11,704 stories by "Trav S.D."
I'd like this to be a world where audiences always know the backstory for every artist. You can't tell the players without a program! The world has never been perfect as far as that goes, bu…
Columbus Day has become a day of eroding celebration and increasing introspection on the topic of colonialism in recent decades. That feels like a particularly relevant subject as war consum…
Haywire Mac (Harry McClintock, 1884-1957) cleaned himself up for that photo above. Normally you see him in cowboy or hobo gear, and it wasn't really a costume. He was a folk singer not unlik…
Tell me, O Octopus, I begs/ Is those things arms, or is they legs? /I marvel at thee, Octopus/ If I were thou, I'd call me Us. " Ogden Nash, "The Octopus" For World Octopus Day (October 8) a…
It's been months and months since I've organized any Zoom events, but I have a good excuse: I've been hard at work on my next several books and the Chain of Fools audio-book which will be th…
Today we sing of Italian-American actor-crooner Al Martino (Jasper Gini, 1927-2009). "Hold the phone"Jasper?" you ask? Well, his father's first name was Gasparino. Al was named after him, bu…
A shout-out today to comic book entrepreneur Alfred Harvey (Alfred Harvey Wiernikoff, 1913-1994), who founded Harvey Comics in 1940, and employed his brothers Leon and Robert to help him run…
Thanks muchly to Lauren Milberger and Jesi Mullins, lovely cohosts of The Murphy Brown Podcast, for inviting me to participate in a special bonus episode of their show to talk about one of m…
I swiped this particularly fabulous and glamorous photo of my high school theatre teacher off of social media. I hope she doesn't mind, for it makes her look like a movie star. Her name is D…
A brief look today at Larry Fine (Louis Feinberg, 1902-1975), today known almost exclusively as the vaguely catatonic member of the Three Stooges with the Brillo pad on his head. Larry is of…
The Bell Sisters, like the Clooney Sisters, were originally from Kentucky. The duo consisted of Cynthia (b. 1935) and Kay (b. 1940. Their given name was Strother; Bell was their mother's mai…
Happy Buster Keaton's birthday! This year marks some significant Keaton anniversaries: it's a century since he began directing and starring in his own feature-length comedies. We thought we'…
Born 100 years ago today, actress, performer and politician Faith Dane (1923-2020) Born in Brooklyn, Dane started out as a Broadway chorus girl in her early 20s. She was in Sadie Thompson, t…
You could make such a great bio-pic of the life of Eddie Cochran (1938-1960); the one I imagine would have the same title as this post. Why Hollywood never made such a picture (though there …
I have multiple reasons for being excited about Ileana Douglas's new book Connecticut in the Movies: From Dream Houses to Dark Suburbia, which is being released today. One is the author, who…
Trav S.D.'s Variety Store puts the ha-ha in Halloween this month with a lycanthropic line-up that includes the contortionist The Amazing Amy, not so scary clown Becca Bernard, and a tribute …
Happy Groucho Marx's birthday! There is never a time when Groucho's name is NOT out there flitting around the culture like a medfly ("gadfly" was already taken), but we seem to be in a heati…
You just THINK I don't write about ballet dancers here; in point of fact, I've written about at least a dozen and a half of them, mostly due to their connections to vaudeville or silent film…
I first learned about Michael Strange (Blanche Oelrichs, 1890-1950) as the second wife of John Barrymore and the mother of Diana Barrymore, but she's way more fascinating than that. fascinat…
Max Morath (1926-2023) would have been 97 today; he passed away just three months ago. Morath was both an entertainer and an educator, and definitely a crucial figure linking the original ra…
"Fatso Marco" Marcella (1906-1962) was a 300 lb. comedian best known as a regular cast member on The Texaco Star Theatre with Milton Berle. Marcella appeared in vaudeville, burlesque, minstr…
How crazy perfect is it that Tony Darrow (Anthony Borgese, b. 1938) shares a birthday with Fatso Marco Marcella? They could share a nice torta di compleanno. Or perhaps squabble over who it …
A special treat to celebrate National Podcast Day " a treat for me, anyway. I had the honor and pleasure of talking with show biz biographer Eve Golden this week about her new book Strictly …
Happy National Podcast Day! In honor of the day, I've done a little round-up of some of my more recent (i.e., post-Covid) podcast appearances for your delectation. (And please stay tuned for…
We have two reasons for selecting this birthday on which to celebrate comic actress Fran Drescher (b. 1957). The first will be obvious to anyone who has followed the news. As the President o…
