11,914 stories by "Trav S.d."
Today is the anniversary of the release date of My Little Chickadee (1940), the one and only co-starring vehicle of W.C. Fields and Mae West. While now thought of as a comedy classic s…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of Charlie Chaplin's much vilified final film, A Countess from Hong Kong (1967). As Walter Kerr wrote, "Chaplin can be bad but he can never be un…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of That Little Band of Gold (1915), directed by Fatty Arbuckle, and starring Arbuckle, Mabel Normand and Ford Sterling. This little movie feel…
H’m, one might think the LAST thing the world would need is a fawning paean to its most coddled, catered-to, reflexively narcissistic demographic, and yet, here one is. For the better …
Some great silent comedies on deck this weekend at the American Museum of the Moving Image. Saturday, March 14 at 4pm, two by  Buster Keaton: Seven Chances (1925) and T…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Buster Keaton comedy Hard Luck (1921), co-directed by Keaton and Eddie Cline. Hard Luck was a film that was considered "lost" until most o…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of Harold Lloyd’s 1920 silent comedy Haunted Spooks, co-starring Mildred Davis. It’s a fairly ordinary spook comedy, w…
Today is the birthday of Doris Eaton (1904-2010), whose chief claim to fame was having been the last surviving Ziegfeld chorus girl. The amazing thing about that is, her time with the Fol…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the silent Laurel and Hardy classic short Duck Soup (1927). Why does it have the same title as the 1933 Marx Brothers movie? Perhaps the fa…
Hello and welcome again to Vaudephone, your one stop shopping for all the best contemporary variety acts, viewed through our patented retroscope. Today we feature the Bindlestiff Famil…
Today is the birthday of the great playwright Edward Albee (b. 1928) Albee is the grandson by adoption of the top vaudeville magnate Edward F. Albee whom I wrote about extensively in my book…
Filed under: Contemporary Variety, Jazz (miscellaneous), Music, PLUGS Tagged: Charming Disaster, Gin Party, Pete's Candy Store
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Douglas Fairbanks comedy The Habit of Happiness (1916). Directed and co-written by Allan Dwan, the film once again casts Doug as the mi…
Today is the birthday of that unfathomable 20th century phenomenon known as Lawrence Welk (1903-1992). When I was a kid, Welk was the gold standard for “Old People Music We Just Didn&#…
Today is the anniversary of the release of the great Buster Keaton feature Seven Chances (1925). Seven Chances (1925) was based on a 1916 stage play by Roi Cooper Megrue which had been…
 Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Chaplin Chaplin comedy The Champion (1915). One of his early Essanay comedies, The Champion is a nice snapshot of Chaplin in…
Filed under: African American Interest, Blackface & Minstrelsy, BROOKLYN, PLUGS, SOCIAL EVENTS, VISUAL ART Tagged: exhibition, Freedom Fighters, Marie Roberts, Tuohy Hall
Hello and welcome again to Vaudephone, your one stop shopping for all the best contemporary variety acts, viewed through our patented retroscope. Today we feature the Bindlestiff Family C…
Filed under: BROOKLYN, Circus, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS, Vaudeville etc. Tagged: Bindlestiff, Brooklyn Lyceum 20th Anniversary, Circus, vaudeville
Tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. Eastern, Turner Classic Movies is showing a most interesting artifact, Milton Berle’s 1949 film Always Leave Them Laughing. This was neither BerleR…
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the release of the Keystone comedy Tango Tangles, co-starring Charlie Chaplin, Fatty Arbuckle and Ford Sterling, directed by Mack Sennett. This is ano…
Filed under: Burlesk, Contemporary Variety, Drag and/or LGBT Tagged: burlesque, Gramercy Theatre, Murray Hill
Today is the anniversary of the release of Fatty’s Chance Acquaintance (1915), directed by and starring Roscoe Arbuckle. A fairly typical “park bench” comedy, it stars Arbu…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of one of my favorite films, Charlie Chaplin’s first talkie The Great Dictator (1940). By the 1930s there was no avoiding the fac…
Today is the anniversary of the release of Charlie Chaplin’s great masterpiece City Lights (1931). Despite being released well into the sound era, City Lights may be thought of a…
