11,919 stories by "Trav S.d."
Today is the birthday of comedy babe Melanie Chartoff (b. 1950) — and while she has had rather a successful career as a sit-com and voice-over television actress (notably for close to …
I once cracked a joke to Peter O’Toole — and he laughed! It was when he was promoting the first volume of his autobiography, Loitering with Intent in 1992. I worked at a bo…
Another in our series of Christmas themed posts… Joan Davis was a major comedy star of radio headlining in a long string of her own shows throughout the 40s, and later starring in I…
Today is the birthday of progressive jazz piano player, composer/arranger and bandleader Stan Kenton (1911-1979). We mark the occasion in timely fashion with his band’s swinging …
Today is the birthday of Maxwell Anderson (1888-1959), one of the most successful playwrights this nation ever produced. While I bet you know his name, the odds are pretty good (I bet) that …
Last night I thrilled to brave a Superstorm of Santacon and Snowpocalypse to see Dandy Darkly’s Kiss Beneath the Camel Toe at the new Celebration of Whimsy (or “COW”)…
Today is the 100th birthday of the release of the hilarious Keystone comedy The Gusher. The Gusher is one of those films that Mack Sennett famously cooked up on the spur of the m…
Today is the birthday of Jean Antoine Joseph Bihin (1805-1873). A native of Belgium, he grew to a height of between 6’8″ to 8′ feet (reports vary). Beyond this advantage, h…
Another in our series of Christmas themed vintage show biz posts: I often joke that I am the only heterosexual male ever to be obsessed with Judy Garland. When I was six years old I wanted t…
Another in our series of Christmas themed vintage show biz posts: The comedy team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis are so closely identified with their film comedies that it’s often forg…
Today is the birthday of Frances Bavier (1902-1989) best known to audiences today as Aunt Bee from The Andy Griffith Show. But my image of her got a good shake-up the other day. It consis…
Today marks the 100th anniversary of Chester Conklin’s first credited role. In the film Rival Pitchers he played Mike the catcher, with William Nigh and Sidney de Gray as the tit…
I’ve attached two pictures above because, though I have looked at about a dozen official photographs of Company XIV’s new holiday show Nutcracker Rouge, NONE adequately convey…
Devotion to your audience means being 85 years old and dressed like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. In this sketch from his 1988 Christmas special, an astoundingly still-with-it Bob Hope exc…
Another in our series of Christmas themed old time show biz posts… Radio comedian Harold “Hal” Peary (1908-1985) created his popular radio character Throckmorton Gilderslee…
Thanks, friend Chris Robinson for this tip! MICA PRESENTS LARGEST EXHIBITION FEATURING SIDESHOW PERFORMER JOHNNY ECK, DEC. 13"MARCH 16 BALTIMORE"The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) …
Here’s weird one…strictly for Williamsburgers, and of the utmost timeliness. Starting at  3pm today (for one day only), that weird-ass publishing house and gallery Boo-HoorayÃ…
Tonight! At 8pm at the Landmark Loew’s Jersey Theatre in Journal Square, Jersey City Charlie Chaplin’s immortal masterpiece The Gold Rush, which I call in my new book Chain of…
Today is the birthday of George Ovey (George Overton Odell, 1870-1951). Missouri native Ovey had been end man with a minstrel company for over a decade in 1915 when pioneering film producer …
Filed under: HOLIDAYS, FESTIVALS, MEMORIALS & PARADES, SOCIAL EVENTS Tagged: Birdland, Ziegfeld Holiday, Ziegfeld Society
Today is the birthday of George Beban (1873-1928). The son of Dalmatian and Irish immigrants, Beban began performing professionally in his native San Francisco at age eight, singing with Ree…
Another in our series of Christmas themed posts: Here are Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy on the Chase & Sanborn Hour from Christmas Eve, 1944. For more on Bergen, see my full article …
Another in our series of Christmas themed posts… This one came onto my radar about a week ago and it seemed truly fitting for this blog, not just because we like odd, psychotronic, low…
Today is the birthday of Lydia Yeamans Titus (1857-1929). Titus was second generation show biz royalty. Her father was the young American circus clown Ned Yeamans, who met Lydia’s moth…
Another in our series of Christmas themed posts. This little scene from I Love Lucy originally aired in 1951. The clear absence of any audience (no laughter) makes the scene a little u…
