For International Dance Day, today we fondly share remembrances of the Dance Liberation Front. 20+ years ago (circa 1999), all of the performers and producers from Surf Reality and Collectiv…
Oh yeah, you know I'm all over this! So excited to announce that today is the release date for Johan Von Sydow's new documentary Tiny Tim: King for a Day. As I wrote here, I am a major leagu…
We have had occasion to mention Bryant Washburn (Franklin Bryant Washburn III, 1889-1963) several times in the past, for he starred in such silent fare as Twenty One (1918) with Gertrude Sel…
A brief introduction, should one be needed, to the life and work of Kitty Kelly (Sue O'Neill, 1902-1968). Standing a mere 4'11" in adulthood, the pint-sized Kelly first enters the documentar…
Guinn "Big Boy" Williams (1899-1962) was a protege of Will Rogers, who bestowed upon him his first movie roles as well as his nickname, which was often employed as his sole billing, and some…
Today we direct your attention to a beautiful eccentric of early television days, Dotty Mack (Dorothy Macaluso, 1929-2019). Mack was a a Cincinnati shop girl and mannequin (live in-store mod…
Well, here's one unexpected positive outcome of the Covid-19 epidemic: for the first time in decades I've seen nearly all of the films nominated in major Oscar categories. This is naturally …
I assumed that I would not like Thomas Vinterberg's Another Round, and at first I didn't. It seemed like it inevitably had to veer into one of two directions: 1) a high-concept, rather unsav…
While it's true that Sara Gilbert of Roseanne and The Connors, and Melissa Gilbert and Jonathan Gilbert of Little House on the Prairie, are important in television history, their grandfather…
The story of Libby Taylor (1902-1961) is often simplified to "she was Mae West's maid; she then played Mae's maid in movies, and used that as a springboard to her own career". But it wasn't …
An eye-opening benchmark, that Ryan O'Neal (b. 1941) is now an octogenarian, for those of us who remember him as the guy in that photo. While many people may know about his performing offspr…
Some brief tribute today to silent movie star Lillian Walker (Lillian Wolke, 1887-1975). Brooklyn native Walker was an artists' model and chorus girl in the Follies of 1910 when Stuart Black…
News this morning of the passing of 93 year old Walter Mondale, former VP and first of many disappointing democratic Presidential candidates during my voting career, put me in mind for the s…
I stumbled across the crazy story of William Morgan (1928-61) because he was once a carnival sword swallower and married a snake charmer named Terese Bethel. And as a teenager he had run awa…
Some brief notes on professional little person Caspar Weis (1872-1965). A native of Luxembourg, Weis was the son of a gamekeeper, one of eight children, only one of whom, a younger sister, w…
Classic comedy fans know Leonid KInskey (1903-1998) best as the apologetic Agitator in the Marx Brothers' Duck Soup (1933) in that early scene with Trentino (Louis Calhern), and from such th…
Rick Moranis (b. 1953) has re-emerged in the news lately following a long absence, and not in a way any of us would have wished for him. He was attacked by someone who apparently doesn't lik…
How very odd. My wife and I were looking at this photo of Felix Silla (b. 1937) a couple of days ago and now we learn that he died yesterday. Is there something crackling through the ether? …
100 years ago today was born that very deep well known as Peter Ustinov (Sir Peter Alexander Frieherr von Ustinov, 1921-2004). When I was a kid, I knew Ustinov vaguely (from talk shows and t…
Here are three very good reasons to visit the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum's website today through Sunday: Today (April 16) is Charlie Chaplin's birthday! The Niles Essanay Silent Film M…
Well, here's one unexpected positive outcome of the Covid-19 epidemic: for the first time in decades I've seen nearly all of the films nominated in major Oscar categories. This is naturally …
Two more films to add to our bid to see most of this year's Oscar nominees prior to the April 25 ceremony. These two movies share a common theme of couples torn apart by tragic loss. Warning…
Pugilist James J. "Jim" Jeffries (1875-1953) is better known to posterity by his other nickname "The Great White Hope", but we disdain to endorse the concept by enshrining it in the title of…
All sorts of exciting things afoot; though fairly unrelated, I thought I'd bundle them all toegther in this handy news bulletin: Go here for my review/ article on Mike Daisey's new show at t…
Some words of appreciation today for character actor Charles Napier (1936-2011). A native of Kentucky, army vet (sergeant in the paratroopers), and former basketball coach, Napier was workin…