11,862 stories by "Trav S.D."
Another radio treat on the lead-up to Halloween. Here’s Bing Crosby’s Halloween episode of Philco Radio Time with guest stars Boris Karloff and Victor Moore, originally bro…
Today is the birthday of Ronnie and Donnie Galyon (b. 1951), the world’s oldest living pair of conjoined twins. Born in Dayton, Ohio joined from the sternum to the groin, they share a …
All week I’ll be sharing vintage Halloween themed comedy-horror tidbits like this one. This episode of Ozzie and Harriet from 1952 features three narrative threads, including Ozzie Nel…
All week I’ll be sharing vintage Halloween themed comedy-horror tidbits like this one. The Spook Talks is a fairly hilarious Three Stooges short from 1949 (the Shemp era) wherein…
All week I’ll be sharing vintage Halloween themed comedy-horror tidbits like this one. The Spook Chasers (1957) is quite late in the life of the long-running Bowery Boys franchis…
Radio comedian Harold “Hal” Peary (1908-1985) created his popular radio character Throckmorton Gildersleeve on the Fibber McGee and Molly Show in 1935. The big blowhard was…
8:00pm:  Bride of Frankenstein (1935) Much water under the bridge between the original Frankenstein and James Whale’s 1935 sequel. Karloff, who had been uncredited in the firs…
Today is Ned Harrigan’s birthday. From No Applause: The two biggest Irish comedians to come out of the variety scene, becoming the most popular stars of the American theatre of the …
Originally posted in 2011 Born this day in 1914, Jackie Coogan was, like Charlie Chaplin, a child performer, and also like Chaplin, was discovered for the movies while performing on th…
Kevin Fitzpatrick, Chief Cook and Bottle Washer of the Dorothy Parker Society has just released this swell new book Under the Table: A Dorothy Parker Cocktail Guide – just in tim…
Filed under: BROOKLYN, Coney Island, HOLIDAYS, FESTIVALS, MEMORIALS & PARADES, Horror (Mostly Gothic), PLUGS, SOCIAL EVENTS Tagged: Coney Island, Halloween Parade
6:30pm: The Walking Dead (1936) Directed by Michael Curtiz. Edmund Gwenn (best known as Santa in Miracle on 34th Street) is a scientist who revives the corpse of wrongly executed Boris…
Originally posted in 2010 America's most famous and respected little person (of the twentieth century) began his career as an even littler person. William John Bertanzetti was only three yea…
It’s that time of year again! Late October means many things to many people but for circus fans here in New York it always means the launch of Big Apple Circus’s Fall and Winter …
Originally posted in 2012 I’d like to go out on a limb and say that life without Minnie Pearl is not worth living, but I’m 17 years too late. But you know what I mean. I miss the…
Originally posted in 2009 Two, two, two Dollies in one! The Duncan Sisters were more talented, the Hilton Sisters were more freakish, but no sister act was more beautiful, or mor…
Filed under: HOLIDAYS, FESTIVALS, MEMORIALS & PARADES, PLUGS, SOCIAL EVENTS Tagged: Halloween, masquerade Ball, Ziegfeld Society
Today is the birthday of Paul Draper (1909-1996), who came along too late for vaudeville, but oh how that would have been the perfect platform for him! A son of wealthy parents, and a nephew…
Filed under: BROOKLYN, Coney Island, Indie Theatre, LEGIT, EXPERIMENTAL & MUSICAL THEATRE, PLUGS Tagged: Coney Island, Coney Island Criminals, Creep Show, Dick Zigun, freak show
Today is the birthday of Moss Hart (1904-1961), playwright, director, screenwriter and memoirist. With George S. Kaufman he co-wrote the plays Once in a Lifetime (1930), Merrily We …
Today is the birthday of Sonny Terry (Saunders Terrell, 1911-1986). The North Carolina farm boy learned to play blues harp from his father and lost his eyesight due to injury by the time he …
Today is the birthday of Bill Wyman (b.1936), the member of the Rolling Stones so hapless and unsung that when he left the group two decades ago after having been a member for nearly 30 year…
Every Thursday in October, Turner Classic Movies is screening the films of the incomparable Vincent Price (for my full appreciation of Price, go here.) Tonight here’s wh…
Ah, these are among my fondest memories of early, early childhood! Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp was created by former Get Smart writers: the show is essentially a riff on the g…
About the Snooki from New Jersey, I am proud to say I know next to nothing. Of Snooky the Humanzee however I am proud to say I owe the sum total of my knowledge to Steve Massa (whose book La…
