11,919 stories by "Trav S.d."
No assessment of 20th century screen comedy would be complete without some mention of character actor Charles Lane (Charles Levinson, 1905-2007). I call him the original one, because there i…
We found ourselves mostly disappointed by the much-hyped Lifetime movie Lizzie Borden Took an Axe staring Christina Ricci as the titular (accused but acquitted) axe murderer. We can be…
 Tonight (tomorrow morning really) at 12:15am on Turner Classic Movies Rollercoaster. One of the last of the original 1970s cycle of disaster movies, owing debts especially to Earth…
Filed under: SOCIAL EVENTS Tagged: Flute, Red Hook Ramblers, Wit's End
Filed under: AMERICANA, Indie Theatre, Music, PLUGS Tagged: Hard Times, Larry Kirwan, Stephen Foster
I am very excited: tonight at 6:15pm E.S.T. Turner Classic Movies will be showing this camp classic. I’ve not yet seen it, but have known about it for years through the good graces of …
Filed under: Burlesk, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: burlesque, Champagne Riot, Cutting Room, Dandy Wellington, Gelber and Manning
Today is the birthday of Eva Shirley (Eva Schainbaum, 1891-1982). Shirley began her singing career on the Lower East Side where she was born, built her own orchestra which played everything …
Unless the news I received about a couple of hours ago is some kind of sick prank, a good friend has passed away. Dan Jagendorf was as good as they come. In a very short time he became a tru…
We are pleased to present the next installment of our ongoing series of experiments in silent and slapstick comedy film.  Too Much Nutcracker is my tribute to what I call the “ob…
 Good news! Volume 2 of Ben Model’s popular “Accidentally Preserved” series of rare silent film comedies is now out and available to purchase. As with Volume 1 this is …
Today is the anniversary of the release of Buster Keaton’s 1923 comedy short The Balloonatic, co-written and directed with Eddie Cline. This is a very episodic film…I found it …
Today is the birthday of that great star of German Expressionist cinema Conrad Veidt (1893-1943). Veidt was sort of the German equivalent of Lon Chaney, and is most highly regarded today as …
Today is the birthday of Constance Collier (Laura Constance Hardie, 1878-1955). Most of us know her strictly from her late career Hollywood roles in films like Stage Door (1937), We…
Could there ever be a more deceptive advertisement? Far from being the funniest comedy in history, it must rank with the unfunniest. It’s definitely among the worst of Keaton’s f…
This one came as something of a revelation. We watched it last night; hadn’t heard of it before. It’s an early entry into the “psycho-biddy” genre, characterized by f…
Today (January 20, 2014) makes the 111th anniversary of the opening night of L. Frank Baum’s hit Broadway stage adaptation of his popular 1900 children’s book The Wizard of Oz…
Today is the birthday of the brilliant film maker David Lynch (b. 1946). I was all of twelve when his first movie Eraserhead (1977) came out, and that only played the art circuits. Lik…
Today (January 20) is the anniversary of the release date of Stan Laurel’s 1924 solo comedy Smithy, co-directed by producer Hal Roach and Keystone veteran George Jeske. In his nearl…
Today is the birthday of Colin Clive (1900-1937), nowadays known for just one thing, but we’ll get to that! A direct descendant of Clive of India, he was born into straight-up milit…
As today is the birthday of Albertina Rasch (see full post here) and I just saw her in this movie, and I’ve been bursting to spread the news about this terrific movie anyway, well here…
We were induced to take a break from our moratorium on reviewing indie theatre shows by a variety of factors in the case of Edison’s Elephant, now at Metropolitan Playhouse throu…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the original, silent version of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1928), considered one of THE great lost films of our time. The 1953 musical versi…
Or better yet, and more likely, end your Saturday in that fashion. In the wee wee hours of tomorrow morning TCM will be showing two notorious psychedelic classics, starring (as such films al…
Now here’s a gentleman whose memory has suffered due to the more lasting success of his brother Wallace Beery, and his son Noah Beery, Jr. (best remembered as Rocky from The Rockford F…
