11,754 stories by "Trav S.d."
It is perhaps unfair both to Edith Piaf and to France how strongly we Americans identify the two. For us, she is France’s Mickey Mouse, Marlon Brando and Elvis all rolled into on…
Today is the birthday of Professor Longhair (Henry Roeland Byrd, 1918-1980). While his records were not big national hits, his rhumba and Cuban-inflected brand of New Orleans rhthym and blue…
Today is the birthday of Sir Ralph Richardson (1902-1983). Like Gielgud (but unlike, say. Olivier), I tend to picture him primarily in old age. This is because he was very present as a sc…
No, no, no! We DIDN’T already do The Lost Saucer. The one we’ve already done is Far-Out Space Nuts!  Get it right! THAT one has Bob Denver and Chuck McCann lost in…
Today it has become necessary to teach you about KRAO. The mystery of KRAO. The enigma of KRAO. All eyes are on KRAO. I said, “KRAO”. Why is this man holding the naked KRAO? Male…
British clown Christopher Michael, a.k.a. Mr. Holloway is one of the contemporary “new silent comedians” I talk about in the last chapter of my new book Chain of Fools: Sil…
Today is Keith Richards’ birthday (born 1943). I like the picture above; any dope can post according to expectations. It speaks a lot to Keith’s integrity that public and critica…
Ohio farm girl Fanny Mills (1860-1899) suffered from a condition called Milroy Disease, which caused massive fluid build-up in her dogs. Like a character in some fairy tale, she wore size 30…
“Professor” James Elliott’s act consisted of himself and children Kate, Polly, Annie, Maggie, Thomas, and Mattie performing a “Parisian Quadrille” on bicycles a…
Eugene Levy (born this day in 1946) has the funniest eyebrows in show business. He only has to move one of them to make me helpless with laughter. I think of him as a sort of comedy judo mas…
Today is the birthday of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree (born Herbert Draper Beerbohm, 1852-1917). He was to add the Tree to his name when he became a professional actor because it was easier to …
Like Charles Hawtry, Wee Georgie Wood’s (1895-1975) Q factor is mainly elevated today by the fact that John Lennon uttered his name when fooling around during the Let it Be sessions. (…
This is one in a series of posts we are producing in connection with our new book Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, available from Bear Manor Media…
I don’t care a fig for physical feats — those can be achieved by a rhinoceros as much as a man. My idea of Superman is more like Noel Coward (1899-1973): prolific writer of pl…
For most of my adult life, had you asked me who was the most brilliant, wise, perceptive, brave and penetrating stand up comedian of the modern era I would have said without hesitation Lenny…
This is one in a series of posts we are producing in connection with our new book Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, available from Bear Manor Media…
Today is Rosetta Duncan’s birthday, one half of Stars of Vaudeville #92: The Duncan Sisters (for the full skinny on them go here). Considered one of the greatest sister acts in vaudevi…
Today is Dave Clark’s birthday! (Born 1942) I always think the trivia question “Who was the drummer of the Dave Clark Five?” is like “Who is buried in Grant’s T…
Another great exhibition we took in last night: Circus and the City: New York, 1793-2010 at the  Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture (BGC).…
There is a charming (and free!) little exhibition on Charles Dickens now up at the main branch of the New York Public Library, that’s well worth a pop in off the street to go se…
Today is the birthday of Star of Vaudeville #271: Morey Amsterdam (more on him here). Here he is an irresistaibly charming, very old school turn on a 1964 edition of The Hollywood Palace�…
Long about the early to mid 80s, there was a sea change in the output of some of my favorite contemporary comedians. It confused me. The original phase of Saturday Night Live (1975-1979) had…
Like something out of a fairy tale (Snow White and the Seven Rapunzels), the Sutherland Sisters Seven caused jaws to drop by letting their hair down. The seven were Dora, Grace, Isabella, Ma…
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 of Christopher Plummer (b. 1929). As pa…
This is one in a series of posts we are producing in connection with our new book Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, available from Bear Ma…
