This Sunday, April 10, 2016, at 11am the Film Forum in New York will be showing the 1953 George Pal version of War of the Worlds. When I was a kid, this was my fourth favorite movie, …
Thanks, Derek Davidson, for tipping me off to the fact that today is the 40th anniversary of the release of one of the seminal movies of my childhood, Michael Ritchie’s The Bad News…
I hope you will check out my grand, brand spankin’ new web site www.travsd.com! Designed by the multi-talented Noah Diamond, to these eyes it’s a glorious and beautiful thing.…
Today is the birthday of Rosemary Lane (Rosemary Mullican, 1913-1974), one of a brood of performing sisters  known as the Lane Sisters. Writing about them is a bit of a tangle, as they al…
Today is the birthday of Carmel Myers (1899-1980). The beautiful Myers was the daughter of a San Francisco rabbi. The family moved to Los Angeles when she was in her teens. The lore is that …
It’s Tartan Week here in New York. This year there are a surprising number of Scottish-American friendship events planned: concerts, talks, parts, all culminating with the big Tartan D…
Filed under: Burlesk, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: Beauty Bar, Behind the Velvet Curtain, burlesque
A happy outcome of having this blog is the number of grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great nephews and nieces of rank and file vaudevillians (and many famous ones) I have gotten to c…
Each year the Library of Congress sponsors a workshop where experts from around the country congregate and watch old films (mostly silent) and segments of film which lack I.D. information, s…
Today is the birthday of the (still kicking!) Doris Day (Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff). Day came along too late for vaudeville, our usual stomping grounds (she was born in either 1922 or 1924, …
Today is the birthday of the great turn-of-the-last-century actress Margaret Anglin (1876-1958). Anglin started out in life with some slight advantages — her father was the Speak…
Tonight (April 2, 2016)!  BroadwayHD will be streaming live Signature Theatre’s production of Old Hats with Bill Irwin and David Shiner so you can see it from the convenience of …
Today we treat of English-born actress Mrs. Thomas Whiffen (Blanche Galton, 1845-1936). From the Restoration era (when women first trod the English stage) through the early 20th century, it …
This Sunday (April 3, 2016) at 11am, New York’s Film Forum will present an excellent triple bill of classic silent comedy shorts. On the menu are the following films (click on the titl…
Magdalena “Mitzi” Hajos was born in Budapest, Hungary in April, 1889, and first went onstage as a child performer in her native country. Arriving in the U.S.  in 1909 she sang…
Today is the birthday of the influential 20th century actress Laurette Taylor (Loretta Helen Cooney, 1883-1946). By rights, she rates inclusion in my “Hall of Hams” series, which…
Today is the birthday of Harry Green (Henry Blitzer, 1892-1958). Originally a lawyer, Green went into vaudeville as a comedian and magician in the years after World War One. A Jewish stereot…
Today is the birthday of Anna Fitziu (Anna Powell, 1887-1967). Originally from West Virginia, she started out in New York City as a chorus girl and singer in 1902 using the stage name Anna F…
Originally posted on FROM THE BYGONE: Charles Dana Gibson (1867 " 1944) was an American graphic artist, best known for his creation of the Gibson Girl, an iconic representation of the beauti…
Hey, it’s still Women’s History Month! I bet you forgot all about women, didn’t you? I know that you did. In the spirit of our St Patrick’s post which savaged “…
I was going to post this on March 1 for the launch of Women’s History Month, but I have been very pokey on the blogging front lately. I’m no less pokey today, but let’s con…
Today is the birthday of the legendary James Cruze (Jens Vera Cruz Bosen, 1884-1942). Cruze’s early life sounds like excellent preparation for his most famous film as director, The …
Today is my late father’s birthday I got the idea for this post as we binge watched Mad Men for the umpteenth time in preparation for the series finale a few months ago. My father was …
Today is the birthday of big band leader Paul Specht (1895-1954). Much like Paul Whiteman, his contemporary and competitor, though he often used the word “jazz” to describe his w…
Much afoot! We’re nearing three milestones: 1) the 20th year of Trav S.D.’s American Vaudeville Theatre; 2) the 1,000th vaudevillian to be profiled on Travalanche; and 3) the bra…