11,923 stories by "Trav S.d."
Originally posted in 2012 This piece has involved more than my usual (and preferred minimal) amount of research, but it has been rewarding and I (or someone) would do well to do still more a…
Today is the birthday of Howard Dietz (1896-1983). He is best known today as one half of the great tin pan alley songwriting team Dietz and Schwartz but at the same time he was an advertisin…
Today is the birthday of Frances O’Connor (1914-1982). Born without arms (or even stumps), O'Connor developed the ability to perform most ordinary everyday tasks with her feet: cut up …
Every Sunday in September TCM will be showing dozens of works by Alfred Hitchcock from morning until…well into the next morning. It’s not the entire canon, but it’s e…
Filed under: Burlesk, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: Gotham Burlesque, Shelly Watson, Tansy
Today is the birthday of Charles Hardin “Buddy” Holley (spelled professionally as “Holly”, 1936-1959). It’s easy to obsess about the topic; he was so prolific a…
Filed under: Coney Island, Dime Museum and Side Show, PLUGS, SOCIAL EVENTS Tagged: Coney Island Beard & Moustache Comeptetion
Today is the birthday of Hampton Del Ruth (1879-1958). Educated at Oxford, he gained some experience at a couple of smaller studios before joining Keystone as a writer and actor in 1914. (He…
Today is the opening day of Shane Salerno’s new documentary about J.D. Salinger (he also released a related book on Tuesday). This is a fitting time to recall (and thanks Noah Diamond …
Today is the birthday of Joanne Worley (b. 1937). How to explain this peculiar phenomenon of the sixties to the young ‘uns? Like many who were popular during that experimental decade, …
Today is the birthday of Charles Joseph “Buddy” Bolden (1877-1931). This seminal New Orleans cornet player is credited by many with being the Father of Jazz, although when he was…
Originally posted in 2010 Joe Kennedy, you wonder? What the hell’s he doing on this show biz blog? Well, in some respects he may be the most important of all the people in these annals…
I can’t help noticing that this gentleman is carrying a hot stove Originally posted in 2010 Today is the birthday of Charles E. “Charlie” Evans (1856-1945). He got his star…
The Funny Lady and Husband Originally posted in 2010 Billy Rose (b. this day in 1899) is a sort of honorary vaudevillian. While he never trod the vaudeville stage, he came awful close to it …
Today is the birthday of Harry Pease (1886-1945. According to encyclopediast Anthony Slide, Pease was known in vaudeville as “The Boy with the Golden Voice” and wrote special mat…
Today is the birthday of Louis Silvers (1889-1954). Silvers got his start playing in vaudeville (sometimes teamed with Arthur Freed), and supplied material and worked as musical director for…
Today is the birthday of Clara Kimball Young (Clarisa Young, 1890-1960). She was a second generation actor, born to a pair of traveling stock company players based out of Chicago. In 1909 sh…
Today is the birthday of Bob Newhart (b. 1929). My period of maximum appreciation for his work is the slice right down the middle, that coincides with his first sit-com The Bob Newhart Sh…
We’re very excited back here at Trav S.D. Laboratories about the two talks we have lined up this month, one more connected with my first book No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book…
Like the Cisco Kid, this is a show from a couple of decades before my time that I grew up watching in reruns. I’m posting this today in connection with this morning’s post abo…
When I was a kid watching the re-runs of the then 20 year old tv show The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, I little dreamt that the talented German Shepard who was its star was actually (or was…
Today is the birthday of Jack Duffy (1882-1939). Born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island (yes!), he became a vaudeville performer and then went into musical comedies, spending ten years total on the…
Today is the birthday of Louise Glaum (1888-1970). Born in Baltimore and raised in Los Angeles, Glaum began her performing career on the stage, touring with stock companies from 1907 through…
Today is the  birthday of the lovely Kitty Carlisle Hart (Catherine Conn, 1910-2007). For the purposes of easy digestion, her career divides conveniently into thirds. I first became aware…
Just got word that David Frost passed away on Saturday at age 74, felled by a heart attack while on a cruise ship. Frost was someone I admired a lot — part comedian, part journalist, a…
