11,919 stories by "Trav S.d."
We’re ringing out the old year with a slew of old timey New Year’s episodes: You never know what you’ve got til it’s gone! Big band leader Guy Lombardo began doing…
We’re ringing out the old year with a slew of old timey New Year’s episodes: Here to ring in the New Year 1947, Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians (for Johnson’s Wax —…
Here’s something to make you jolly this New Year’s Eve. This is one of Chaplin’s handful of most famous “pathos” scenes, from his masterpiece The Gold RushÂ…
Today is the birthday of Tim Considine (b. 1940). Why is HE here today? My friends, people like him are the very reason this blog exists! I discovered a serendipitous synchronicity when I st…
We’re ringing out the old year with a slew of old timey New Year’s episodes; Unusual in broadcasting annals, Wild Bill Hickok launched simultaneously on radio and television i…
Today is the birthday of producer/songwriter/ performer Jeff Lynne (b. 1947) best known for his project Electric Light Orchestra (1970-1986), and for producing chart-topping records by Georg…
Today is the birthday of the late Davy Jones (1945-2012). Having already written posts about Messers Nesmith, Tork, and Dolenz, and the Monkees overall, I guess it is time to bite the bullet…
Today is the birthday of Skeeter Davis (Mary Frances Penick, 1931-2004). Her unflattering nickname (short for mosquito) came from her grandfather; “Davis” comes from the fact tha…
Today is the birthday of Martin Milner (b. 1931). Milner is second generation show biz: his mom was a dancer and his father a film distributor. Both encouraged him in his acting ambitions, a…
Today is the birthday of Betty “Stella the Bearded Lady” MacGregor (1902-1977). A native of Battle Creek, Michigan she initially spent many years pursuing more traditional career…
Today is the birthday of Cliff Arquette (1905-1974). Arquette’s popular character Charley Weaver was very much a presence on tv when I was a kid, most prominently on Hollywood Squar…
Today is the birthday of Al Mardo (1894-?). Mardo got his show business start around 1910 dancing on the street for coins and amateur boxing in Providence, Rhode Island .He began to compe…
Today is December 26, known variously abroad as Boxing Day, St. Stephens Day, and Second Christmas Day. Apparently the U.S. is the only western country that hasn’t figured out what to …
Eat your heart out Megyn Kelly! Here’s proof that you’re wrong. Amos and Andy did “Andy Plays Santa” episodes twice, one for radio in 1946: And one for tv in 19…
Originally posted in 2009 This gal's fame was similar to that enjoyed by such wonderful recent “entertainers” as Lorena Bobbit, Monica Lewinsky, and O.J. Simpson. Nesbit was an o…
Originally posted in 2009 Her rendition of "Rosie, You Are My Posie" supposedly inspired Al Jolson to go into show business. Eddie Cantor once stole tickets to see her perform.…
Originally posted in 2009 A transplant from the Yiddish theatre of New York's Lower East Side, Belle Baker combined an extraordinary talent with an honest ethnic sensibility that helped brea…
Today is the birthday of Joseph M. Schenck (1878-1961). We refer to him as the “Other” Joe Schenck, because we have already written about another one, who was one half of the vau…
Today is the birthday of Tony Martin (Alvin Morris, 1919-2013), big band singer and minor movie star of the 1930s through the 1950s. I’m not sure if I’d give him attention here o…
Another in our series of Christmas themed old time show biz posts. Who’s more Jewish than Fanny Brice? Nobody! But nothing will keep Baby Snooks with her appointed rendez-vous with…
Today is the birthday of Howard Hughes (1905-1975). Hughes was many things: heir to a fortune; airplane designer, manufacturer and test pilot; eccentric recluse; and conservative ideologue; …
Today is the birthday of the great Victorian poet, essayist and cultural critic Matthew Arnold (1822-1888). This year I read Culture and Anarchy (1867-1869) for the first time and I su…
Looka here — I have verified empirically what we have all sensed instinctively: there are way too many friggin’ versions of Charles Dickens‘ 1843 story A Christmas…
Here’s a charming Christmas film made by D.W. Griffith for Biograph in 1909. A father loses his job and is demoralized, so he takes a run-out powder on his family, get me? They’r…
Another in our long series of Christmas themed old time show biz post: I generally associate Doris Day with the 50s and 60s, and thus think of her as too young for Radio Days…but the f…
