11,537 stories by "Trav S.D."
Some brief remembrance today for Wilbur Mack (George Frear Runyon, 1873-1964) and his two wives/ vaudeville partners Nella Walker (1886-1971) and Gertrude Purdy. Mack was from Binghamton…
The photo above indicates the kind of roles Patsy O'Byrne (1883-1968) was known for playing: biddies, scolds, gossips, neighbor ladies, and very often cooks and maids. Her beginnings are mur…
Disinfect your seats, Old School is in Session! But first a reminder that this Thurs.  July 30 at 7:30pm (Eastern) we have Trav S.D.'s History of Drag in Vaudeville in Dixon Place's…
It is with heavy heart that I report the permanent closure of Chumley's bar, an NYC institution, just months shy of its centennial anniversary. Chumleys's is just the latest in a series of b…
I have had some three dozen occasions to mention character actor Keenan Wynn (1916-1986) on this blog, and I've even delivered a talk about him, but I've not given him his own post on Tra…
Half-Irish, half-Albanian appears to be an impeccable genetic cocktail. There's only two I know about, and both are pretty impressive. One is my wife. The other is the late Regis Philbin, wh…
Today, some love for the Second City, on the anniversary of Chicago's worst disaster ever in terms of loss of life. You might think such stories out of our wheelhouse, but as with similar…
Gloria DeHaven (1925-2016) was born into show business, the daughter of vaudeville, stage and screen veterans Carter DeHaven and Flora Parker. Carter DeHaven was assistant director on…
I was half-fixin' to do a post on this delightful discovery already, but kindred spirit Farran Nehme's endorsement of the film this morning sealed the deal. I caught Blondie of the FolliesÂ…
A brief celebration today of Arthur Marx (1921-2011), best known and most accomplished of any of the Marx Brothers' offspring. Arthur was Groucho's oldest child (named after Harpo), and it s…
We got a much appreciated morale boost over the weekend, when the Silent Clowns guys Ben Model and Steve Massa gave our book Chain of Fools a wonderful endorsement on their online show Th…
Thank you, Pop Haydn, for reminding me about pathbreaking performer Richard Potter (1783-1835), whom I'd first encountered in books like Conjure Times: Black Magicians in America by Jim Hask…
I could be writing about Dion and the Belmonts this morning, but my wife has just done this wonderful portrait of me, and I just came across a great paragraph which provides a partial explan…
I became aware of actress/singer Irene Manning (1912-2004) via performances in two show biz bio pics. The first, a somewhat, snooty one dimensional portrayal of Fay Templeton in Yankee Doodl…
Tall, lanky Roy Raymond "Skeeter Bill" Robbins (1887-1933) only appeared in just over a dozen films, all of them westerns. Ten were of them were as Hoot Gibson's comic relief and were made b…
July 16 was the natal day of Norah Blaney (Nora Cordwell, 1893-1983); July 14 the birthday of her stage (and romantic) partner Gwendoline "Gwen" Farrar (1897-1944). The pair were major st…
Edward Earle (1882-1972) is third-billed in Buster Keaton's Spite Marriage (1929), which is undoubtedly how he came to our attention. He amassed nearly 450 screen credits over his 50 year fi…
There are several discrete pieces to the stage and screen career of actor Raymond Hackett (1902-1958). Along with his older brother Albert, he was first a Broadway child actor, managed by th…
Happy Bastille Day! In celebration of the French nation, we have this coming up: * Saturday, July 18, 2020 at 12:00pm Eastern I'll be giving a post-Bastille Day Zoom talk on How the Frenc…
Born this day, British ventriloquist A.C. Astor (Thomas Ferguson, 1890-1966). Astor was born and raised in Carlisle, England. He started out performing in pantomimes, and by 1920 was a top h…
I first became aware of the team of Arren and Broderick through their appearance in Broadway Melody of 1940 with Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell, and George Murphy. In that film, Charlotte Arre…
Well someone needs to find a more attractive and catchy phraseology for these here live streaming presentations, and I ain't got one yet, so I'll just tell you in those words: got some live …
A horrific milestone in the lives of Baby Boomers today " Ringo Starr of the Beatles is turning 80. As such, Ringo (Richard Starkey, MBE, b. 1940) is certainly among the oldest of his genera…
We are nothing if not thorough on Travalanche. But only reasonably thorough. Frank Morgan had ten siblings but we shan't be doing posts on them all. It's just that his older brother Ralph (R…
Those of us of a certain age will remember Milburn Stone (1904-1980) from his role as Doc Adams (1955-1975) on the long-running western Gunsmoke. How delightful to learn this morning that no…
