chromosomes! As we are wont to do this time of year, we take a look back on what we've accomplished during the preceding twelvemonth. Did any…
December 29 was the birthday of the late Mary Tyler Moore (1936-2017). When Moore passed away (yipes, seven years ago) I dashed off a tribute that was grief-stricken and glowing but a little…
Today marks the 100th anniversary of Woodrow Wilson's last birthday (he passed away in February, 1924). We've previously done posts on Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt,…
Very sad to be the bearer of the news that Tommy Smothers has left us at the age of 86. He embodied so much that I love. Springing out of the culture of the folk music revival of the '50s an…
A salute today to German-Jewish comedic actor Sig Arno (Siegfried Aron, 1895-1975). Originally from Hamburg, Arno started out as a stage comedian and began appearing in silent films as early…
Released this day in 1973: William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist, directed by William Friedkin. An unholy spectacle for Boxing Day! I was 8 when this groundbreaking movie came out; it's diffic…
The Sting was released this day in 1973 " 50 years ago. I had just turned 8 when the film came out. It was definitely one of the key films in that heavy period of Hollywood nostalgia of the …
Earle Foxe (1891-1873) made his mark in two completely different callings. Originally from Oxford, Ohio, he followed his older cousin Robert T. Haines into the acting trade, gaining his firs…
Today marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of George Martin Lane (1823-1897), a Harvard Latin Scholar who wound up playing an unlikely and small role in pop culture. A Boston native, Lan…
