12,173 stories from Trav S.D.
I was first introduced to the charms of Jackie Joseph (b. 1933) in her role as Audrey in one of my favorite films, the original The Little Shop of Horrors (1960). Gradually, I began to no…
The name Lucille La Verne (Lucille La Verne MItchum, 1872-1945) may sound well suited to burlesque, but she was the very essence of "legit". La Verne's best remembered role today is the Wick…
Today we celebrate African American singer, dancer, choreographer and actress Marie Bryant (1919-1978). Raised in New Orleans, Bryant took dance classes a child, and eventually made her way …
This is Part Four of Carolyn Raship's Agatha Christie series launched here. When people picture Agatha Christie in their heads, the most probable image is that of Angela Lansbury as she appe…
The rise of Dixie Lee (Wilma Winifred Wyatt, 1909-1952) was so rapid, it is scarcely to be believed. So was the speed of her eclipse, although she continued to make headlines long after her …
Today we celebrate Frances Williams (1901-1959) (not to be confused with African American actress, activist and produced Frances E. Williams, whom we plan to write about in future.) This Fra…
Unfortunately for a confused posterity, there were two dancing Jack Donohues in vaudeville back in the day, both of them quite accomplished. We've already written about one, the one who spel…
James Dunn (1901-1967) is a beloved figure in the annals of show business. The son of a Wall Street stockbroker, Dunn only briefly followed in his father's footsteps before going into work t…
' A few silent movie news items have come our way over the past several days. They seemed worth bundling and reporting here: We are sad to report of the passing of Marilyn Slater, long a pri…
Walter Woolf King (1899-1984) will probably best known to readers of this blog as the singing villain of two Marx Brothers movies, A Night at the Opera (1935) and Go West (1936), and as a sh…
Indiana native Tim Whelan (1893-1957) started his career as an actor and director with touring stock companies. In the 1920s he broke into movies as a scenarist and gag man on comedies and t…
Here's another post in celebration of a distant relative of mine, opera singer Felix Knight (1908-1998), best remembered for playing Tom-Tom in the Laurel and Hardy holiday movie Babes in To…
Happy Halloween! Here's my appearance earlier today on the BBC Program "The Ticket" where I discuss the differences between The Munsters and The Addams Family with host Kathy Clugston (inspi…
Sacre BOO! Apropos of nothing but the season, a Halloween post on a little niche we located in the classic horror genre: spooky films with a French setting. For horror settings we normally t…
Here's a delightful revelation for your day: Laurie Metcalf's great aunt was an important American writer of the early 20th century. Her name was Zoe Akins (1886-1958), and she made her grea…
One of the reasons (I imagine) that I am fairly obsessed with the Beatles is that I am just a little too young to have experienced them as a going concern. When Abbey Road was released for e…
Born of an October 29, songwriter and blackface minstrel** Dan Emmett (1815-1904). Emmett has been traditionally credited with being the author of the songs "Polly Wolly Doodle" (1843) an…
The vagaries of memory are never to be understood. Thus it is that The Howdy Doody Show, Andy's Gang, and Pinky Lee all appear to have left some imprint in the culture, but somehow I never l…
Classic film fans know Hope Emerson (1897-1960) well from her memorable appearances in films like Adam's Rib (1949), Caged (1950), Westward the Women (1951), Casanova's Big Night (1954), and…
This is quite true (ask my high school buddies, they'll back it up): I liked actor Dennis Franz so much as a teenager that for several years I kept a picture of him in my wallet. Mark me wel…
Good Lord " I just had the horrifying realization that if Jack Soo were alive today he would be 102 years old! Memory has preserved the actor at his last age, his early 60s, and he will neve…
Am I wrong in thinking that "Queenie Vassar" is one of the best stage names I have ever heard? Born Cecilia McMahon in in Glasgow in 1870, she began singing in music halls when she was still…
Following a week's lay-off in the wake of our western sojourn, we made a beeline for Lincoln, Mass. where we visited a colossal complex known as the Commons at Lincoln, and celebrated German…
On October 20 we were honored to be the guest speaker at the 100th anniversary celebration of the Concord Players. More than this, we were delighted to learn that the roots of this impressiv…
Here's the other shoe dropping from our month-long barnstorming junket. Part One (parts west) was here. This second leg was restricted to New England, radiating out from Boston. Follow links…
