11,754 stories by "Trav S.d."
A post in celebration of Women’s History Month The Fadettes (1888-1920) were a Boston-based all female orchestra led by Caroline B. Nichols. From a sextet the band expanded to 20 pi…
Today is the birthday of Gracie Doll (Freida Schneider, 1888-1970), one of the quartet of four German midget siblings known as the Doll Family. Along with her brother Harry (best known for h…
Today is Shemp’s birthday! For more on his involvement with the Three Stooges see my article here. What didn’t really get covered in that post is Shemp’s awesome solo caree…
Today at 2pm Eastern, TCM is screening a bit of show business history. The Horn Blows at Midnight (1945) was Jack Benny’s last feature film, and was so legendarily bad that Benny immor…
A post in honor of Women’s History Month. Beatrice Herford (1868-1952) was one of the very first women monologists, i.e., comical storytellers of the modern stage. The daught…
Today is the birthday of jazz coronetist (and piano player) Bix Beiderbecke (1903-1931). A native of Davenport, Iowa, he was a product of private schools who found himself irresistably drawn…
A post in celebration of Women’s History Month. Irene Woodward (1862-1915) was New York’s second tattooed lady, having launched her career a scant few weeks after the first, N…
A post in celebration of Women’s History Month. Today is the birthday of Raquel Meller (1888-1962). Born Francisca Romana Marques Lopez, she became a star of Spanish cabaret and mus…
Today is the birthday of the great American actor Edwin Forrest (1806-1872). How amusing to note that his birthday is a just a few days away from that of his arch-nemesis William Macr…
Today is the birthday of the diminutive silent comedian Bobby Vernon (1897-1939). A second generation actor, he began his career in vaudeville as an understudy to the teamn of Kolb and Dill.…
Today is the birthday of Star of Vaudeville #130: Eddie Foy (for more on this major show business figure see my earlier post). In 1964 Bob Hope, who’d played Foy in the classic 1955 fi…
Was hoping to catch some video of these breakdancers but a second later a cop came in and the kids stopped right away. But I accidentally caught this cool moment. I’ve always wanted to…
Today is the birthday of Ella Ewing (1872- 1913) A native of Gorin, Missouri, her growth spurt began when she was nine and by the time she stopped growing she was 8′ 4.5″ tall. (…
Tomorrow, March 9, at 2:30pm, The Silent Clowns Film Series will be showing Harold Lloyd’s 1927 feature The Kid Brother plus the 1918 short Why Pick On Me? As always, the screening …
Tomorrow morning at 6am Eastern, TCM will be showing Naughty Marietta, MGM’s 1935 adaptation of Victor Herbert’s 1910 hit show. Who’s crazy enough to get up at the crack…
This opens today! We’ll see what we shall see! Look for a review here early next week. ’til then here’s my old squib about L. Frank Baum and his creations…. Filed und…
Today is the birthday of Mickey Dolenz. As everyone who’s anyone knows, The Monkees was not Dolenz’s first starring television series, nor even his longest lasting. No, that was …
Today is the birthday of Star of Vaudeville #129 Anna Held (for more on her go here). In the clip below from the movie Ziegfeld: The Man and His Women, Held is played by Barbara …
A post in celebration of Women’s History Month. Carmencita Daucet (circa 1870-1895) was a French native who studied and performed with a troupe of traditional Spanish dancers. Much lik…
Today is the birthday of Laugh-In regular Alan Sues (1926-2011). During his career he was usually characterized by the euphemisms “flamboyant”, “campy”, or “ove…
Okay, someone has to make this into a movie. The younger brother of Scott of the Antarctic (the Quixotic but brave polar explorer who came in second to the South Pole after Roald Amundsen) w…
Good news! In conjunction with the release of our new book Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube we are Bear Manor Media’s Author of the Wee…
Today is the 100th anniversary of the release of The Rural Third Degree, Edgar Kennedy’s first confirmed appearance in a Keystone film. While he does play a Kop in this film, the ab…
Well, we meant to take a couple of months off, but we ended up taking a year. That’s how it flies sometimes in this cockamamie chicken coop. Anyway, we’re back with our old schoo…
Today is Lou Costello’s birthday. Readers of Chain of Fools and this blog know I’m not the hugest Costello fan. I find his personality abrasive and don’t see that he …
