11,914 stories by "Trav S.d."
In celebration of Marxfest, every day this month we will be paying tribute to a different Marx Brothers film. While there are only 13 extant cinematic features including the…
 Today is the anniversary of the release of the 1920 Harold Lloyd comedy An Eastern Westerner, directed by Hal Roach. An Eastern Westerner is one of the more overtly Fairbanks-esque o…
Today is the birthday of Fayette Lodawick “Yankee” Robinson (1818-1884). Originally from Livingston County, NY, Robinson had been a shoemaker before joining June & TurnerR…
In celebration of Marxfest, every day this month we will be paying tribute to a different Marx Brothers film. While there are only 13 extant cinematic features including the entire team, we …
 I was recently asked by a reader to rank Wheeler and Woolsey’s films: which ones are particular favorites? That’s hard for me at this stage. I’ve seen about 2/3 of the…
 Today is opening day of Marxfest! I’ll be using the occasion to write a whole mess of posts about the Marx Brothers over the course of this month. Firstly, for those few of you wh…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the 1915 Keystone comedy Mabel’s Wilful Way [sic]. In this ensemble comedy a young lady (Mabel Normand) is eating with her pare…
 Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Harry Langdon short Soldier Man (1926). Soldier Man was Langdon’s last short before leaving Mack Sennett to do features. …
Today is the birthday of the much beloved Eve Arden (1908-1990). We’ve written a little about some of her notable projects such as Our Miss Brooks (here and here) and The Moth…
The Mad Marchioness and I had a date night last evening, the first in ages that was any farther than a block from our home thanks to that miserable winter and lots of projects that kept us o…
Yeah, baby! Marxfest launches this week and there’s so much tell about! Tomorrow, April 30 at 3pm, listen to me, talk-show legend Dick Cavett, Harpo’s son Bill Marx and my Marxfe…
 Today is the anniversary of the release date of the 1923 Hal Roach comedy The Noon Whistle starring Stan Laurel. Laurel never completely settled on a single character in his days …
Today is the anniversary of the release date  of the Charlie Chaplin Essanay comedy By the Sea (1915). One doesn’t often get a chance to say this, but this is one of Chaplin’s…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Harold Lloyd short Hey There (1918). In the vein of several Charlie Chaplin comedies, Hey There is set behind the scenes in a …
Today at 2pm, Green-wood Cemetery celebrates the life and career of silent film sensation Florence LaBadie on her 126th birthday. Appearing in over 180 films over the course of her sho…
 Today is the anniversary of the release date of Harold Lloyd’s first feature: Grandma’s Boy (1922). Grandma's Boy has what I call the Dumbo plot: meek, coward…
Today is the 100th anniversary of the release of the great Keystone ensemble comedy Caught in a Cabaret, directed by Mabel Normand, written by and co-starring herself and Charlie Chaplin. Th…
Today is the birthday of the popular American comedienne Carol Burnett (b. 1934). I was chiefly a fan of her variety show (1967-1977) during its last leg, when she was truly the reigning …
Filed under: EXHIBITIONS & LECTURES, LEGIT, EXPERIMENTAL & MUSICAL THEATRE Tagged: Erte, mark York, Stephan, Ziegfeld Society
 Today is the birthday of Dorothy Sebastian (1903-1957). Originally a Broadway chorus girl and pal of Louise Brooks, Sebastian was in the 1924 edition of George White’s Scandals…
Today is the birthday of the great silent comedian Eric Campbell (1879-1917). This is one of those ones where I’m going, “I haven’t done a post on him yet?  How is th…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Laurel and Hardy short Below Zero (1930), directed by James Parrott with George Stevens as DP. In this comedy, the pair are a couple…
A good time was had by all at last night’s program at the Society of Illustrators entitled From the Borscht Belt to Seinfeld: The Evolution of Jewish American Comedy. It was …
Filed under: Music Tagged: Calamity Chang, Champagn Riot, Dandy Wellington, Gin MInsky
Filed under: Dime Museum and Side Show, EXHIBITIONS & LECTURES, Human Anomalies, PLUGS Tagged: Coney Island USA, Congress of Curious People, Morbid Anatomy
