11,537 stories by "Trav S.D."
Doe Doe Green (Thomas Overton, 1888-1944) started his performing life as a rodeo clown and comedian at the 101 Ranch in his native Oklahoma. He then worked his way east as a comedian on the …
Born this day, actor Larry Hagman (1931-2012). You have to admit that that is a hell of a screen name, up there with Engelbert Humpedinck and Francis X. Bushman, but he managed to transcend …
Arthur Roberts (1852-1933) was a star of British music hall, pantomime, farces, burlesques, revues and musical comedies. He started out busking at seaside resorts in the early 1870s, quickly…
Born 100 years ago today, performing little person Marie Ellen St. Aubin. Trained in dance and acrobatics, St. Aubin became a professional entertainer at the age of 13 at the 1933 Chicago Wo…
The peculiar American invention known as the comic book came into the world in stages but a crucial figure in its evolution was Max Gaines (Maxwell Ginzberg, 1894-1947). Gaines was a salesma…
"Come in and know me better, man!" quoth the Ghost of Christmas Present and I suppose that's the reason I haven't yet treated of so estimable figure as George Robey (Sir George Edward Wade, …
I don't often do posts about individual films as those tend not to be the most popular with readers, but I saw a picture recently that I am strongly motivated to recommend for those with sim…
Elmer P. Ransom (1862-1942, frequently misrendered "Ranson") was, along with Alexander Herrmann, Carl Hertz, Harry Kellar, Imro Fox, Nate Leipzig, Zancig, William Robinson and a handful of o…
Ted McNamara (1894-1928) was an Irish-Australian vaudeville comedian who first came to to the U.S. with Pollard's Lilliputian Opera Company circa 1905, along with Billy Bevan, Alf Goul…
Some tribute today to character actor Jack Warden (John Warden Lebzelter, Jr, 1920-2006). I grew up seeing Warden in supporting parts, usually as aggressive, assertive types, often as athlet…
I've long opined that the mania about Greta Garbo (1905-1990) had more to do with the tediousness and lack of imagination of commentators than the woman herself. Moody, withdrawn, and posses…
Today in 1859, according to some, the natal of Henry McCarty a.k.a. William Bonney a.k.a. Billy the Kid. Long storied as a ruthless killer, I have always found his tale somewhat sad. He fell…
Back in the day (2002-2004) I was quite a devotee of Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn believe it or not. I liked the informal rough and tumble format of the show and frank hashing out of the day…
Rarely do I find contemporary show biz stories as compelling or as inspiring as I do that of magician David Copperfield. In fact, I find his biography far more interesting than his act. …
While you were busy putting out the fires of your life (not literally I hope) you can be forgiven for not noticing that today marks the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower's departure from En…
Blame Allen Funt (1914-1999). As the motive force behind Candid Camera and its predecessor Candid Microphone (1947-2014) Funt may be said to be the father of both reality television and fake…
I first learned about Tom Conway (1904-1967) the old-fashioned way: I saw him in movies, assumed he was George Sanders and then realized that he wasn't. Conway was actually Sander's older br…
Having profiled over 1500 vaudeville veterans on this blog over the last dozen years or so, some may find it curious that I have dragged my heels on any attention for Bobby Short (1924-2005)…
There were a couple of levels to Norm Crosby's (b. 1927) act. His routines were littered with malapropisms of a wide variety of kinds: he either used incorrect words, or correct words mispro…
Once again I find myself at a crossroads: but that's what the name "Travis" means, I'm literally always "at the crossroads" Not that it's all that objectively significant but I'm unavoidably…
Here are places where you may have seen Ruth McDevitt (Ruth Thane Shoecraft, 1895-1976): she was a regular on Kolchak: The Night Stalker (as Emily, the columnist); had a recurring role on Al…
I first encountered the name Walter B. Gibson (1897-1985) as one of the co-authors of Houdini on Magic. Gibson is a hard man to nail down, for he often wrote under pseudonyms, such as Maxwel…
We consider one of the missions of this blog to establish as best we can connections to past figures who can seem quite distant. Thus today we give you some relatively minor figures from …
Pearl Williams (Pearl Wolfe, 1914-1991) was one of a generation of raunchy entertainers who emerged in the 1950s and '60s and specialized mainly in comedy records. Some, like Lenny Bruce, ma…
Yeah, I said it! I'd been half-planning this post anyway, but the other day I was running down (critically disparaging) the movies of another SNL alum (okay, I'll name him, Will Ferrell) and…
