11,873 stories by "Trav S.D."
Today is the birthday of the great Broadway composer Jerome Kern (1885-1945). Kern contributed songs to over 100 musicals between 1904 and his death. His most well known shows include Sho…
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…
Tomorrow at 1pm: "Quo Vas Is?: The Impact of German Immigration on 19th Century American Popular Culture." In sheer numbers, Germans were one of the largest American immigrant groups duri…
A very bluesy birthday day — not only is it the birthday of Florence Mills and Sleep John Estes, but also Etta James (Jamesetta Hawkins, 1938-2012). Born to a teenage single mom, she w…
Today is the birthday of the great Memphis blues man Sleepy John Estes (1899-1977). Born into a shrecropping family he was a field hand himself until the 1920s when he began playing and reco…
Today is the birthday of the Scottish national poet Robert Burns (1759-1796). Despite the fact that he is the poet of My People, I’ve only dabbled in him; frankly I’ve found it t…
Today is the birthday of John Belushi (1949-1982), my second favorite Albanian. I originally planned to put this post in the “Stars of Slapstick” series, but, though Belushi was …
 Today is Neil Diamond’s birthday. It’s difficult for someone my age to even give him lip service, and even so, I must qualify it: “Uh, only up to around ‘Longfell…
Today is the birthday of Howard “Sandman” Sims (1917-2003). His nickname comes from his long association with sand dancing, that is dancing on scattered sand so that sustained mu…
Tonight at 8pm Eastern, TCM is showing one of the best of the Hope-Crosby-Lamour “Road Pictures”, Road to Morocco (1942). We meet the boys adrift on a raft after Hope has des…
Today is the birthday of Madeline Cameron (born Madeline Seitz, 1897). She had a balletic dance act with her sister Dorothy that played vaudeville and Broadway revues from the teens into the…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Today is the birthday of Jean “Django” Reinhardt (1910-1953), one of the greatest jaxx guitarists of all time and considered the first important jazz musician to come our of Euro…
Today is the birthday of William Desmond (William Manion, 1878-1949). Born in Dublin and raised in New York City, he got his start acting in vaudeville and on the melodrama stage before maki…
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…
Today is the birthday of Geraldine Valliere (1896-1986). A daughter of a musical family, she studied piano since childhood, and began playing at local churches, movie houses, and with dance …
Happy birthday, Lord Byron (1788-1824)! I just re-read Don Juan, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. It is not only much more accessible than Byron’s only finished book length poe…
This is part three of the series on the show biz ancestry of Cynthia Fujikawa, which we launched here two weeks ago. It’s in her own words. My grandmother Marion Finlay…
Today is the 45th anniversary of the premiere of the groundbreaking television show Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In (1968-1973). I often think of Dan Rowan and Dick Martin as the Las…
Today is the birthday of Sam Cooke (1931-1964). His short, sweet life (and his 30 top 40 hits) are well known. But here’s something I thought would be of interest to our readers. His f…
Today is the birthday of the great American director D.W. Griffith (for my full article on him go here). In honor of the day we share his 1910 film An Arcadian Maid starring Mary Pi…
