11,841 stories by "Trav S.D."
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…
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the release of Fatty’s Chance Acquaintance (1915), directed by and starring Roscoe Arbuckle. A fairly typical “park bench” comedy, it s…
Tonight, starting at Midnight, Turner Classic Movies will be showing several excellent silent Harold Lloyd shorts. On the menu: I Do (1921) The film begins with a little animation"Harold and…
Filed under: Burlesk, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: Bettina May, Flatiron Follies, Grace Gotham, Metropolitan Room
I’m fairly obsessed with Grey Gardens, the Maysles Brothers 1976 documentary record of decline and insanity among the American aristocracy, shot at the collapsing mansion of Mrs. Ed…
Filed under: Broadway, LEGIT, EXPERIMENTAL & MUSICAL THEATRE, PLUGS Tagged: 54 Below, 54 Sings, Mack and Mabel
I made noise about shifting directions on the blog lately and here is some of the first fruits of that. Have no fear. Theatre and film history, classic comedy, and so forth will remain major…
Filed under: Indie Theatre, PLUGS, STEAMPUNK/ VICTORIANA Tagged: Craig Dudley, Diversions and Delights, John Gay, Oscar Wilde
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the W.C. Fields-Chester Conklin comedy Tillie’s Punctured Romance (1928), directed by Eddie Sutherland. As the name suggests, the film w…
A number of months ago an Internet thing made the rounds asking participants to name ten writers whom you love or who influenced you. And virtual tongues wagged in the aftermath, as they alw…
Head’s up, New Yorkers! Tonight at 5:30pm and 9:30pm the Brooklyn Academy of Music will be showing the EXTREMELY enjoyable Barbara Stanwyck western Forty Guns (1957) Written, …
Filed under: Burlesk, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: Beauty Bar, Behind the Velvet Curtain, Bettina May, burlesque
At the age of 86, Jules Feiffer still has the ability to reinvent himself and stretch in surprising new directions. Knowing how I love him, the Mad Marchioness got me his new graphic novelÂ…
It may shock you to learn that I hadn’t seen any of the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies until less than ten years ago. I had previously seen clips of their dancing, but apparentl…
Today is Jackie Gleason’s birthday – – a fitting time to talk about his most unique film, which is really saying something since his career also included Skidoo. The…
This is part of a continuing series on Hollywood shows biz bio-pics. The preceding three parts (this, this, and this) focused on bio-pics from the classic studio era. An upcoming post will c…
It’s long been an observation of mine that our greatest (male) film comedians have as one of the chief quivers in their arsenals the ability to go into “female.” What I ref…
I can’t believe it’s been five years since we reviewed Jeff Nichols’ delightful memoir Trainwreck and the movie that was based on it. A former stand-up comedian, N…
Filed under: Circus, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, First of May Award
Tomorrow morning at 6:45am, Turner Classic Movies will be screening General Spanky (1936), Hal Roach’s one attempt to move his popular “Our Gang” characters up to fea…
TheFiled under: Burlesk, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: Broadway Brassy, burlesque, La Flaca, Temple of the Virgins
Today is the birthday of the great silent comedy actor Henry Bergman (1868-1946). Originally from San Francisco, he began acting on stage around 1888, making it to Broadway (where he a…
Tonight at 11pm (EST) on Turner Classic Movies, one of my favorite movies: Robert Altman’s McCabe and Mrs. Miller. Warning: we always include spoilers here! I first saw this film wh…
Tomorrow on Turner Classic Movies – a smorgasbord of classic comedies!  6:15 am (EST): Speedy (1928) Harold Lloyd plays a soda jerk and rabid Yankees fan who wants to help…
Here’s one for all burlesque fans. We caught this 1973 tv movie the other day and must share news of its existence. Written by Dory Previn (whom we only just heard about and are rapidl…
