11,887 stories by "Trav S.d."
Tomorrow is comedian Red Skelton’s birthday. Turner Movie Classics will mark the occasion by screening his films throughout the day. I am grateful for this particular line-up, as it co…
Today is the birthday of Floyd Gibbons (1887-1939). Gibbons is an example of the true scope of variety possible in big time vaudeville. He was a a journalist (most famous as a war correspond…
Exciting things afoot for comedy fans in NYC. My buddy Steve Massa has helped organized a series of screenings at MOMA of films by the great comic auteur Leo McCarey, starting tonight with L…
Tickets for the 20th annual New York International Fringe Festival go on sale today. My hat goes off to its co-founder and director Elena K. Holy at this auspicious benchmark. My admirati…
Filed under: BROOKLYN, CAMP, Indie Theatre, PLUGS Tagged: BROOKLYN, Charles Busch, Old Stone House, Park Slope, Piper Theatre, Psycho Beach Party
Even as we speak we are in the midst of  Day #3 of Turner Classic Movies month long salute to the Hollywood western (see yesterday’s post here). Every Tuesday and Wednesday in…
Every Tuesday and Wednesday in July Turner Classic Movies will  be showing westerns the entire day, for a total of 100 movies in all. Here is tomorrow’s line-up.  The times below…
Today is the 100th anniversary of the release date of Charlie Chaplin’s The Vagabond (1916). The Vagabond was a great leap forward in terms of Chaplin’s story telling artistry…
Today is the birthday of Marguerite Sylva (Marguerite Smith, 1875-1957). Sylva was born in Brussels to a father of English parentage; her father was the Royal Court Physician. She and sister…
Filed under: BROOKLYN, Hollywood (History), Movies, PLUGS, VISUAL ART Tagged: Cartoon Carnival, City Reliquary, Tommy Stathes
Today is the birthday of Broadway and Hollywood writer/ director/ producer William Anthony McGuire (1881-1940). McGuire has no obvious vaudeville connection, but his career touched so many o…
Coming up tonight on TCM: several highly entertaining movies co-starring Olivia de Havilland. Warning: we always include spoilers: 8:00pm (EST): In This Our Life (1942) I am especially fond …
I was just about to leave for The Iron Heel rehearsal yesterday when I heard that protests about the Baton Rouge and Minnesota killings were taking place at Union Square, only a couple of bl…
Tomorrow afternoon (Eastern times) Turner Movie Classics will be presenting three classic Charlie Chaplin movies. As a lead-in, almost to whet your appetite before the big feast, they’…
The Bowery Alliance of Neighbors has just launched their terrific new “Windows on the Bowery”” project, to which I was honored to contribute in a small way. To learn all ab…
I have been having great fun rehearsing my role(s) in Untitled Theater Company #61’s latest production, an adaptation of Jack London’s forgotten 1908 dystopian/utopian novel T…
Even as we speak we are in the midst of  Day #1 of Turner Classic Movies month long salute to the Hollywood western (see yesterday’s post here). Every Tuesday and Wednesday in Ju…
Today is the birthday of Jack “Moose” Farrell (1857-1914). Farrell was a second baseman for such teams as the Syracuse Stars and the Providence Grays before retiring from t…
Today is the birthday of Sarah Siddons (Sarah Kemble, 1755-1831). Mrs. Siddons, as she was usually styled after the fashion of the times, is a legendary figure in theatre history. She was th…
Tomorrow Turner Classic Movies will be launching what amounts to a survey course in the Hollywood western. Every Tuesday and Wednesday in July they will  be showing westerns the entire da…
Happy Fourth of July! Once again we share the famous Trumbull painting to commemorate the signing of the document that made America’s political separation from Great Britain official. …
I could learn nothing about Jolly Ema beyond what it tells on this postcard, and the weight they give (if it does indeed say 620 lbs) is probably a matter of creative interpretation. But thi…
Today is the birthday of Bernard “Bunny” Granville (1886-1936). Granville was a comedian in vaudeville; he played the Palace in the very first year of its existence, and again, a…
Today is the birthday of Anna Chandler (1884-1957). Pennsylvania native Chandler was only 16 years old when she married Keith-Albee booker Jack Curtis Sr. For the next 30+ years she was to b…
Tomorrow on TCM at 1:30pm (EST), a screening of the 1959 film adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s The Devil’s Disciple. I’ve seen this movie a couple of times now (af…
