11,923 stories by "Trav S.d."
Originally posted in 2012 Most people (over a certain age) know him as “Steve Douglas” from the tv show My Three Sons (1960-1972) and a star of silly Disney movies like …
I’ve had a lump in my throat for the past hour. The word just came down that Martin and Rochelle Denton are retiring nytheatre.com on September 15. This pioneering web site didn’…
Toight at 9:15pm Eastern As part of their Glenda Farrell festival, TCM will be showing….The Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933), directed by Michael Curtiz. More beautiful in …
Today is the birthday of pioneering be bop alto sax player Charlie “Bird” Parker (1920-1955). Here’s his composition “Bird Gets the Worm” which he record…
Filed under: Hollywood (History), Movies, PLUGS Tagged: Cinecon, film festival
Today is the birthday of Ingrid Bergman (1915-1982). No one lovelier than Bergman ever acted in motion pictures but today we dishonor her memory by rubbernecking at one of her rare weak spot…
Today is the birthday of Preston Sturges (Edmund Preston Biden, 1898-1959), one of the American comedy film’s last, best hopes. A much more extensive post here on Sturges awaits, but i…
Mirth! Mystery! Mishegas! A double shot of schtick at Coney Island. Tanya Solomon, New York’s first lady of funny magic, plays with sharp knives, creamed corn, and your dearest beliefs…
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the release of the Keystone short Mabel’s New Hero, directed by Mack Sennett and starring Mabel Normand, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, Ed…
Today is the birthday of Sidney Drew (1863-1919). Drew was from a famous American acting dynasty, and uncle to John, Lionel and Ethel Barrymore (he was their mother’s brother, possibly…
Today is the birthday of Robb Wilton (Robert Wilton Smith, 1881-1957). Hailing from Liverpool, Wilton was a popular comic monologist in British music hall. He toured American in vaudeville i…
Today is the birthday of Margaret O’Rene “Peggy” Ryan (1924-2004). Ryan was still a toddler when she joined her parents’ vaudeville act, “The Merry Dancing Ryan…
Originally posted in 2010 He was born in 1925, and raised in "the O'Connor Family"the Royal Family of Vaudeville". Theirs' was a family act, consisting of singing, dancing and acrobatics. Th…
Today is the birthday of the great jazz saxophonist Lester Young (1909-1959). This one blew my mind — to learn that Lester Young, whom I think of as the ultimate be bop hep cat, had a …
Today is the birthday of Paul Rubenfeld a.k.a Paul Reubens a.k.a Peewee Herman (b. 1952). I’m real surprised I didn’t think of this when I was writing Chain of Fools but I&…
Tonight the terrific Jason Trachtenburg and his band Pendulum Swings will be playing a gig at 54 Below, right there in the belly of the beat in the Broadway District. (https://www.facebook.c…
Today is the birthday of the great American author Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945). We’ve already mentioned him fleetingly on this post. His brother was the popular Tin Pan Alley songwrit…
As we pointed out in our earlier post this morning, today is Martha Raye’s birthday. What better time then to talk about her obligatory late-career weirdy role, Benita Bizarre on Th…
 Today is the birthday of James “Jimmy” Finlayson (1887-1953), often known to his fans as “Fin”. Finlayson is best known today as Laurel and Hardy's comic …
Today is the birthday of the amazing Johnny Eck (John Eckhardt, Jr., 1911-1991), best known for his role in Tod Browning’s Freaks (1932). It is often assumed that Eck was born &#…
Originally posted in 2009. This strange (and to many, irritating) performer was born Margaret Teresa Yvonne O'Reed on this day in 1916. As a comedian, she is in a class with Jerry Lewis…
Oddly, I received a review copy of a 23 year old book in the mail a few days ago. Vintage Books has just released a new edition of Wendy Smith's 1990 Real Life Drama: The Group Theatre and A…
Just got a bunch of swell pix in from our  Bathing Beauties show at Coney Island USA earlier this month, courtesy photographer Allen Lee. We thought you might like to see what you missed,…
Today is the birthday of John T. Kelly (1852-1922). A Boston native, Kelly got his start at age 12 as a jig and clog dancer with a touring vaudeville/ minstrel company run by M.B. Leavitt. H…
Today is the birthday of Ruth Roland (1892-1937). The daughter of a San Francisco theatre manager and a singer, she entered show business as a child actress in vaudeville billed as Baby Ruth…
