11,812 stories by "Trav S.D."
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. …
Billed as "The Boy Magician" long after his boyhood had fled, Frank Ducrot (Theodore Francis Fritz, 1872-1939) performed in vaudeville, Chautauquas, circuses, and tent shows. At various time…
My friend Kathy Biehl is a highly eclectic Renaissance woman: I first met her when she was cast in the Margaret Dumont role in I'll Say She Is, and was a fellow member of the planning commit…
On May 6, 1910, King Edward VII of Britain shuffled off this moral coil. We thought it an appropriate time to briefly explore an historic theatrical form that continues to bear his name, one…
Truth is never simple, so here are some truths: 1) Marxism is a discredited pseudo-science; 2) Karl Marx (1818-1883) was a philosophical genius; 3) Communist Totalitarianism inspired by Marx…
Okay, stay with me, now: as Karl Dane is to George Arthur, so is Kit Guard to Al Cooke. Right now you're probably making a face like Guard (above) but I assure you there is a sense to this c…
A few words this morning on the colorful and worthy topic of Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Jane Cochran, 1864-1922). Bly was an investigative journalist who became a pop culture phenonemon on accoun…
Today is International Firefighters Day as well as the anniversary of Paris's terrible fire at Le Bazar de la Charité. It is fitting that we show firefighters appreciation and respect. H…
