11,515 stories by "Trav S.D."
Look who I ran into trick or treating last night! These kids reminded me that I have a deadline coming up, the first of my Socko Centennial Saturday Series, this one celebrating a full centu…
Born 100 years ago today: George S. Irving (Irving Shelaskey, 1922-2016). You merely think you don't know who that is. Irving's best known credit is the role of Heat Miser in the 'Rankin-Bas…
Here's a Halloween monster for yer. I obviously don't celebrate Jimmy Savile (1926-2011) but it resonates that his birthday was October 31, when horrors traditionally walk abroad in full vie…
We were so sorry to hear this morning that Naimah Hassan passed away on October 25, which just so happens to have been the anniversary of her first date with her husband and artistic partner…
Kevin Pollak (b. 1957) has been a valued Hollywood character actor for so long that I managed to forget something I knew well 30 years ago " that he's a hilarious stand-up comedian and old s…
If you're my age or older you know this comic/advertisement well. It was published in comic books and similar publications for decades, as late as my childhood (the 1970s), advertising the e…
I have no idea how or why Dink Stewart wound up on my to do list, but the facts are these: African American performer Benjamin "Dink" Stewart (1877-1951), was born in Greenup County, Kentuck…
The best remembered work of Georgia Caine (1876-1964) came at the end of her career. Her turn as Barbara Stanwyck's scheming mother in Remember the Night (1940) resulted in her becoming part…
The name Akim Tamiroff (Hovakim Tamiryants, 1899-1972) ought to be much better known. Though there is some consolation in his indirect memory: many believe him to have been the inspiration f…
I'm going to go ahead and assume that October 29 is National Cat Day because it's close to Halloween, when coal black familiars arch their backs and hiss against the backdrop of a full moon.…
I'm not sure, but Winona Ryder (b. 1971) may be the first star younger than me that I've profiled here. (As always, if I'm wrong feel free not to correct me!) The idea for this post occurred…
This post serves double duty " a salute to National Immigrants Day, and a send-off to TV sitcom creator/producer Dale McRaven, who passed away on September 5 at age 83. Perfect Strangers ran…
Not only could fill an entire blog with entries strictly about President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt (1858-1919) a.k.a. T.R. but *I* could, having read several books about him, not to mention…
Born this day, playwright George Middleton (1880-1967). Was he a relative of the great Jacobean playwright? I'd assert that it's more likely than not, though the cautious may feel free to di…
Well I hope you know that the title of this post is due to the fact that the original Tony Pastor was the father of vaudeville. We have been frustrated on occasion in googling that important…
Last night we heard that Jules Bass (b. 1935) of Rankin-Bass fame has passed away at age 87. Having already done a post on the Rankin-Bass Christmas/Holiday specials, our natural thought tod…
I haven't been able to learn what movie Charley Chase is promoting in the still above, but he certainly seems well attuned to the comic potential of the mule. It's Mule Appreciation Day and …
It's surely no coincidence that International Dwarfism Awareness Day takes place on the birthday of Billy Barty, screen star and co-founder of the Little People of America. Barty did a lot f…
October 25 was the natal day of the great English-American actor Leo G. Carroll; as it happens we have also just passed the 50th anniversary of his passing (October 16, 1972). Thanks to The …
It's hard to tell where World Zombie Day is at these day " it may have happened on October 13, though trying to find news about it makes me feel like a post-apocalyptic grandpa in his baseme…
Africa has been my mind a lot lately and not just because I watched Idris Elba have an implausible confrontation with a crazy lion the other night in Beast. My son is doing his country proud…
Author Michael Crichton (1942-2008) would be 80 today, had cancer not taken him prematurely several years ago. An irony there, for he was a medical doctor (he possessed an M.D. but never pra…
Today marks the centennial of the birth of movie star Coleen Gray (Doris Jensen, 1922-2015). And yes the word "star" is used accurately here: Gray was top or second-billed in dozens of Holly…
Annette Funicello (1942-2013) would have been 80 years old today if not for her sad, early death a decade ago. Teenage stardom and early retirement due to illness means that she'll forever b…
For someone whose screen footprint was so small, and whose life was so short, Patricia "Boots" Mallory (1913-1958) managed to cram a lot of interesting stuff anyway. Born in New Orleans and …
