11,862 stories by "Trav S.D."
Now, now, don’t get all testy. When I say “forgotten” I KNOW that Marx Brothers fans haven’t forgotten who Gummo is. But among the general public, many of whom don…
Originally posted in 2009 Today is the birthday of the Divine Sarah. Bernhardt was the greatest star of the 19th century. If she didn't already exist, it would have been necessary to inve…
Two of my talented friends Caraid O’Brien and Shane Baker, both Yiddish experts and speakers, are voice-over actors in this documentary about the same Holocaust cave survival story fea…
Today is the birthday of Barboura Morris (1932-1975), a lovely fixture of a little over a dozen Roger Corman features between 1957 and 1970, including one of my favorite movies Bucket of …
Kitty Smith’s is the saddest story I’ve encountered thus far in exploring the sideshow world and writing about over 150 of its artists. Most human anomalies are born different; t…
Originally posted in 2009. Today is the birthday of Fayard Nicholas. He is one of the very few actual old time vaudevillians I got to interview when researching No Applause. Brothers …
Originally posted in 2012 My late-ex-father-in-law, who was born in 1911, used to go see silent comedies as a kid the way today's kids go to the cinema to see Steve Carrell and Will Ferr…
Today is the birthday of Margaret Dumont (Daisy Juliet Baker, 1882-1965). Raised in the South by her Godfather Joel Chandler Harris, collector and editor of the “Uncle Remus” …
Today is the 104th birthday of Rebecca Isabella “Carla” Laemmle (b. 1909), and she lives to celebrate it! The niece of Universal Studios founder Carl Laemmle, she appeared in a s…
Tonight Turner Classic Movies is continuing its excellent Halloween programming with a night devoted to the excellent horror director Tod Browning (for more on Browning’s interesting b…
Today is the birthday of Evelyn Silverstone, a.k.a Evelyn Kaye a.k.a Evelyn Kaye Klein (1911-1990). Â A Julliard trained violinist she was discovered by bandleader Phil Spilatny, who made …
Filed under: Burlesk, Contemporary Variety, Horror (Mostly Gothic), PLUGS Tagged: Blood Moon, burlesque, Dead Sexy, Duane Park
Seeing as how it’s the birthday of director Roy Del Ruth (for more on that far-ranging director go here), and it is also the Halloween season, it seems fitting to share one of his last…
The hilarious Kevin Maher returns tomorrow just in time for Halloween with a new evil-themed show at the Alamo DraftHouse. All the dope on the show is here. But words cannot truly describe w…
How effective a transformation has Abigail Breslin made as an actress? Well, let’s just say I watched the entirety of Haunter yesterday without ever remembering that she was that…
Today is the birthday of Clifford Thompson (1904-1955), billed variously as “The Scandinavian Giant”, “The Wisconsin Paul Bunyon” and “Count Olaf”. While …
Today is the birthday of beloved Broadway and Hollywood character actress Spring Byington (1886-1971), a fitting time (since it’s also Halloween season) to show a film containing one o…
Set your DVRs, working people! Tomorrow morning TCM will be showing two classic Wheeler and Woolsey comedies, both directed by George Stevens (for more on this seminal cinematic comedy team …
Every Thursday in October, Turner Classic Movies is screening the films of the incomparable Vincent Price (for my full appreciation of Price, go here.) The programmers …
Today is the birthday of Gary Puckett (b. 1942). Â A native of the Pacific Northwest, his band was originally known as the Outcasts when he formed it in 1966. By the following year under t…
I have now seen every extant feature film by Alfred Hitchcock including all the silents, his skits in the revue film Ellstree Calling, and…his 1930 adaptation of Sean O’CaseyR…
Filed under: BOOKS & AUTHORS, Burlesk, Contemporary Variety, EXHIBITIONS & LECTURES, VISUAL ART, Women Tagged: Amy Touchette, ClampArt Gallery, Shoot the Arrow, World Famous Bob
Today is the birthday of Alfred Sylvester, Sr. (1813-1886), billed in variety halls as the Fakir of Oolu. Sylvester started his professional career in his native England as an assistant to i…
Originally posted in 2010 Buck and Bubbles were a piano-playing, song and dance combination act with plenty of humor. (A famous bit had them moving the piano on stage and a non-pushing Buck …
As an addendum to our earlier post celebrating Oscar Wilde’s birthday we attach this pleasing artifact, the 1925 silent version of Lady Windermere’s Fan, directed by Ernst Lubits…
