11,870 stories by "Trav S.D."
Today is the birthday of the diminutive silent comedian Bobby Vernon (1897-1939). A second generation actor, he began his career in vaudeville as an understudy to the teamn of Kolb and Dill.…
Today is the birthday of Star of Vaudeville #130: Eddie Foy (for more on this major show business figure see my earlier post). In 1964 Bob Hope, who’d played Foy in the classic 1955 fi…
Was hoping to catch some video of these breakdancers but a second later a cop came in and the kids stopped right away. But I accidentally caught this cool moment. I’ve always wanted to…
Today is the birthday of Ella Ewing (1872- 1913) A native of Gorin, Missouri, her growth spurt began when she was nine and by the time she stopped growing she was 8′ 4.5″ tall. (…
Tomorrow, March 9, at 2:30pm, The Silent Clowns Film Series will be showing Harold Lloyd’s 1927 feature The Kid Brother plus the 1918 short Why Pick On Me? As always, the screening …
Tomorrow morning at 6am Eastern, TCM will be showing Naughty Marietta, MGM’s 1935 adaptation of Victor Herbert’s 1910 hit show. Who’s crazy enough to get up at the crack…
This opens today! We’ll see what we shall see! Look for a review here early next week. ’til then here’s my old squib about L. Frank Baum and his creations…. Filed und…
Today is the birthday of Mickey Dolenz. As everyone who’s anyone knows, The Monkees was not Dolenz’s first starring television series, nor even his longest lasting. No, that was …
Today is the birthday of Star of Vaudeville #129 Anna Held (for more on her go here). In the clip below from the movie Ziegfeld: The Man and His Women, Held is played by Barbara …
A post in celebration of Women’s History Month. Carmencita Daucet (circa 1870-1895) was a French native who studied and performed with a troupe of traditional Spanish dancers. Much lik…
Today is the birthday of Laugh-In regular Alan Sues (1926-2011). During his career he was usually characterized by the euphemisms “flamboyant”, “campy”, or “ove…
Okay, someone has to make this into a movie. The younger brother of Scott of the Antarctic (the Quixotic but brave polar explorer who came in second to the South Pole after Roald Amundsen) w…
Good news! In conjunction with the release of our new book Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube we are Bear Manor Media’s Author of the Wee…
Today is the 100th anniversary of the release of The Rural Third Degree, Edgar Kennedy’s first confirmed appearance in a Keystone film. While he does play a Kop in this film, the ab…
Well, we meant to take a couple of months off, but we ended up taking a year. That’s how it flies sometimes in this cockamamie chicken coop. Anyway, we’re back with our old schoo…
Today is Lou Costello’s birthday. Readers of Chain of Fools and this blog know I’m not the hugest Costello fan. I find his personality abrasive and don’t see that he …
I’m unnatturally excited and have my DVR already programmed. TCM is showing Shine On, Harvest Moon at noon today. I’ve seen most of the major vaudeville bio-pics but this one has…
H.B. Marinelli (1864-1924) was one of a multigenerational family of performing contortionists (He was born in Germany, although the family is plainly Italian). He took to the stage himself a…
Unless you’re an old hooty owl you’ll want to set your DVR…TCM is running some movies that are of interest to classic comedy fans tonight (actually tomorrow) starting at mi…
Today is the birthday of the great American progressive novelist Frank Norris (1870-1902). Influenced by Zola, Darwin and Spencer, he was an almost exact contemporary of Theodore Dreiser, wh…
This one exists only at the fringes of my consciousness. It ran only one season (1967-68) but then was shown again in reruns in 1970. I thought of it in connection with today’s earlier…
Today is the birthday of the incomparable Jack Cassidy (1927-1976). Growing up in the 1970s, he was one of my favorite character actors. The idea of himself that he seems to have held (and t…
One night only, tonight at 7pm, Kimberly Faye Greenberg  brings her one woman show Fabulous Fanny: The Songs and Stories of Fanny Brice to the Triad, 158 W. 72nd Street. Promised ar…
Today is the birthday of Johan (John) Aasen (1890-1938), best known as the giant Colosso in Harold Lloyd’s Why Worry? (1923).  Accounts of his height vary wildly, from nearly nin…
Today is the birthday of Esther Blackmon (1926-2003). Born Esther Parnell in Kenly, North Carolina, she was born with a condition called icthyosis, characterized by dry, scaly skin and no ha…
