12,036 stories from Trav S.D.
May 22 is World Goth Day " the perfect time to extol the virtues of Becoming Bettie Page, for it seems to be me you can draw a line from those dark beatnik bangs of Bettie Page's to those of…
John LaZar (b.1946) has always blamed his freaky, over-the-top role as Ronnie "Z Man" Barzell in Russ Meyer's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) for his inability to secure a proper, legi…
Magician Tom Selwyn (1878-1950), often billed simply as Selwyn, was a man of both America and the British Empire. Though his parents were British, he was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, and s…
If you're like I was, you've seen Richard Libertini (1933-2016) on screens dozens of times, even recognized him, and even laughed at his performances, without really knowing who he was. My s…
Many's the time I've looked on a silent comedian's get-up and thought of Tin Tin's Thomson and Thompson, but never more so than with respect to Charles Dorety (1898-1957). It turns out that …
Okay, forgive the irreverence of the headline " we thought we'd honor the late Paul Mooney (1941-2021) by emulating the spirit of his comedy. And, besides, he really WAS in the circus. We we…
Slowly, slowly we come out of hibernation! Here are my next two public appearances, one of which is actually live, thanks to the fact that I fully vaxxed! Lower East Side Festival of the Art…
Hats off today to Vonda Kay Van Dyke (b. 1943), the first Miss America to attain that distinction showcasing ventriloquism in the talent portion of the competition. It's funny " it's a commo…
Felix Wehrle (1858-1933) was born in Mount Ida, Wisconsin and discovered in his youth that he possessed the unsettling ability to stretch his skin in great bunches and tug it like taffy. Eve…
The title of this post of course comes from Charles Grodin's best-selling 1990 autobiography It Would Be So Nice If You Weren't Here. (31 years ago, ugh!) Just got the news that he has left …
Today we expend a few syllables to extol the accomplishments of George E. Stone (Gerschon Lichtenstein, 1903-1967). Stone was a supporting player whose roles embraced a wide range of sizes, …
Conway Tearle (Frederick Conway Levy, 1878-1838 was show biz royalty, a star of stage and screen. The "Conway" handle comes from his mother's side of the family, on which he was descended fr…
George H. Adams (1853-1935) was widely regarded as America's 2nd greatest pantomime clown after George Fox. (A little known fact " the panto tradition we associate with the U.S. was a thing …
Herewith, a long-planned post on boxing comedies, having previously done ones on football, baseball, and golf. BTW,FWIW, the football one is among my top ten posts of all time (out of over 6…
B.S. Pully (Murray Lerman, 1910-72) was a legendary burlesque, nightclub and Borscht Belt comedian and stage and screen actor of the mid 20th century, known for his gruff gangster persona an…
It's an interesting question, what makes an "auteur". It has to do with a personal voice, a readily identifiable stamp. Despite blockbuster hits and countless awards, Herbert Ross (1927-2001…
A brief breakdown of the interesting career of Millie Perkins (b.1938). Today Perkins is almost exclusively known for one major role, but I became a much more enthusiastic fan once I discove…
Today we write to honor two unrelated guys named Kent Taylor; one in the form of an obit; one for his birth anniversary. They both wore different kinda hats, The first Kent Taylor (1955-2021…
With the summer season fast approaching, and the increasing near-certitude that we will soon be able to return to Coney Island, it's occured to me that, though I've done 125 posts about the …
There is no single word to describe the strange niche career of Gary Owens (Gary Bernard Altman, 1934-2015). He is best known for his prominent gig on TV's hottest show of the late 1960s and…
There is unavoidable injustice in how character actor George Coe (George Cohen, 1929-2015) is normally described. He was a footnote in a major phenomenon, and that brief hiccup tends to over…
We have two excellent reasons for celebrating Candice Bergen on her 75th birthday. One is that she is the daughter of the great vaudeville, screen and radio star, ventriloquist Edgar Bergen,…
For J.M. Barrie's birthday, we have previously written about his connection to vaudeville, and a couple of versions of his most lastingly famous creation. Today, an overdue post on most of t…
I know, I know, this post is SO 2019, but it wasn't until I watched the most recent film I mention here that I realized that there had been enough versions of this one story to constitute an…
Once again, we are inspired to acknowledge World Collage Day (two years ago we observed it with a post on the Beatles' Revolver). We begin with what is more properly described as decoupage. …
