11,555 stories by "Trav S.D."
As we’ve already announced, we are thrilled to be playing the title character in Edward Einhorn’s The Resistible Rise of J.R. Brinkley, October 12-28. October happens to be a for…
Having done posts on the stars in favorite movies like The Wizard of Oz and It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, it occurred to me that I was well on the way to doing as much for another f…
Buon compleanno, Joe Kirk (Ignazio Curcuruto, 1903-1975)! The son of Sicilian immigrants, Kirk started out as a vaudeville comedian and emcee in the 1930s. His most fortuitous career move, h…
Just a quick note on Alice Joyce (1890-1955), “The Madonna of the Screen”. Joyce’s film career worked in round numbers, stretching from 1910 through 1930 and consisting mos…
Today we pay tribute to Kenny Baker (1912-1985) and by that we mean neither the little person who played R2D2 in Star Wars (as most of our friends probably would) nor the fiddler who pla…
True fans of the tv series M*A*S*H will understand why I chose the birthday of Larry Linville (1939-2000), and not that of, say, Larry Gelbart or Alan Alda, on which to post a tribute to …
A tribute today today to impresario Nils T. Granlund (1890-1957), once a player in the realms of Broadway, vaudeville, nightclubs, radio, and movies, and with experience in print journalism …
Well, it’s #NationalDrinkBeerDay according to Twitter, and America seems poised to elevate its first Douche Bro to a seat on the Supreme Court despite some serious blots on his charact…
This is Part Three of Carolyn Raship’s Agatha Christie series launched here; and Part Two of the Poirot portion launched here. In the post war era the literary construct called Her…
Tonight: Thursday, September 27, 2018, 7-9pm Mabel Normand and Sailor’s Snug Harbor A fascinating look at the life of silent film actress Mabel Normand, who is famous for her roles…
Described as the "father of American music," Stephen Foster penned an oeuvre that includes "Beautiful Dreamer" and "Hard Times Come Again No More," songs that helped weave the fabric of Amer…
On this day in 1975, a topical television movie called Death Scream premiered on ABC. Death Scream was a huge television event, I watched it with my family when it premiered. Loosely base…
This one’s been a long time coming! It’s occurred to me in recent years just how influential my K-Tel novelty records were on me as a kid. From a distance these old novelty hits …
I didn’t get the memo until just now (5 weeks late): Mary Carlisle, the last surviving WAMPAS Baby Star, passed away on August 1 at the age of 104. Carlisle was born Gwendolyn Witter i…
A birthday shout-out to the great low-budget horror auteur Bert I. Gordon (b. 1922). Think of this post as a bit of foreshadowing and a promotion of what’s upcoming…for October n…
Each month, Theater of the Apes plucks a long forgotten volume from the shelves of the New York Society Library and resurrects it as NECROMANCERS OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN, a low budg…
For over a year and a half now now, my little backwater of the internet has been a-titter with the news that a new bio-pic about Laurel and Hardy was in the works starring John C. Reilly and…
Today is the official publication date of Paula Finn’s new book Sitcom Writers Talk Shop. One is always ready for a book like this to be skimpy…it’s often the kind of bo…
Paul Muni’s career is an interesting window into public perception. Speaking personally, I always most associated him with those 1932 classics Scarface and I am a Fugitive from a Gang.…
A special birthday nod to comedian and comic actor Art Metrano (b. 1936). Metrano’s signature bit is better known than either his name or any of his roles. It has woven its way into fo…
The idea for this post came to me after writing my Barbara Eden/ I Dream of Jeannie post a month ago. But news that tonight TCM will be showing several genie themed movies tonight (September…
A top of the hat today to vaudeville/ music hall/ panto performer Lil Hawthorne (1877-1926). Hawthorne was a big-ish star in her day; audiences of her time would be nonplussed to learn that …
This just in over the transom: Ginger Rogers’ birthplace, 100 West Moore Street, Independence, Missouri, is now a museum. The Ginger House Museum, containing artifacts and memorabilia …
Okay — clowns are seriously intruding on my consciousness lately. So many pieces of clown fluff have been floating my way, I thought it would make sense to paste them altogether into o…
A tribute today to a favorite TV show of my youth, Emergency! (1972-1977). Emergency! was a Jack Webb show (co-produced by others) that transplanted the successful “partners” mot…
