11,843 stories by "Trav S.D."
Today is the anniversary of the release date of D.W. Griffith’s first movie as director The Adventures of Dollie (1908) The film contains all of the qualities in utero that…
 Today is the anniversary of the release date of the silent Harold Lloyd short Just Neighbors (1919). In this domestic comedy, Harold has a trial getting home to his little w…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the W.C. Fields comedy The Old Fashioned Way (1934), directed by William Beaudine. This is one of the best movies ever, not only for fans of F…
Tonight (tomorrow, really) at 2 am, Turner Classic Movies will be showing that weird, weird seventies artifact The Baby (1973). Warning: I absolutely always include spoilers, so now…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Charlie Chaplin short A Woman (1915). In this Essanay comedy, Chaplin plays his usual park masher, who ends up coming home with Edna…
 Today (according to some sources) is the birthday of Hollywood mogul Louis B. Mayer (1884-1957). While MGM was the child of Marcus Loew’s vision, leverage and capital, Mayer had fo…
 Today is the birthday of Harry Von Zell (1906-1981). Today he is best remembered for playing the neighbor and on-air announcer in the highly self-reflexive tv version of the George B…
 Today is the anniversary of the release date of the 1926 W.C. Fields silent comedy feature It’s the Old Army Game, directed by Eddie Sutherland. The title for this film is …
 Today the anniversary of the release date of the Harold Lloyd comedy High and Dizzy (1920). The title is the best possible; it has a double meaning. Not only does it refer to the fact t…
 Today is the anniversary of the release date of Charlie Chaplin’s The Vagabond (1916). The Vagabond was a great leap forward in terms of Chaplin’s story telling artistry,…
Filed under: BROOKLYN, Burlesk, Coney Island, PLUGS Tagged: Beezlebabe, Burlesque at the Beach, Coney Island, Random Acts of Undress, Siren of Sodom
Tonight at sunset at the Abrons Arts Center’s Amphitheatre, the Urban Drive-In will be presenting a free bill of Charlie Chaplin shorts, accompanied by live original piano and strin…
Today is the birthday of silent comedy ensemble comedian James T. Kelley (sometimes billed as James Kelly or Jim Kelly (1854-1933). Born in Castlebar, Ireland, he was said to have originally…
Tonight at 8pm (Eastern) Turner Classic Movies will be showing a great forgotten classic, 1935′s Ruggles of Red Gap. (I really don’t care if old movie buffs know it. …
Today is the 100th anniversary of the release date of the Charlie Chaplin comedy Laughing Gas. Chaplin directed this film all on his own; from this point on he would direct every one …
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Douglas Fairbanks comedy Flirting with Fate (1916). Fairbanks plays a struggling and poor artist who loves a rich girl. Things go from …
 Today is the birthday of Gus Williams (Gustave Wilhelm Leweck, Jr., 1848, 1915). Born in the vicinity of New York’s Bowery, young Leweck went west as a teenager seeking his fortun…
Set your DVRs, chillun! Tomorrow morning at 4:30 E.S.T., Turner Classic Movies will be presenting Charlie Chaplin’s penultimate film A King in New York (1957). If you’ve no…
Today is the birthday of Walter Kerr (1913-1996). Kerr was and is known for many things. He was a major New York theatric critic for over a quarter of a century, first for the Herald Trib…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the all-star Paramount comedy Million Dollar Legs (1932), directed by Eddie Cline. This…is one of my favorite movies. It’…
 Today is the anniversary of the Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle comedy Good Night, Nurse (1918), featuring Buster Keaton, Al St. John and Alice Lake. This short seems at l…
Every year that passes gets kinder to Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle. The sad story of his railroading gets wider known, and more importantly more and more of his work is available for …
What crazy madness! We had those historic, sold-out readings of I’ll Say She Is in May as part of Marxfest and I never did a blogpost about it??? Well, there was a lot going on i…
Today is the birthday of Merv Griffin (1925-2007). When I was a kid Merv represented the summit of bad show biz to me. His syndicated talk show came on in the afternoon after school where I …
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Harold Lloyd comedy Billy Blazes, Esq (1919). This is one of several parody westerns Lloyd made in his early years. A bunch of bad g…
