11,914 stories by "Trav S.d."
Today is the birthday of George Segal (b. 1934). Most of us know him as a likable comic (sometimes dramatic) actor and (like Elliott Gould and Dustin Hoffman) one of the first generation of …
Filed under: Burlesk, Contemporary Variety, HOLIDAYS, FESTIVALS, MEMORIALS & PARADES, Jazz (miscellaneous), PLUGS Tagged: Angie Pontani, Brian Newman, burlesque'jazz, Burlesque-a-Pades, …
Today is the anniversary of the Harry Langdon comedy The Chaser (1928).  Often pointed to as a symptom of his late twenties decline, it’s a movie I rather enjoy. The film was …
Look at the head of hair on this hep cat Something must be in the air. I just got word that the great Sid Caesar had passed away. A Yonkers native, Isaac Sidney Caesar (1922-2014)  got…
In the early 90s I finally got to go to my dream college, NYU Tisch. Enrolled in the film and television undergrad program, I encountered a lot of heavy competition to get into practical pro…
Today is the birthday of Lorne Greene (Lyon Himan Green, 1915-1987). The son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Greene grew up in Ottawa and took up dramatics and radio broadcasting while at coll…
One in our series of old time radio posts in celebration of Valentine’s Day. The wonderful picture above, from the official Danny Kaye website, really has little to do with the clip. I…
Just got word that Mrs. Shirley Temple Black has passed away. Temple was the most popular child star in history, and one of the few who didn’t disintegrate or self-destruct. Her life i…
Today is the birthday of Anna Christiansen (1886-1953), better known by the professional name Madame A. Strakai. Born Anna Annisman in Magilure, Russia, she was second generation circus folk…
One in our series of old time radio posts in celebration of Valentine’s Day. Big bandleader Ozzie Nelson and his wife Harriet started out on radio before they brought their popular sit…
Today is the birthday of actor Robert Wagner (b. 1930). Don’t give me no crap about Hart to Hart – that was only the third of Wagner’s successful tv series. The…
Today is the birthday of Dame Frances Margaret “Judith” Anderson (1897-1992). Australian by birth, she began he acting career in Sydney in 1915, and moved to the U.S. three years…
Today is the birthday of Chester Lauck (1902-198), best known for playing Columbus “Lum” Edwards of the radio comedy team of Lum and Abner. He’d met his partner Norris G…
Today is the birthday of the great Hollywood heavy Brian Dunlevy (1901-1972). Born in Ireland, Dunlevy moved with his family to Wisconsin as a child, as I’m sure will come as no surpri…
One in our series of old time radio posts in celebration of Valentine’s Day. Here’s Der Bingle’s radio broadcast for Valentine’s Day 1948, with special guest Oscar Le…
Today is the birthday of the great Portuguese-Brazilian performer Carmen Miranda (1909-1955). We will certainly be giving a lot more attention to the career of this amazing, uni…
The Hall of Hams is our series of tributes to artists who brought the art of melodramatic acting into the modern era. Today is the birthday of Ronald Colman (1891-1958). This English sta…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the hilarious Laurel and Hardy comedy The Fixer Uppers (1935). A re-make of their 1927 silent short Slipping Wives, this little mo…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the droll Harold Lloyd comedy Ask Father (1919). In this silent short, Harold is among the many suitors for a desirable girl, who instru…
Tonight at 10pm (Eastern) on Turner Classic Movies: The Great Ziegfeld (1936). In this heavily bowdlerized account of the life of this notorious ladies man, William Powell playsÅ
Today is the centennial anniversary of the release of the film Mabel’s Strange Predicament. This is a historic film for all sorts of reasons. One is that it is was actually the …
Today is the birthday of the great actor (comic and otherwise) Jack Lemmon (1925-2001). While Lemmon is associated with many classic comedy performances in many classic comedy films (I was g…
One in our series of old time radio posts in celebration of Valentine’s Day. Many of us have seen the movie and television adaptations of Chic Young’s comic strip Blondie s…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the hilarious Laurel and Hardy comedy Blotto (1930). Directed by the great Leo McCarey, the crux of it is that the boys want to sneak ou…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Harold Lloyd comedy His Royal Slyness (1920). This  silent short is Lloyd’s take on the old Prince and the Pauper twi…
