11,858 stories by "Trav S.D."
Today is the birthday of Al Mardo (1894-?). Mardo got his show business start around 1910 dancing on the street for coins and amateur boxing in Providence, Rhode Island .He began to compe…
Today is December 26, known variously abroad as Boxing Day, St. Stephens Day, and Second Christmas Day. Apparently the U.S. is the only western country that hasn’t figured out what to …
Eat your heart out Megyn Kelly! Here’s proof that you’re wrong. Amos and Andy did “Andy Plays Santa” episodes twice, one for radio in 1946: And one for tv in 19…
Originally posted in 2009 This gal's fame was similar to that enjoyed by such wonderful recent “entertainers” as Lorena Bobbit, Monica Lewinsky, and O.J. Simpson. Nesbit was an o…
Originally posted in 2009 Her rendition of "Rosie, You Are My Posie" supposedly inspired Al Jolson to go into show business. Eddie Cantor once stole tickets to see her perform.Â…
Originally posted in 2009 A transplant from the Yiddish theatre of New York's Lower East Side, Belle Baker combined an extraordinary talent with an honest ethnic sensibility that helped brea…
Today is the birthday of Joseph M. Schenck (1878-1961). We refer to him as the “Other” Joe Schenck, because we have already written about another one, who was one half of the vau…
Today is the birthday of Tony Martin (Alvin Morris, 1919-2013), big band singer and minor movie star of the 1930s through the 1950s. I’m not sure if I’d give him attention here o…
Another in our series of Christmas themed old time show biz posts. Who’s more Jewish than Fanny Brice? Nobody! But nothing will keep Baby Snooks with her appointed rendez-vous with…
Today is the birthday of Howard Hughes (1905-1975). Hughes was many things: heir to a fortune; airplane designer, manufacturer and test pilot; eccentric recluse; and conservative ideologue; …
Today is the birthday of the great Victorian poet, essayist and cultural critic Matthew Arnold (1822-1888). This year I read Culture and Anarchy (1867-1869) for the first time and I su…
Looka here — I have verified empirically what we have all sensed instinctively: there are way too many friggin’ versions of Charles Dickens‘ 1843 story A Christmas…
Here’s a charming Christmas film made by D.W. Griffith for Biograph in 1909. A father loses his job and is demoralized, so he takes a run-out powder on his family, get me? They’r…
Another in our long series of Christmas themed old time show biz post: I generally associate Doris Day with the 50s and 60s, and thus think of her as too young for Radio Days…but the f…
Today is the birthday of Alan Carney (David Boughal, 1909-1973).Carney worked in vaudeville for years as a dialect comedian before being signed by RKO in 1943, where his first picture was…
Another in our series of holiday themed posts: The long running sit-com series starring big bandleader Ozzie Nelson, his wife Harriet and boys Ricky and David was so popular it encompassed b…
Another in our series of Christmas theme old time show biz posts… Nowadays we tend to remember Jack Haley primarily as the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz, but Haley was in a ton of o…
Today is the birthday of Carl Wilson (1946-1998), the youngest of the Beach Boys’ Wilson brothers, their influential lead guitarist, and lead singer on several of their important songs…
I unearthed this gem to my delight the other day when I was looking up Robert Urich clips, because that’s how I roll! Get it? Bulldozer? Roll? As you might expect, Killdozer (197…
A timely topic and one I warrant has been a source of confusion for many Americans  travelling abroad during the holidays. Pantomime is one of those theatrical terms, like burlesque, vaud…
Two blogposts with a common theme came my way this morning having to do with consideration for others. I found them both galvanizing and each in their own way inspirational. This, more intro…
Another in our series of Christmas themed old time show biz posts… Not that it’s much talked about, but probably the most talked-about part of my new book Chain of Fools is…
Today is the birthday of late Robert Urich (1946-2002). About Vega$, Spenser for Hire or The Lazarus Man (or about any of a dozen of his other series) I have nothing to say; I ne…
 Another in our series of crazy Christmas themed posts… We’ll be writing quite a bit more about this lacklustre but once omnipresent police procedural series in a few days &#…
Today is the birthday of the great jazz pioneer Joe “King” Oliver (1881-1938), a cornet player and trumpeter often considered a sort of link in the chain between the legen…
