11,923 stories by "Trav S.d."
Filed under: Circus, EXHIBITIONS & LECTURES, PLUGS, VISUAL ART Tagged: David Carlyon, John Towsen, North Manhattan Arts Alliance, Northwestern University
Originally posted in 2010. Mantan Moreland, best known today for playing the terrified comic relief in films like the Charlie Chan series, and for his immortal catch phrase “Feets, don…
Originally posted in 2011 In 1901, the White Rats went on strike. The White Rats, as the vaudeville performers' union was known, was founded by comedian and prize fighter George Fuller G…
This comes more under the heading of “historically interesting” than “exciting” or even “funny”, but it is necessary viewing for any “well-viewed…
Today is Chuck McCann’s birthday (born 1934)! McCann’s is one of those faces and voices that have made up part of the fabric of your life, whether you know his name or not. Once …
Monday and Tuesdays in September TCM will be showing a 15 part documentary series entitled The Story of Film, and screening 52 key films alongside it. Be sure to check TCM’s web sit…
Today is the birthday of Amanda Randolph (1896-1967), a theatrical Renaissance woman and pioneer on many fronts. Originally from Kentucky, her professional career began as a teenager playing…
Originally posted in 2011. A rare example of old school show biz overlapping with New York’s cultural elite. Jean Dalrymple (born this day in 1902) is best known to contemporaries …
Originally posted in 2011. Edith Wilson (born Edith Goodall this day in 1896 and not to be confused with the First Lady during World War I) was a blues and jazz singer who got her start i…
Originally posted in 2011. Jack Norton (born this day in 1882) was one of Hollywood’s most recognizable bit players of the 1930s and 40s, usually but not always, playing a comic drunk …
Cool news for lovers of NYC history. Tomorrow morning at 6am Eastern, TCM will be showing Hester Street, Joan Micklin Silver’s 1975 film adaptation of Abraham Cahan’s 1896 …
Today is the birthday of Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950). Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat. Edgar Rice Burroughs is not good. Misled by Hollywood public relations effort…
Today is the birthday of Don Wilson (1900-1982). A college football player in his youth, he worked his way into radio as a sportscaster and a singer in the 1920s. Gradually he became an anno…
Originally posted in 2010 James J. Corbett was born this day in 1866. Gentleman Jim’s profile was far from the usual one of a professional pugilist; in many ways it was more suited…
Originally posted in 2010. Marilyn Miller (born Mary Ellen Reynolds this day in 1898) began her vaudeville career at age four under the nom de guerre Mademoiselle Sugarlump. From here …
Today is the birthday of the great comic actress Lily Tomlin (b. 1939). Tomlin is easily one of the first comedy performers who ever made an impression on my tiny mind, her time on Rowan and…
Today is the birthday of Tony Slydini (1900-1991), seminal close-up magic man of the 20th century, master of the psychology that informs sleight of hand. Originally from Foggia, Italy he mov…
Today is the birthday of Betty Blythe (Elizabeth Blythe Slaughter, 1893-1972). A native of Los Angeles, Blythe studied opera and art in Paris, and spent some time performing in musical comed…
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 enough …
Today is the birthday of Arthur Godfrey (1903-1983). Godfrey began as an announcer in radio around 1930 first in Baltimore, then in Washington, anchoring local shows, playing records, occasi…
Special thanks to Norman Frisch for the news tip. A few days ago we published a post here about Leo Gorcey  and his father Bernard. It turns out Leo’s sister (Bernard’s daught…
Today is the birthday of William Saroyan (1908-1981), the literary equivalent of William Henry Johnson, Barnum’s “What is it?” Many have read Saroyan’s fiction. The w…
The Art Stars came out in profusion for last night’s world premiere of Satan, Hold My Hand. Written by the Sainted performance Goddess Rev Jen Miller, produced by Jonathan Ames (…
Joan Blondell was one of those vaudevillians whose career spanned so long those of us growing up in the 1970s knew her entirely from contemporary entertainment, little dreaming of the four d…
Originally posted in 2010. Fritzi Scheff (b. Fredericka Scheff Yarger on this day in 1879) was a prima donna in every sense of the word. A second generation grand opera singer from Vienna, a…
