11,741 stories by "Trav S.d."
Scranton-born Carrie De Mar (1875-1963) was an influential star of vaudeville and musical comedy around the turn of the last century. De Mar's theatrical debut was with the Chicago Opera Hou…
April 1 was the birthday of Flora Zabelle (Flora Zabelle Mangasarian, 1880-1968) and it's unfortunate, for portions of her biography make it seem as though the teller were pulling your leg. …
With great pleasure, we close out Women's History Month, with a tribute to music hall star Jenny Hill (Elizabeth Jane Thompson, 1848-1896). Hill is often described as a contemporary of Bessi…
Today is the birthday of Peter Marshall (Ralph Pierre LaCock, b. 1926), most folks are apt to associate him exclusively with the game show he hosted from 1966 through 1981, Hollywood Squares…
Sometimes you have to start in the middle. It may appall some people to know that I first knew John Astin (b. 1930) from his THIRD starring sitcom, Operation Petticoat (1977-79). At the time…
About a year ago, around the time I wrote about Michael Chaplin's silly hippie book, I briefly entertained the notion of doing a post that would rank Charlie Chaplin's ten children by notabi…
The name Pablo Fanque (1810-1871) has been famous for well over a century and a half, in particular since 1967 when John Lennon made a poster for one his shows into the song "Being for the B…
Bessie Bellwood (Catherine "Kate" Mahoney, 1856-1896), was one of the first and most influential of British music hall stars. Born in London, she was the daughter of Irish immigrants to Lond…
I received my introduction to the charms of singer and actress Pearl Bailey (1918-1990) at a tender age " she briefly had her own TV variety show, The Pearl Bailey Show as a summer replaceme…
If I'd known that Warner Baxter (1889-1951) had some background in vaudeville, I might have done a profile on him earlier, as I've had many an occasion here to mention him. Baxter's unmistak…
The career of Dennis O'Keefe (Edward Flanagan Jr, 1908-1968) has some features in common with those of Broderick Crawford and Ida Lupino " a hard-boiled noir-ish star with a background in a …
For World Theatre Day, some stray thoughts. I've penned many an essay expressing many of these ideas over the past decades, but for various reasons lately new iterations have been bouncing a…
I thought David Janssen (David Meyer, 1931-1980) was a ubiquitous figure in show business when I was a kid, but that may just have been because my mother was obsessed with him and watched ev…
Some thoughts on Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams (1911-83), lifted from my notebooks, in honor of his natal day. Most of these jottings were written about a dozen years ago when I made a …
March 26 is the birthday of Maria Rasputina (1898-1977), a woman at the center of one of the most entertaining tales of all the White Russians. The daughter of the famous Mad Monk Svengali t…
Here's a fine how-do-you-do.I was about to do a squib on radio/tv/film scribe Philip Rapp (1907-1996), whose birthday it is, but here I find that my publisher at Bear Manor Media Ben Ohmart …
From the standpoint of memory Sir Gerald du Maurier (1873-1934) has the mild misfortune of being a middle link in a chain that connects two behemoths. But if he is less remembered, it is pur…
Now, now, don't jump to conclusions. Yes, Shirley Jean Rickert (1926-2009), was both a child star and a burlesque dancer, but at entirely different times in her life, much as the Hovick sist…
The movie career of Jackie Condon (1918-1977) was over by the time he was 11 years old, but by that point he had appeared in 88 movies! Most of those credits were with Hal Roach's Our Gang s…
Stage and screen star Violet Horner (1892-1970) was second generation show biz. Her parents had been on the music hall stage. Violet was born and raised in New York, where she sang in church…
British actress Binnie Barnes (Gertrude Maud Barnes, 1903-1998), born this day. One of sixteen children born to a London policeman, Barnes became a chorus girl and a dance hostess and appear…
Fragments on female impersonator Arico Wild (1894-1966). We learn of her from the Sobels' Pictorial History of Vaudeville, which labeled her "sensational". in his 1953 book Vaudeville From t…
Just to confound things, Lois Andrews (Lorraine Gourley, 1924-1968) was not one of the Andrews Sisters. With only a half dozen screen credits to her name she is a bit of a footnote in these …
Some tribute today to Syd Saylor (Leslie Raymond Sailor, 1895-1962), sometimes billed under his given name or as Leo Sailor, Sid Sailor, or Sid Saylor. Born in Chicago, a bit of legend attac…
March 22 was the birthday of Julius Stern (1886-1977), who along with his brother Abe (1888-1951) formed a producing partnership called the Stern Brothers. The Sterns' sister Recha was marri…
