11,813 stories by "Trav S.D."
F. Richard Jones (1893-1930) was a director of great silent comedy classics and was positioned to be one of the top directors of talking pictures for a good many years if tuberculosis hadn't…
We have just received the sad news that Carol Lynley has died at the age of 77. Lynley was one of the stars of the very first movie I ever saw in a cinema, and still my SECOND favorite movie…
Today, according to some sources, is the birthday of a man who has been called The Father Of Jazz, Buddy Bolden, whom we wrote a little about here. It seemed a fitting way to observe the day…
Some words of acknowledgment today for actress Florence Eldridge (Florence McKenchie, 1901-88), not just because it is her birthday, but also because we'll be speaking about her in a few day…
Harry Myers is best remembered today for his last silent role, the drunken millionaire in Charlie Chaplin's City Lights (1931). The Connecticut born Myers had been an actor for 30 years by t…
If it's not too far a journey (and even it is, for it'll be worth it) please join me on September 17, 7:30pm at Great Neck House, 14 Arrandale Ave., Great Neck for a talk that will embrace t…
Mitzi Gaynor (b. 1931) was born too late for vaudeville, but she portrayed numerous important vaudevillians on the screen, and certainly was a major player in television variety. Gaynor is a…
Fans of Frank Capra's 1936 classic Mr. Deeds Goes to Town may be delighted to learn that the characters of Jane and Amy Faulkner, the "pixilated sisters", who testify at Deeds' trial, were a…
Meinhardt Raabe (1915-2010) is an interesting outlier amongst the Little People who played Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz (1939). Unlike Singer's Midgets, the Doll Family or Jerry Maren, Raab…
Myrtle Lind (1898-1993) sent most of her career as an ensemble player with Mack Sennett and other comedy studios. Raised in Mankato, Minnesota, she attended local drama schools and appeared …
Chicago born Irene Dalton (1900-1934) followed her older sister Dorothy Dalton into pictures in 1920 following a few years as a stenographer. (Dorothy's film career had begun in 1914. She wa…
There seems to be a surfeit of Burnses in the classic comedy world. We've already written about Sammy Burns and Neal Burns, and later there was Bob Burns, the Arkansas Traveler, inventor of …
We refer to her as the other Peggy Shaw, because first in our hearts is the pioneering performance artist/ member of the team Split Britches. But today's subject has her own claim on fame. B…
Buffalo native John R. Cumpson (1866-1913), may be better remembered by the names of his two hit comedy series (Jones and Bumptious) and only then by hardcore silent comedy fans. He was one …
Jay R. Smith (1915-2002) might have understandably considered himself to have outlived the famous Our Gang curse. He'd made it to the 21st century, whereas so many of the famous crop of chil…
Harry Delf (1892-1964) had a hand in nearly every facet of show biz. The younger brother of Miss Juliet Delf, he attended Columbia, then went into vaudeville, where he partnered with the lik…
Working on my Alan Reed/ Flintstones post the other day gave me the idea for this little listicle on the history of caveman comedy, for it's probably not widely known that the genre of cavem…
The lovely little photo display above comes from this intriguing Spanish language website (and book) of dog photographs. Having just learned about Dandy George and Rosie this morning from re…
A brief tribute today to inventor Lee de Forest (1873-1961). De Forest is probably best known and most widely celebrated for his most significant invention, the Audion, a particular sort of …
It only took me nearly a year, and only because they showed it on TCM this week, but I finally caught up with The Great Buster, Peter Bogdanovich's 2018 tribute to Buster Keaton. I'm pleased…
Montana born James C. Morton (1884-1942) started out in vaudeville and burlesque, and for a time in the early 20th century he was teamed with Frank Moore, Florence Moore's brother in an act …
There were three singing Del Rubio Triplets: Eadie (Edith) Boyd, Elena Boyd and Millie (Mildred) Boyd, all born in the Panama Canal Zone on August 23, 1921. Edith was named after the girls' …
When one learns Bing Crosby's younger brother was in show business, one is prepared to encounter one of those hanger-on relatives, who are given make-work assignments and are carried along b…
Brooklyn born Albert Campbell (1872-1947) literally started out working on Tin Pan Alley in the 1880s, as a song plugger for the publishers Marks and Stern. When his employers branched out i…
I got a delightful surprise this morning when looking into the background of actress Blossom Rock (1895-1978), best known for playing the broomstick-wielding Grandmama on the original The Ad…
