11,843 stories by "Trav S.D."
Coincidentally it seems, today is the release date of two entirely different video collections that should be of great interest to lovers of classic comedy. We have been awaiting this one fo…
Today marks the anniversary of the release date of Stan Laurel’s 1923 comedy short Oranges and Lemons (1923), directed by George Jeske. This film was made during a brief period i…
My first glimpse of Robin Williams was in the 1978 Happy Days episode “My Favorite Orkan”. This was the debut of the character Mork from Ork, a part which fell to Williams …
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the film Triple Trouble (1918). We very pointedly refrain from calling it a “Charlie Chaplin comedy”, though it is full of foot…
August, 1918 saw the release of Mabel Normand’s first feature length starring vehicle, Mickey. Mickey was the perfect Mabel Normand picture, building on her image as a feisty, i…
Today is the 100th anniversary of the release date of the Charlie Chaplin Keystone comedy The Face on the Bar-Room Floor. Inspired by the 1872 John Henry Titus film, Chaplin’s p…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Laurel and Hardy comedy Perfect Day (1929). In this typically hilarious comedy, directed by James Parrott, the boys, their wives , and …
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Charlie Chaplin company The Bank (1915). Essentially, a much improved revisitation of his earlier The New Janitor, in The Bank Chapl…
Today is the birthday of Nat Pendleton (1895-1967). Pendleton started out as a world class athlete (Olympic wrestler), got into pro wrestling and eventually acting, invariably playing dumb b…
Today is the birthday of David Steinberg (b. 1942). In the late 60s and early 70s there was no one hotter in show business. Steinberg was a constant presence in the television landscape I…
Filed under: BROOKLYN, Burlesk, Coney Island, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: Coney Island, Dr. Lucky, Flaming Creatures, Sideshows by the Seashore, Surrealist Burlesque
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Harold Lloyd comedy The Cat’s Paw (1934), written and directed by Sam Taylor. The Cat's Paw  is Lloyd's least characteristi…
 Today is the anniversary of the release date of Charlie Chaplin’s 1916 comedy One A.M. This is one of Chaplin’s most extreme examples of what critic Andre Bazin cal…
Filed under: BROOKLYN, Coney Island, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: Buttons, Jeff Seal, Show and Show Show
Filed under: Contemporary Variety, Music, PLUGS, Rock and Pop Tagged: Cardone, Carnival Macabre, Gotham Grindhouse, Tammany Hall
Today is the birthday of MGM star Anita Page (Anita Pomares, 1910-2008). Fair hair notwithstanding Page was actually a Latina, of Salvadoran origin. She grew up in Flushing, Queens and ba…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Marx Brothers’ first film release The Cocoanuts (1929). By 1928 the Marx Brothers were big Broadway stars and the technology of s…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the W.C. Fields classic Man on on the Flying Trapeze (1935), co-written by Fields and directed by Clyde Bruckman. Simon Louvish very ast…
Today is the anniversary of the release of the hilarious Laurel and Hardy comedy short The Midnight Patrol (1933). In this classic, the boys play a couple of police patrolmen on what t…
Today is the anniversary of the Hal Roach comedy Short Kilts (1924) starring Stan Laurel and Jimmy Finlayson, starring George Jeske. As a member of the Stewart clan I am more susce…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of W.C. Fields’ first silent feature Sally of the Sawdust (1925).  The film was based on Fields’ hit Broadway stage musical …
Today is the anniversary of the release date of Wheeler and Woolsey’s third film Dixiana (1930). W & W are the comedians in this standard period musical, set in ante-bellum N…
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the release date of the Charlie Chaplin comedy The Property Man. Something feels original about this film in contrast with most of Chaplin’s ear…
Filed under: BROOKLYN, Burlesk, Coney Island, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS, Variety Arts (Defined) Tagged: burlesque, Christmas in July, Coney Island, Lefty Lucy
Today is the 100th birthday of Professor Irwin Corey! Corey’s is essentially a vaudeville act, although he introduced it two decades too late for vaudeville. (He launched his act in th…
