11,744 stories by "Trav S.d."
Jack Wild (1952-2006) was born on the last day of September. Wild was probably the first star I was ever aware of, seeing as how he was the Artful Dodger in Oliver! (1968), one of the few mu…
Broadway chorus girl and model Marcelle Earle (1895-1955) was born on this day. Earle is particularly interesting for having gotten as famous and successful as a chorus girl could get withou…
Broadway performer Gladys Feldman (1886-1974) was born on this day. Originally from Evanston, Illinois, Feldman had spent some time in vaudeville. The earliest reference to her I can find to…
Julie London (Julie Peck, 1926-2000) was born on this day. Those of us of a certain age remember her primarily as the beautiful, soft-spoken middle aged lady who played Emergency Room Nurse …
Adapted from a talk given at the Marx Brothers Weekend, Governor’s Island earlier this month. Most die-hard Marx Brothers fans know that the comedy team made a single silent fil…
It’s Elephant Appreciation Day, a perfect occasion to reflect upon that bygone architectural oddity, the elephant-shaped hotel/ observation statue. There were four of them I know of, a…
The final printed edition of the Village Voice has hit the stands, and I find myself deeply emotional about the event. I had occasion to eulogize the paper once before in 2013 when, after mo…
Missouri native Lynne Overman (1887-1943) was a character actor in vaudeville, legit, and films known for playing sidekicks and sardonic wiseguys. With eyes heavy-lidded, he talked and smile…
Exciting news from B movie maven Lola Rocknrolla: Nefertitty, everybody’s favorite neo-blaxploitation superhero (whom we’ve written about here) is now returning in her own tv sho…
Well naturally, it’s not Elvira’s birthday, but Cassandra Peterson’s and I won’t tell ya what year that is because a gentleman never divulges. Go look it up! Â As f…
Jerry Colonna (Gerardo Luigi Colonna, 1904-1986) is a product of what I think of as “comedy’s most obnoxious era”, the 1940s, when the public seemed to have an endless appe…
Richard “Dick” Smith (Hiram Richard Smith, 1886-1937) was born on this day. Originally from Cleveland, Smith was a vaudeville comedian and an actor and director in silent comedie…
Even if Tommy Bond (1926-2005) had never played the memorable bully “Butch” in Our Gang, he would have had numerous other claims to fame over his several decades in show business…
The great character actress Almira Sessions (Almyra De Camp Sessions, 1888-1974) was born on this day. For over three decades, Sessions was an indispensable, constant presence as a bit playe…
Jackie Cooper (John Cooper, Jr., 1922-2011) is probably the most shining example of a former kid star who managed to stay on top in show business throughout his entire life. Some pretty good…
In 1990 or so I did one of my strange monologues in something called the “No Shame” festival at the Home for Contemporary Theatre and Art, on a bill with John Leguizamo and Aaron…
We promise we’re not obsessed with Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, nor even going through a phase, it’s just that its star Dolly Read’s (1944) birthday is literally the day…
Opening tonight at HERE Arts Center, cakeface’s Stairway to Stardom. The official show description: “With crackling wit and startling honesty, the women of cakeface serve up a…
A brief birthday appreciation for actress/model Cynthia Myers (1950-2011). My introduction to the Toledo-born beauty came via one of my favorite movies, Russ Meyers’ Beyond the Valley …
Child star Dickie Moore (1925-2015) was born this day. I say “child star”, but actually Moore worked in show business in one capacity or another for over 80 years. Moore was not …
German-American beauty Leni Stengel (1901-1982) was born in Berlin on this day, a great niece of the opera composer Friedrich von Flotow. She appeared in two Broadway plays, Princess Tura…
Originally from Jacksonville, Florida, Edgar Connor (1893-1934), started out singing and dancing for coppers on street corners ’til Cole and Johnson put him in their shows The Shoo-Fly…
The Sunday after Labor Day is designated Grandparents Day; we observe it by taking a look at ten police/ detective characters played by late-career actors to the delight of their usually equ…
Adapted from my book Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, released by Bear Manor Media, 100 years ago today (September 9, 1917) Harold Ll…
September 8 is the birthday of Darwood Kenneth Smith (1929-2002) a.k.a. Darwood Kaye, a.k.a. Waldo from Our Gang. Waldo stood out it in the series, for he wasn’t one of the regular…
