11,542 stories by "Trav S.D."
Were the Holts the First Family of westerns? A defensible claim could be made, though they certainly made their mark in other genres, as well. Venerable old Jack Holt (Charles John Holt, 188…
If not for her early death at age 29, the likelihood is strong that more people might know the name of Mabel Hite (1883-1912), for there might have been some films to remember her by. I'm st…
Lillian Powell (1896-1992) had a good name for a famous person, combining the first name of Lillian Russell, Lillian Lorraine, Lillian Herlein, Lillian Gish, Lillian Leitzel, Lillian R…
The visage (and gams) of Iris Adrian (Iris Adrian Hotstetter, 1912-1994) will be familiar to any old time movie buff. She specialized in playing tough cookies, gum-chewing chorus girls, and …
What a colorful, enviable career was the portion of Richard "Dick" Lane (1899-1982), whose career encompassed vaudeville, radio, comedy shorts, B movies, major features, and television. He w…
I normally don't regard what I do on this blog as trivia. If someone was a major Broadway star for three decades a century ago, to me that's not trivia, that's theatre history. It's only tri…
Lucile Watson (1879-1962) was one of those actresses we think of as only having ever been old, for almost the entirety of her screen career took place during the 20 year period 1934-1954, wh…
Hear ye, hear ye, announcing OLD SCHOOL, my new series of Zoom talks, which I'm launching on D-Day, just like the Invasion of Europe. Talks wiil be every 1st and 3rd Saturday throughout the …
It's once again World Dracula Day! And as we promised in our previous post about actors who've played Dracula, here's a look at actors who've played comedy versions of Dracula or similar com…
For National Brothers Day, some fragments on The Irwin Brothers. The Irwin Brothers (George, Jacob, Fred, Bill and James) were an acrobatic and equestrian act from Buffalo that did balance s…
Today thanks to a happy accident, Memorial Day and National Tap Dance Day coincide this year. I thought it might be apropos to observe them both with a look at patriotic Hollywood musicals o…
Jeanne Crain (1925-2003) represents an interesting and somewhat rare phenomenon: she is at the center of numerous important, popular, and lasting classic movies " but one tends to remember t…
May 24 is National Brothers Day, and we take the occasion to present you with a round-up many of the great brother acts of vaudeville. In comedy there were the Marx Brothers, the Ritz Brothe…
Happy birthday to my son, Charlie! Â I penned this song for him when he turned 21 last year (as I had previously shared a song to his brother), but I post it now publicly because it now do…
Happy birthday to a dame I believe I can safely declare to be the sexist 87 year old in the world, Dame Joan Collins (b. 1933). YES. I can't stop staying that. DAME Joan Collins. She was giv…
Today a look at singer, socialite, activist, philanthropist, social progressive, and all around trouble magnet and tabloid topic Libby Holman (Elizabeth Holzman, 1904-1971), whose time of re…
Today's guest post is by international super-sleuth Carolyn Raship. Today, on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 171st birthday we celebrate him and his essential creation, consulting detective Sh…
Is it good or bad that I began World Goth Day by breaking my Edgar Allan Poe mug into a million pieces on the kitchen floor this morning? On the one hand, it sucks. On the other hand, it is …
I share this cockamamie little post with you in observation of National Maritime Day (May 22). It concerns a now obscure historical cul-de-sac that I've become sort of obsessed with via a ha…
Today we show respect to the very large personality known as Mr. T (Lawrence Turead, b. 1952). Reduced by the public to a catchphrase and an iconic look, Mr. T. is actually a complex welter …
Some attention today for Johnny Burke (1881-1952), but not the songwriter who penned Tin Pan Alley tunes with Jimmy Van Heusen " that's a topic for a different day. This Johnny Burke was a v…
Edith Fellows (1923-2011) is chiefly remembered as a child star, although her career lasted (with gaps) for over 65 years. Fellows was only five years old when cast as a bratty kid in the hi…
 Marie Lloyd Jr (Maud Courtenay, 1888-1967) was the daughter of the top English music hall star of her day. Her mother, Marie Lloyd was only 18 years old when she was born and already a …
Mary Howard (1913-2009) first came on to my radar as the ingenue in the Frank Morgan classic The Wild Man of Borneo (1941), originally devised as a vehicle for W.C. Fields. Her credits we…
Ruth Donnelly (1896-1982) figured as a character actress in a number of classic comedies and musicals such as Alibi Ike (1935) with Joe E. Brown, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), the "Annabel"…
