11,750 stories by "Trav S.d."
Just got word that Amiri Baraka has passed on. I don’t know how comfortable I am with “Rest in Peace” — he certainly said and espoused a peck of heinous ideas over th…
Today is the birthday of Vilma Bánky (Vilma Koncsis, 1901-1991). Hungarian-born, her film career began in Europe in 1919. A film from this early phase of her that grabs our especial…
Today at 4:45pm Eastern, Turner Classic Movies will be showing that sui generis 1939 comedy/horror film/ murder mystery The Gorilla. Largely a parody of The Bat, the film concerns a…
Today is the birthday of Bernard Gorcey (1886-1955). Russian Jewish, and all of 4’10″ in adulthood, he came to the U.S. with his wife Josie (who was all of 4′ 11″) to…
I don’t usually do listicles here; I prefer trying to do some actual writing since I’m not getting paid for it and my only rewards are absolute sovereignty and self-indulgence. B…
Another post in honor of the King’s birthday (see previous post here). Thought I would take a moment to nod my Stetson in the direction of this most unusual hybrid of a movie. Wild …
Originally posted in 2011 Today is the birthday of the great Soup Sales (Milton Supman, 1926-2009) When I was a kid growing up in the 70s, Soupy was one of that army of scores of mysterious …
Today is the birthday of the distinguished actor and director José Ferrer (José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón, 1912-1992). Ferrer possessed a natural dignity, intelligence and comma…
Today is the birthday of Adolph Zukor (1873-1976). In the unlikely event you didn’t know, Zukor was the founder and long time President, then Chairman of the Board of Paramount Picture…
Today is the birthday of the great folklorist, anthropologist and writer Zora Neal Hurston (1891-1960). The daughter of an Alabama sharecropper and preacher, her life’s journey took he…
Today is the birthday of Myrtle Vail (1888-1978), a lady with three interesting legs to her career. The first phase was vaudeville, in which she performed with her husband George Damerel. In…
It’s Loretta Young's birthday today (1913-2000). Few people know it but her career began during the silent era. She was four years old when she began acting in films. And she was all o…
 Today is the birthday of Florence Turner (1885-1946). New York native Turner began acting onstage at the age of three, and was a relatively elderly 22 when she went to work for Vitagraph…
Today, as we posted earlier, is the birthday of director Eddie Sutherland. Usually associated with comedies, he did make a couple of horror movies, the straighter of which was the 1933 shock…
Today is the birthday of Marilyn Manson (Brian Hugh Warner, b. 1969). I had long pondered the curious word choice of Manson and others in his field (heavy metal, theatrical rock and roll) wh…
Sundays at Midnight in January (technically early Monday mornings) TCMÂ is showing a bevy of classic Fatty Arbuckle shorts from the early Mack Sennett days. Your correspondent has seen …
 And that person is Michael O’Donoghue (1940-1995). This is not submitted for a debate; it’s a fact. The source of that fact is an infallible oracle: me. O’Donoghue was…
Today is the birthday of Albert Edward “Eddie” Sutherland (1895-1973). On his mother’s side Sutherland was a sixth generation member of a theatrical dynasty. His mother Jul…
Although the specific date isn’t known, January is supposed to be the right birth month for Charles Inslee (1870-1922.) Inslee is best known today for being a member of Chaplin’s…
Just heard via the Oracle of O’Malley that Phil Everly has passed on (heart disease). A sad benchmark! The influence of the Everly Brothers is incaluable: Lennon and McCartney…
Given the meteorological state of affairs in the Northeast, it seemed a fitting day to give props to the 1977 made-for-television movie Snowbeast. Well, not too many props. It’s not…
Today is the birthday of Pola Negri (Apolonia ChaÅ‚upiec, 1897-1987). Polish born, she originally trained as a dancer until illness compelled her to focus instead on the dramatic arts. Su…
Today is the birthday of Giovanni Bartolomeo Bosco (1793-1863). Bosco was a magician so popular and influential that many others later appropriated his name. He is mostly commonly mentioned …
Today is the birthday, according to some sources, of Jane Barnell, known professionally as Lady Olga Roderick. (Two different birth dates are given for her, depending on the source: January …
Today is the birthday of Joseph L. Greenstein, a.k.a The Mighty Atom (1893-1977). Greenstein was not only one of the premier circus strongmen of the 20th century, but, because he continued t…
