11,878 stories by "Trav S.D."
Today is the birthday of the great Russian-born ballerina Lydia Lopokova (1892-1981). She danced with the Tsar's troupe (she’d been the star pupil of the Imperial Ballet School), then …
Today is the birthday of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), author of one of the few poems I can recite from memory (and only a portion). With its fantastical theme, it seems only fitting …
Today is the birthday of Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe, a.k.a. Jelly Roll Morton (1890-1941), widely regarded as one of the originators of jazz. He started out as a teenager playing piano in spor…
How fortunate that Bela Lugosi (1882-1956) has a birthday 11 days before Halowe’en, no? You could have a swell Hallowe’en film festival that consisted entirely of Bela Lugosi mov…
For tix and info: http://www.bigapplecircus.org
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 Star of Vaudeville #374: Will M. Cressy (for his full bio go here). Here is a little reading by the Librovox Project of an illuminating piece Cressy wrote called …
A twofer! Today is the birthday of both Star of Vaudeville #373: Adelaide Hall and Star of Vaudeville #65: Fayard Nicholas of the Nicholas Brothers. Coincidentally they both appear in this 1…
I have many irrational (thus heartfelt) reasons for loving Thornton Wilder’s 1938 Pulitzer Prize winner Our Town. One is that I lived for two months in the studio in which Wilder wrote…
Today is the birthday of Swedish wrestler and schlock horror movie star Tor Johnson (1903-1971). While best known for his association with Ed Wood, a quick gland at his IMDB entry reveals th…
Today is the birthday of Divine (Harris Glenn Milstead, 1945-1988), muse, moll, and movie star of John Waters. The clip below, set to Little Richard’s “The Girl Can̵…
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 Uncle Floyd Vivino (b. 1951) — for my full appreciation of him go here. FUN FACT! Angie Pontani, producer/ star) of Burlesque-A-Pades worked with Floyd year…
Bradford Scobie is a brrrrrilliant and high-larious character actor. He has graced New York City stages with his korny-kopia of kooky karacters for years. Amongst them: Mutant Super-Villain …
Tonight at 7pm is the long-awaited launch event for Andrew L. Erdman’s Queen of Vaudeville: The Story of Eva Tanguay (Cornell University Press) which we were first reported on here.…
One of my happy discoveries in working on my new book Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube (Bear Manor Media, February, 2013) has been French com…
Today is the birthday of British female impersonator Herbert Clifton (1885-1947). He was unique in his field in being straight, married and somewhat plump. His strengths were in his characte…
By 1975 producer Norman Lear had gone out on a limb several times, and hit the jackpot every single time, with All in the Family, Sanford and Son, Maude, the Jeffersons and Good …
Today is the birthday of a personal hero of mine, Wynton Marsalis (b. 1961). I can’t presume to weigh in on whether he is or he isn’t a great jazz trumpeter. What I prize him for…
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 great songwriter/ guitarist/ showman Chuck Berry, born 1926. I was shocked — shocked — to learn that not only is still with us, he is still giggin…
This looks awesome, does it not???? It opens at Irondale tonight…
Today is the birthday of Lotte Lenya (1898-1981). Only troglodytes associate her primarily with Rosa Klebb. Here is what we celebrate this morning:
I realized two long standing goals last night. First, many, many months after it first open, I finally got to check out the Canal Park Playhouse, an amazing space located in one of Manhattan…
The greatest showman of my day produced spectacles too big for theatres, eventually too big even for arenas. I speak of course of the legendary motorcycle daredevil Evel Kneivel (1938-…
