11,754 stories by "Trav S.d."
Seem like an odd one for me to plug? Not really — it’s 19th century history after all. It’s about the Manchu Empress Cixi (1835-1908), who “ruled China from behind th…
Today’s is the birthday of Don Ameche (Dominic Amici, 1908-1993). Ameche got his start performing in college theatricals in his native Wisconsin. From here he traveled with a stock com…
Originally Posted in 2009. With his dour, doleful expression and his deadpan delivery it was perhaps inevitable that Fred Allen would make his greatest permanent mark in radio. On film, …
Filed under: Burlesk, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: Brian Newman, burlesque, Jade Hotel, Red Room Revue
Very excited for old Brick friends Jon Bulette, Jay Klaitz and Nils D’Aulaire whose new film The History of Future Folk opens at Cinema Village Tomorrow. These are extremely funn…
Today is the birthday of Melvin Jerome “Mel” Blank [original spelling] (1908-1989). Everyone knows him as voice-over actor of all the classic Warner Bros cartoon characters: Bugs…
Originally posted in 2010. A problematic figure in these annals, Stepin Fetchit is much maligned nowadays for having played a shiftless, shuffling, mumbling, lazy no account servant in H…
This exciting new show is every Thursday night at 8pm at Times Scare (669 8th Ave between 42nd and 43rd). As they describe it: “Times Scare in conjunction with Todd Robbins (Play De…
Originally posted in 2009 As we have seen, personality was everything vaudeville. Pretty music aside, a major factor in the success of a band was a colorful and entertaining bandleader. Bern…
There are two Little Jack Littles in the annals of show business:. One is a dwarf comedian who worked in burlesque (unfortunately not the subject of today’s post). At all events, Â t…
Mademoiselle Gabrielle (1884-?) is one of the very few human oddities known to have performed in vaudeville (as opposed to circuses, sideshows, and dime museums, although she certainly perfo…
Today is the birthday of The Great Raymond (Maurice Francois Sanders, 1877-1948). His magic career began as a child when we worked as an assistant to his uncle. At age ten he was performing …
 Today is the 100th anniversary of the release of the Keystone short The Gangsters, directed by Henry Lehrman. It features Roscoe Arbuckle (right, in the photo above) in one of his…
Bea Lillie was one of the most beloved performers in show business history, adored by both her fans and colleagues alike. She appeared at a glance to be very proper and British but could be …
It being Bob Hope’s birthday and all, and because I watched (and re-watched) all these movies recently it seems a fitting task to provide this handy thumbnail of the 7+ Hope and Crosby…
Originally posted in 2009. Perhaps no more polarizing figure exists in these annals than that of Bob Hope. Years ago, a baby boomer friend spotted a copy of Don't Shoot, It's Only Me, Bob Ho…
Today is the birthday of Armida Vendrell (1911-1989), billed in show business simply as “Armida”. Born in Mexico, Armida was the daughter of the magician Joaquin Vendrell, who bi…
Bob Hope’s birthday is tomorrow; see this blog for no less than two posts about him when the sun comes up. Hope was my maternal grandfather’s favorite comedian; my dad hated him.…
Filed under: Horror (Mostly Gothic), Melodrama and Master Thespians, PLUGS Tagged: acting class, Grand Guignol, melodrama
I think I can say with perfect confidence that Steve Massa is one of the most knowledgeable people in the world on the subject of early movie comedy. He has been at it since childhood, and h…
 Today is the birthday of Hank Mann (David Lieberman, 1888-1971), known best from his role as Charlie Chaplin’s boxing opponent in City Lights in 1931. Chaplin had known and …
 Today is the birthday of comedy screenwriter Edward Ullman (1903-1985). Initially a humor writer for magazines, he was hired by Columbia Pictures in 1932 to pen comedy shorts for the li…
The Hall of Hams is my series on some of my favorite actors who have brought the art of melodramatic acting into the modern era. Yes! It’s really true! Christopher Lee’s birt…
The Hall of Hams is my series on some of my favorite actors who have brought the art of melodramatic acting into the modern era. Today is the birthday to be esteemed for his stature…
Today is the birthday of James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok (1837-1876). After years as a famous law man, soldier, scout and trouble-maker, in 1867 he followed in Buffalo Bill Co…
