11,840 stories by "Trav S.D."
Today is the birthday of Eleanor Luicime “Betty” Compson (1897-1974). Since she appeared in so many silent comedies, I was tempted to place her in our “Stars of Slapstick&#…
2015 marks the 20th anniversary of the founding of my theatre company Mountebanks. Throughout the year, I’ll be unleashing several activities to celebrate the theme of theatrical charl…
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the release date of Charlie Chaplin’s comedy short In the Park (1915). This is one of Chaplin’s early films for Essanay Studios, and to…
And now…for my next trick! The last twelvemonth was such a chain of large projects (4 of them) that there has been scant time for what you might call the NYC alt-performer’s DAIL…
2015 marks the 20th anniversary of the founding of my theatre company Mountebanks. Throughout the year, I’ll be unleashing several activities to celebrate the theme of theatrical charl…
Tonight (tomorrow, really) at 1:45am (EST) on Turner Classic Movies, for St. Patrick’s Day, Ryan’s Daughter (1970).  It will be preceded by a featurette about the film whic…
Tonight (tomorrow, really) on Turner Classic Movies at 1:00 am (EST): Billy Rose’s Jumbo Sizewise, the stage original of Billy Rose’s Jumbo was the most colossal show i…
Today marks the anniversary of the release date of the Keystone comedy His Favorite Pastime, starring Charlie Chaplin and directed by George Nichols. The title is intended to be ironic ̵…
Tonight at 7pm at New York’s Film Forum, two early silent films by  W.C. Fields. The meat of the evening is Fields’ first silent feature Sally of the Sawdust (192…
Today at 8pm (EST) on Turner Classic Movies:Â The Oklahoma Kid, directed by Lloyd Bacon. This is a western only Warner Brothers would (or could) make, starring as it does Jimmy Cagney and …
Today is the 100th anniversary of the release date of That Little Band of Gold (1915), directed by Fatty Arbuckle, and starring Arbuckle, Mabel Normand and Ford Sterling. This little movi…
Tomorrow morning at 7:15 am (EST) on Turner Classic Movies: the hilarious Joe E. Brown comedy, Fireman, Save My Child (1932). Prior to his film career, in his down time between vaudevi…
Tonight at 10pm (EST) on Turner Classic Movies, the pivotal late western, Ride the High Country (1962).  Warning: I always include spoilers! I use the word “pivotal”…
Filed under: Contemporary Variety Tagged: Coba Club, Force Majeur, Tanya Solomon, variety, vaudeville
Filed under: Burlesk, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: Drom, Midnight Cabaret, Thirsty Girl
Today on Turner Classic Movies at 3:30pm EST: The Bowery Boy Meet the Monsters (1954) "Bowery Boys" is generous here….by this stage in its evolution the long running franchise is dow…
All roads lead to the Dead End… As I’ve written before, one of my regrets about Chain of Fools is that I overlooked a certain Hydra headed comedy franchise that went by many n…
Today is the birthday of Jack Kerouac (1922-1969) Kerouac is one of the few things that the Mad Marchioness and I disagree on, and pretty radically. We’re kind of polar on the subject.…
Today on Turner Classic Movies: four westerns, three of them about Custer and the Battle of Little Big Horn:  11:30 am (EST): Wyoming (1940) Wallace Beery and Leo Carillo are two f…
Today is the 100th anniversary of the release date of the Chaplin Chaplin comedy The Champion (1915). One of his early Essanay comedies, The Champion is a nice snapshot of Chaplin i…
Tonight starting at 8pm (EST) Turner Classic Movies will be showing all ten of the MGM “Maisie” comedies starring Ann Sothern. In this film series, which ran from 1939 to 1…
Thanks to a tipster who let me know that both me and No Applause are cited in this book, I ran out and got a copy of Furious Cool: Richard Pryor and the World that Made Him (2013…
Today is the birthday of the great film director Gregory La Cava (1892-1952). Formally trained as a visual artist, La Cava broke into film as an animator, making his way to directing by 1916…
Today marks the anniversary of the release of the Keystone comedy Tango Tangles, co-starring Charlie Chaplin, Fatty Arbuckle and Ford Sterling, directed by Mack Sennett. This is another o…
Tonight at 8pm Turner Classic Movies will be showing the 1966 Henry Hathaway western Nevada Smith. Warning: we always include spoilers! In ’66 Paul Newman, Burt Reynold…
