11,749 stories by "Trav S.d."
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Marx Brothers movie Love Happy (1950). Because life is never simple, Love Happy is one of no less than three “last…
Last weekend I enjoyed a wonderful program at the Ziegfeld Society to promote Carolyn Quinn’s new book Mama Rose’s Turn, the first ever biography of Rose Hovick — that i…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Mack Sennett feature length comedy Yankee Doodle in Berlin (1919). This WWI-era patriotic comedy is doubly interesting to us: 1) bec…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the early Harry Langdon comedy Smile, Please (1924). This film is from before the convening of the creative team that would make Langdon fa…
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the release of the Keystone comedy A Film Johnnie. This was the first of many improvised comedies starring Charlie Chaplin and his cohorts, as they do…
Set your DVRs (or just stay up past the Oscars). Tomorrow at 12:45am (Eastern) Turner Classic Movies will be showing a great forgotten classic, 1935′s Ruggles of Red Gap. (I real…
Today is the birthday of Jack White (Jacob Weiss, 1897-1984). Not a performer himself, he was an important writer, director and producer of comedy shorts during the formative years of the in…
Jenny Lee and Elvira Snow are the two pinheads in the movie Freaks who are not Schlitzie. Billed betimes as “Pip and Zip” or “Pip and Flip” or “Pippo and Zippo&…
In March of 1923, Buster Keaton released The Love Nest, his last silent comedy short (thereafter he moved on to features). The title of the film is misleading. The Love Nest is n…
In March of 1922, Buster Keaton released one of the most perfectly constructed of his short comedies, Cops. In the film, he plays a most unlucky furniture mover who has the misfortune …
Today is the anniversary of the release date of Harry Langdon’s 1925 comedy short His Marriage Wow, directed by Harry Edwards, and co-written by Arthur Ripley for Mack Sennett…
Today is the birthday of film director William Wellman (1896-1975). Responsible for many masterpieces, today we celebrate one we thought would be of especial interest to our readers: 1943…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Buster Keaton talkie Parlor, Bedroom and Bath (1931). Directed by Eddie Sedgwick, the film was adapted from a sophisticated Broadway fa…
This month and next our favorite silent comedy screening series The Silent Clowns will be celebrating Charlie Chaplin’s 100 years in pictures by highlighting some of the greatest films…
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the release date of the Keystone comedy Between Showers. This funny silent comedy short is one of only a couple where two of my favorite comedy stars Cha…
Tonight at 11pm E.S.T. on Turner Classic Movies, a rare chance to see Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in their co-starring 1931 vehicle The Guardsman. The famous theatrical couple mad…
The Friends of the Loew’s (Jersey City) deserve better than this.  They’re getting railroaded by a bunch of crummy pols. Jersey City wants to sell the Loew’s Theat…
John Strausbaugh was the editor of the now-defunct The New York Press, when it was, for my money, the most exciting publication in New York City. Nowadays he free-lances, does interest…
Today is the birthday of the great English actress Dame Ellen Terry (1847-1928). A professional for almost seven decades, her life interacted with almost everyone of consequence in the Engli…
Tomorrow morning at 5:15 E.S.T., Turner Classic Movies will be playing a movie I’ve wanted to check out for a long time. Coquette (1929) was not only Mary Pickford’s first …
In an otherwise terrific piece by Barbara Hoffman in today’s New York Post about a new Basquiat auction and showing at Christies, I came across this humdinger in a quote by Christies&#…
Today is the birthday of the great comic heavy Stanley “Tiny” Sandford (1894-1961). Sandford was usually an uncredited bit player, often cast as bouncers, cops, bullies, boxers, …
Today is the anniversary of the release date pf Charlie Chaplin’s last comedy short The Pilgrim (1923). The Pilgrim is essentially a remake of Chaplin’s earlier picturesÂ�…
Just a quick note to plug the new soundtrack CD from Chip Deffaa’s recent show Irving Berlin’s America. Michael Townsend Wright (well known to many of our readers) play…
Today is the release date of the hilarious Laurel and Hardy comedy Twice Two (1933). As the title implies, this is a doubling comedy, a device the team often relied on (see also Brats,…
