11,873 stories by "Trav S.D."
This is one in a series of posts we are producing in connection with our new book Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, available from Bear Manor Media…
The Hall of Hams is my series on some of my favorite actors who have brought the art of melodramatic acting into the modern era. Today is the birthday of Tallulah Bankhead (1902-1968). IR…
Folks my age or older will protest “NOT forgotten!” (after all, it was a hit show from 1969 through 1974), but younger people are less inclined to have heard of this show (I̵…
Having seen every one of Woody Allen’s nearly four dozen feature films, I now consider it my duty to see each new one, just to keep on top of it. The trouble is, he turns them out so f…
I’ve been paying close attention to this interesting looking monthly show that mixes a bill of stand-up comedians and side show people. It’s a little bit of a hike but, at $5 and…
Today is the birthday of Roosevelt Sykes (1906-1983) a.k.a The Honeydripper. An Arkanasa native, he learned to play barrelhouse piano in the work camps along the Mississippi River, which is …
Today is the birthday of Star of Vaudeville #112: Eddie Cantor (for my complete biographical article on this giant of stage, screen and broadcasting go here). Many contemporary people compla…
 Based on Victor Hugo’s novel, The Man Who Laughs is performed in the style of a silent film, complete with live piano accompaniment, projected title cards, and vibrant black-and-w…
This image from the Meserve-Kinhard collection depicts Lizzie Reid (sometimes rendered as Reed), one of P.T. Barnum’s performing little people, circa 1865. Her maiden name is given …
Vasco ( 1871-1925) was a British music hall entertainer known for his flamboyant showmanship (he would often drive around town in a car adorned with signs advertising his act). Billed as the…
Today is the birthday of J. Homer Tutt (1882-1951). Along with his brother (or half-brother) Salem Tutt Whitney (1869-1934) he formed one half of a concern variously called the Tutt Brothers…
John Coffey (sometimes known as James) was the man who stood of the shoulders of the original Living Skeleton, Isaac W. Sprague, and thenceforth brought a little flair and panache to the rol…
Today is the birthday of Dick Martin (1922-2008). We already wrote about his most famous show Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In a few days ago. But do you know about his syndicated gam…
In our typical kamikaze fashion, on Sunday and Monday CR and I watched the entire Up series: (7 Up, 14 Up, 21 Up, 28 Up, 35 Up, 42 Up and 49 Up) then went to the IFC Center on Tuesday to see…
Today is the birthday of British music hall and radio comedian Sandy Powell (1900-1982). His early music hall years often featured his parody of a Scottish vaudeville comedian, in which he w…
Today is the birthday of Rose Melville (Rosa Smock, 1867-1946). A native of Terre Haute, she toured vaudeville for several years with her sister Ida as “Two Jays from Indiana.”. …
Alexander Montarg was one of P.T. Barnum’s Living Skeletons, whose period of greatest activity appears to have been from the late 1850s through the 1860s. The man’s vital statist…
I’m the sort of person who must always be reading something. In the can, if there’s no magazine, then it’s the ingredients on the toothpaste tube. And, when listening to mu…
Today is the birthday of Jack Wilson (1894-1970), one-third of the team of Wilson, Keppel and Betty. Actually, the core team consisted of Wilson and his partner Joe Keppel; the two worked wi…
This is one in a series of posts we are producing in connection with our new book Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, available from Bear Ma…
Today is the birthday of the incomparable Alan Alda (Alphonso Joseph D’Abruzzo, b. 1936). As a teenager I idolized him — obviously for his role as Hawkeye on M*A*S*H, altho…
Today is the birthday of Charles Dodgson (1932-1898) bettern known as Lewis Carroll. The extent to which his nonsensical writing was important to me as a child will come as no surprise to…
Today is the birthday of the great blues artist Elmore James (1918-1963). A highly influential figure, he is one of the generation that bridged the gap between the country blues of Robert Jo…
Today is the birthday of Lyle “Skitch” Henderson (1918-2005). He is perhaps best remembered today as Steve Allen’s pianist/bandleader for both The Tonight Show and Th…
A great day for songwriters! Not Just Jerome Kern, but also George “Buddy” DeSylva (1895-1950) has a birthday today. DeSylva was one third of the great Tin Pan Alley songwriti…
