11,534 stories by "Trav S.D."
Aloha, Friends and Frenemies! We've been laying low the last few tumultuous weeks but I'm here to tell ya today that there is much in the works for February and beyond, so please take heed a…
Composer Hugo Riesenfeld (1879-1939) was a character at once interesting and pivotal to show business history, foundational to the early movie industry. Born in Vienna, Riesenfeld graduated …
A wave of the wand on behalf of Gerald Heaney (1899-1974) a.k.a. The Great Heaney. Heaney was a kid working at his dad's jewelry store in Berlin, Wisconsin when he chanced to meet Blackstone…
I first became interested in Joan Leslie (Joan Agnes Theresa Sadie Brodel, 1925-2015) when I noted that she was one of the few key cast members of Yankee Doodle Dandy I knew nothing about! (…
As Gracie Allen was to George Burns, as Mary Livingstone was to Jack Benny, so was Portland Hoffa (1905-1990) to Fred Allen. Hoffa was both Allen's wife and his comedy partner on stage and r…
I strongly suspect that plus-sized paragon Amelia Hill (b. circa 1865) was a New York native, based on her repeated stittings at the Charles Eisenmann photo studio, and later references to h…
As an 80th birthday present I have thrown away my entire previous post on Neil Diamond, in which I called him "Elvis for old Jewish ladies". I hurt a friend's feelings with that one, and upo…
As we mentioned the other day in our Herbert Rice post, this weekend the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum is hosting a couple of programs related to the use of illustrated songs, presented b…
I was a huge fan of Puerto Rican-American actor Gregory Sierra (b. 1937) whom we learned late last night passed away of cancer back on January 4. The early to mid-70s were Sierra's heyday, w…
George Balanchine (Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze, 1904-1983) is revered as the co-founder (in 1948) and longtime artistic director of the New York City Ballet and the associated School …
Though it has been released and in my possession for a good little while I have held this plug for Gay Marshall's most recent album 'til today for symbolic reasons. We first caught Gay's act…
We love that America's loveable new father figure took his oath of office on the birthday of Leon Ames (1902-1993), who played dads in Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), Little Women (194…
Before the homonymic Supermen George Reeves and Christopher Reeve, there was yet another muscle man to bear the suname on movie screens, a body builder who had held the title of Mr. America …
We have several reasons (four, to be precise) for being enthusiastic about little person Herbert Henry Rice (1887-1938), who was born on this day (January 21). The first is that he was born …
My first witness to the transfer of Presidential power was the real-time sight of Richard Nixon getting onto a helicopter, having resigned his office in disgrace. Though I was too young to e…
I was tempted to subtitle this post "The Luckiest Guy in the World", for the subject of our article was. Robert Ozell Mosely (1922-1996) was an off duty coast guard sailor who was spotted by…
This Martin Luther King Day, I share a little post on What-Might-Have-Been and What-Might-Could-Be. Out of curiosity I did a little delve into King's television presence in the '60s. As you …
A few jottings on Virginia Valli (Virginia McSweeney, 1895-1968), a star of the silent era and the first couple of years of talkies. Today she is most notable for co-starring with Carmelita …
Having just got the news of Phil Spector's death, and realizing that 2021 will mark the 20th year since George Harrison's passing, and that we JUST passed the 50th anniversary of the release…
Applause this morning for American stage star Edna Wallace Hopper (Edna Margaret Augusta Wallace, 1872-1959). The San Francisco native started out in vaudeville and with stock companies, ori…
British born William Northcroft (1863-1935) went by Wilfred North as a man of the stage, and Wilfrid North as an actor and director in films. Of his early years little is known but between 1…
The Father of Modern Comedy, Molière (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, 1622-1673) was baptized of a January 15, though probably born a day or more earlier. His professional name is likely derived fr…
Today we doff our top hat to circus "fat lady" Ida Williams, born Columbus Ohio, circa 1860s. Ida's maximum weight was in the neighborhood of 566 lbs. She is known to have performed from the…
Like millions of people I'll bet, I first knew Marjoe Gortner (b. 1944) from his key role in the 1974 blockbuster Earthquake. There are many remarkable, memorable things about this landmark …
If there hadn't been a guy named Harry Bernard (1878-1940), I might have invented one, for his handle combined the first names of Harry Langdon, Harry Gribbon, Harry Richman, Harry Jolson, H…
