11,836 stories by "Trav S.D."
What with TCM showing Meet the Baron today, I thought it might do to share this little post that will provide a little context for the Three Stooges (who appear in the film) Think ya know…
Today on TCM at 3:15pm (EST): the sheer insanity that is MGM’s Meet the Baron (1933). Meet the Baron was the first (and only) starring vehicle for radio and vaudeville comedia…
Doraldina (Dora Saunders, 1888-1936) began her working life as manicurist in a San Francisco Hotel, then went to New York and Spain to study dance. She became known for popularizing the hula…
Filed under: BROOKLYN, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS, Vaudeville etc. Tagged: BROOKLYN, Bushwick, Cobra Club, Force Majeur, vaudeville
Originally posted in celebration of Marxfest, in May, 2014. Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Marx Brothers’ comedy Monkey Business (1931). Monkey BusinessÃ…
Today is the 100th anniversary of the release date of W.C. Fields’ very first film Pool Sharks (1915). Most folks don’t know that before he made talkies, Fields had a silen…
What with TCM showing several Abbott and Costello comedies tonight, I thought this might be a logical time to share some thoughts I’d been kicking around about the great movie teams an…
Tonight on Turner Classic Movies, no doubt by popular demand, several of the comedies of Abbott and Costello. 8:00pm (EST) Hold That Ghost (1941) The first of A & C’s many spoo…
Today on Turner Classic Movies at 4:15pm (EST): Catlow (1971) This is an interesting animal — yet another failed attempt by MGM to regain the glory days (or to even stay solvent). A bi…
Originally posted on Archival Research and Rhetoric: Undergraduate REflections:[this is drafty. did not incorporate readings yet] I wanted to know whether there were women who advocated for …
Tonight on TCM at midnight (Eastern), as part of their month-long celebration of Susan Hayward, Turner Movie Classics will be showing I’ll Cry Tomorrow, the 1955 bio-pic based on…
Today is the birthday of Neely Edwards (Cornelius Limbach, 1883-1965). A quick thanks to Ben Model and Steve Massa for making me aware of this interesting and (in his day) significant stage …
While you were sleeping, Baltimore was shelled by a foreign navy, Washington DC was invaded and the White House burnt down, and America tried to take over Canada. Well, maybe you weren’…
Here’s why you MUST see Nefertitty in Space: https://travsd.wordpress.com/2014/11/26/nefertitty-in-space-and-why-lola-rocknrolla-is-our-favorite-film-maker/Filed under: African A…
Today is the birthday of Louis Gasnier (1875-1963). Fairly or fairly, I mentally associate Gasnier with a handful of other directors (William Beaudine, Jean Yarbrough, Norman Taurog) who sta…
Tonight (tomorrow morning really) at 12:30am (EST) on Turner Classic Movies:  Harold Lloyd’s 1927 feature The Kid Brother. In The Kid Brother, Lloyd stretched somewhat, venturing in…
Hey New Yorkers! Tomorrow the Film Forum will be showing two very important silent features. Note: this is not a double feature; these are two entirely separate screenings, as you’ll n…
Please don’t protest that YOU haven’t forgotten the show. This world contains 7 billion people, including 320 million Americans, most of whom are younger than you are.Â…
The Destination America network premiered a new documentary special the other night. Since 2002 or 2003 I’ve been working on a piece of writing about September 11 (I haven’t deci…
Over Thanksgiving weekend last year I went with my boys to see the National September 11 Memorial and Museum. The Memorial had been open for three years by that point; the Museum for six mon…
The most loyal readers of this blog, i.e., the ones who read all the posts, will have noticed that many months ago a new content stream began to invade our already established content turf o…
Today is the birthday of Tammany Young (1886-1936). Best remembered today as one of W.C. Fields’ many stooges, the diminutive Young actually worked with most of the major comedians of …
Today is the birthday of the great Max Reinhardt (1873-1943). A towering giant of 20th century theatre, Reinhardt directed in Berlin and Vienna from 1902 through 1933, when the Nazis made…
Today is the birthday of Colonel Harland David Sanders (1890-1980). I was going to put “Colonel” in quotes, but, no, though the title is honorary it is also actual and legitimate…
Tonight on TCM, a very nicely curated menu of thoughtful, mature westerns. Warning: we always include spoilers! 8:00pm (EST): 3:10 to Yuma (1957) Elmore Leonard wrote the story this film …
