11,936 stories by "Trav S.d."
I was saddened to learn just now that Helen Guditis, director and founder of the Theatre Museum, passed away on Monday, finally succumbing to the cancer that had been wracking her body for t…
When I was a young, aspiring stand up comedian of 19 and 20 I idolized, idolized Steven Wright (still do). The early-mid 1980s, when he first hit, were his perfect time. His minimalist…
Today is the birthday of silent western star William S. Hart (1864-1946). I’ve got a westerns project coming up but that’s a couple of years down the dusty dirt road. In t…
Today is the birthday of Agnes Moorehead (1900-1974). One of the marks of a good actor is a willingness to take risks, to be as “bad” as often one as one is “good”. A…
Today is the birthday of Kathryn McGuire (1903-1978). A dancer by training, she studied seriously both in her native Illinois and in Hollywood when her family moved there in 1917. In 1919 sh…
Today is the birthday of Walt Disney (1901-1966). The highlight of my short NYU career was the course I took on Disney taught by the world’s pre-eminent Disney scholar John Canemaker. …
Today is the birthday of “Little Richard” Penniman (b, 1932). Richard’s life and career are an example of the perils and pitfalls of Manicheanism, his life perpetually  …
Today is the birthday of Dennis Wilson (1944-1983), generally conceded to be the “coolest” of the Beach Boys. Mike Love may have been the front man, and for all I know the most p…
Today is the birthday of Jean Hugard (b. John Gerard Rodney Boyce, 1872-1959). An Australian native, he began his career circa 1896, and performed under many aliases including also Os…
Since my good buddies Carla Rhodes and Cecil have been spending an unnatural amount of time with Chuck McCann, like this: And this: Anyway, because of that, I find my self recalling Far-O…
This is of course a different lady from the famous high-society art patron who later became a Whitney. THIS Gertrude Vanderbilt was born in Brooklyn circa 1880 and broke into the theatre aro…
Today is the birthday of George Mann (1905-1977) of the vaudeville comedic dance team of Barto and Mann. He and Dewy Barto (b. Stewart Swoyer, 1896-1973) were each performing seperate …
Well, it’s out of the headlines now, and even most of the city has moved past the aftermath of Sandy, but guess what? Entire neighborhoods of NYC are still struggling to climb out from…
Today is the birthday of Bette Midler (b. 1945). The Divine Miss M. was (and remains) way ahead of the curve on this post-modern retro show biz thing…and, in a subtle way, very influen…
Today is the birthday of the great Tin Pan Alley songwiter Ray Henderson (b. Raymond Brost, 1896-1970). He is best known as the “Henderson” in “Henderson/ Brown/ DeSylva…
Today is the birthday of Walter Brown “Brownie” McGhee (1915-1996). A native of Knoxville, TN he learned guitar as a child at the hands of his father, a professional musician, an…
Today is the birthday of Ricky Jay (b. 1948). I don’t know if he’s the coolest man alive (it’s tempting to call him that but he’s got competition) but I think I can s…
Today is the birthday of Samuel Clemens, ak.k.a Mark Twain (1835-1910). Huckleberry Finn was one of my favorite books as a child; I quote the passages about the Duke and the Dauphin extensiv…
Today is the birthday of Jonathan Swift (1667-1754). Not to trivialize one of the great literary satirists of all time, but I’m going to honor him today by posting a cartoon. (I’…
Today is the birthday of Star of Vaudeville #393: Lee Morse (for the full skinny on this quirky singer go here). In honor of the day we present her recording of the irresistible tune &…
Today is the birthday of the legendary burlesque performer Ann Corio (1909-1999). In the 30s she was one of the top paid Minsky stars, earning $1000 a week plus a percentage of the house. Af…
Writing this morning (since it’s already in print) to announce that my column in the current edition of Chelsea Now/ the Villager/ Downtown Express is my last one. Thus ends not ju…
Today is the birthday of Mildred Harris (1901-1944). Those few who remember her nowadays know her primarily as “Charlie Chaplin’s first wife”, although unlike some of his l…
Mel Brooks’ name is always gold, but he was never hotter than in the mid 1970s. In 1975 in the wake of his two smash box office hits Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, he an…
Today is the birthday of William Blake (1757-1827). To mark the occasion, a selection that applies to so many of the souls I’ve written about in these pages. It is from his Songs of…
