11,919 stories by "Trav S.d."
Nobody is more Jewish than Al Jolson — the real son of a cantor, as well as the fictional son of a cantor in The Jazz Singer. On the other hand, no one is more secular than Al Jolso…
Today is the birthday of the late Andy Williams (1927-2012). Since it falls during a season he is much associated with. and you’re having his Christmas songs dunned into you anyway, we…
While I go to museums pretty frequently, it’s been ages since I’ve been to the Museum of Modern Art (and ages before that since I’ve gone there to do anything but look at f…
Happy Cyber Monday! Never mind your friends’ and relatives’ wish lists! I know what they want! I Know what they want! Trust me! This page of my  blog is the only catalog you&#…
Today is the birthday of Charles Edward Ringling (1863-1926), a somewhat random and yet reasonably appropriate time to perform a much delayed unpacking of the complicated story of the Ringli…
Today is the birthday of Richard Pryor (1940-2005). Here’s my infallible capsule assessment of Pryor: a histrionic genius at the art of storytelling on the stand-up stage, with a film …
Today is the birthday of Virginia Mayo (Virginia Cara Jones, 1920-2005). A Saint Louis native, she was taught acting and dancing at her aunt’s dramatic academy and began her career as …
We have a thousand things to be thankful for; yesterday one of them was that the Duchess got the inspiration to book us at Chez Josephine for our Thanksgiving feast. The place is owned and o…
Happy Black Friday! Never mind your friends’ and relatives’ wish lists! I know what they want! I Know what they want! Trust me! This page of my  blog is the only catalog you&#…
Today is the birthday of the great choreographer and director Busby Berkley (1895-1976). One is tempted to call him the greatest Hollywood choreographer ever but then one remembers th…
Okay here’s the last of our Thanksgiving 2013 posts, we think. This Thanksgiving episode of Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy’s CBS radio program aired in 1955, quite late in the…
Surely this isn’t the first cheesy thing that ever happened on this blog? Personally I’m OK not revisiting the first Thanksgiving. It was freezing, and the food had no seasoning.…
Happy Thanksgiving. This seems a fitting day to recommend what I’ll now think of as the definitive account of the first English settlement in 17th century New England. Nathaniel Philbr…
I liked this picture so much for my Thanksgiving post that I programmed it on May 29! Enjoy yer bounty!Filed under: Comedy, HOLIDAYS, FESTIVALS, MEMORIALS & PARADES Tagged: Larry Fine, T…
Another post in celebration of the Thanksgiving holiday. In this 1939 Thanksgiving episode of Jack Benny’s radio program, the parsimonious Benny serves up ostrich rather than turkey, a…
I am of the generation that first knew Robert Young as the aged coot on Marcus Welby, M.D. and the spokesperson for Sanka (does Sanka even exist any more? It used to be the only decaf …
Today is the 100th anniversary of the release of the Keystone one-reel comedy Cohen Saves the Flag, directed and produced by Mack Sennett. Is it anti-Semitic? Star Ford Sterli…
Yet another post in celebration of the Thanksgiving season. This episode of Abbott and Costello’s radio show, entitled “Thanksgiving Dinner” originally aired November 25, 1…
Another post in celebration of the Thanksgiving Season. This Thanksgiving themed episode of the Burns and Allen Show originally aired November 22, 1951. For more on the storied background on…
Another in our ongoing series of Thanksgiving posts. Like many an old vaudevillian Red Skelton had a couple of modes. For Red, one was “nut comic”. The other was “hum…
Another in our ongoing series of Thanksgiving posts. This Thanksgiving themed show called “Things To Be Thankful For” was broadcast by Red Skelton on November 21, 1951, during th…
Another post in celebration of the Thanksgiving season. Here’s Fred Allen’s Thanksgiving themed episode from November 22, 1942 on the Texaco Star Theatre (later hosted by Milton …
Today is the birthday of the great painter and illustrator Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901). We celebrate him today of course as the great chronicler of the variety scene at Paris…
Today is the 100th anniversary of the release of the Keystone one-reel comedy Fatty Joins the Force, directed by George Nichols and featuring Fatty Arbuckle, Dot Farley, Minta Durfee, Edgar …
Another post in honor of Harpo’s birthday. This absolutely would have been my first exposure to Harpo Marx; ten years after he died, in a 20 year old re-run of I Love Lucy. The 1…
