11,879 stories by "Trav S.D."
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Today is the birthday of Frank Capra. I know it’s not fashionable among the intelligentsia, but he’s one of my favorite directors — and precisely for the reasons that make …
The Maestrosities, a.k.a. the Coolest Band in the World are starting a new web series and they need your help! With one week to go, they are just shy of halfway to their Kickstarter goal. Go…
Today is the birthday of the great Julius Tannen. For more on his vaudeville career go here. That’s him as O’Brien the Tailor in this clip from Preston Sturges’s Unfaithful…
Today is the birthday of Izzy Baline (a.k.a Irving Berlin). For the full scoop on his vaudeville beginnings go here. And here’s a clip I found very moving, Berlin on the eve of his bir…
Today is the birthday of the great Phil Silvers. For the full dope on his early background in vaudeville, go here.And here is something absolutely AMAZING: A clip on Silvers in 1982 on An…
The swell Bayou ‘n’ Brooklyn music festival opens today and runs through the weekend at Jalopy in Brooklyn. For the full amazing line up go here.
I know several of the artists involved in this. It’s definitely where I’d be tonight if I didn’t have a book to finish! Plus it’s FREE! AMERICA-IN-PLAY invites you to…
Today is Fred’s birthday. For all the dope on his vaudeville beginnings go here. And here he is in a sparking number from Broadway Melody of 1940 with Eleanor Powell: To find out more …
Dixon Place presents Bindlestiff Open Stage Variety Show First Monday of Every Month, next show tonight at 8pm! Dixon Place, 161A Chrystie Street, New York, NY … Door $5 (suggested don…
Our Vaudephone taping schedule is officially on hiatus as I work on my new book Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube. We will be resuming with a who…
Today is the birthday of the great Bing Crosby. (For more on him and his vaudeville beginnings go here). Not many people know this, but Bing was discovered for the pictures by Mack Sennett o…
Some confuse some aspects of what I do (whatever that is) with nostalgia. But since vaudeville and such-like perished decades before I was born, that can’t be right, can it? (…
Today is Pinky Lee’s birthday. For the full story on this burlesque comic/children’s tv host go here. And here he is in action: To learn more about vaudeville, consult No Appl…
The Countess and I donned our finest threads and arrived at the Players Club just in time to miss dinner last night. The occasion? The 2012 Theatre Museum Awards for Excellence. Last nig…
Today is the birthday of “Grandpa” Al Lewis (Albert or Alexander Meister, 1923-2006). Among many other fake biographical tidbits, Lewis often gave out that he was born in 1910. S…
I had a moving experience last night. The Countess and I went to Loews Jersey to see a double bill of A Night to Remember and The Poseidon Adventure. I’ll probably scribble a few notes…
Tonight’s Roller Derby match-up: at 8pm the Manhattan Mayhem take on the Bronx Gridlock at Long Island University. For more info and tickets go here.
Hat’s off to our friend Ben Model who sits on a star studded panel at the American Museum of the Moving Image tonight. With him on the dais:Â Robert Klein, Harold Prince, tv media c…
The Medicine Show Theatre Ensemble is opening their production of John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera tonight. It’s the original 18th century play/operetta on which Brecht based …
John Cusack’s The Raven opens nationally today. I really want to see it, if only for the vicarious thrill of watching Cusack walking around looking like this. As I write here, I’…
Today is the birthday of apoplectic character comedian Edgar Kennedy (for his full bio go here). Here he is in his 1943 RKO comedy short “Hold Your Temper”. (Something tell…
Today is the birthday of the greatr classic blues singer Ma Rainey. (See here for her full story). Now here is the tune that August Wilson named his famous play after: To find out more about…
I just learned that my local grocery store used to be a vaudeville house! From the Sept. 18, 2008 New York Sun: “The white terra-cotta-clad C-Town supermarket on the north side of 9th …
