12,225 stories from Trav S.D.
Today is the birthday of William “Willie” Best a.k.a “Sleep ‘n’ Eat” (1916-1962). Like a character out of one his own films, Best came to Hollywood as a c…
As we observed earlier today, it’s the Duke’s birthday. We thought we’d observe it by looking at some of his lesser known movies, from the first leg of his career, the deca…
Today is Al Jolson’s birthday (for more on that once-in-a-century performer read my full bio here). There’s more than enough writing been done about The Jazz Singer (and I&…
The Fighting Kentuckian (1949) Today is the birthday of John Wayne (1907-1979). What better way to bridge our preoccupation with classic comedy with an increasing interest in westerns …
Today is the birthday of Jay Silverheels (Harold J. Smith, 1912-1980). Most famous of course for playing Tonto on the tv series The Lone Ranger (1949-1957) and some Lone Ranger films, …
What was the climax to my Memorial Day? I might say mourning or remembering a lost New York, but that’s only a half truth, for Penny Arcade’s new work-in-progress Longing Lasts L…
Jill Freedman: Circus Days at Higher Pictures through Mar 9 Â Higher Pictures presents the first New York exhibition of Circus Days by Jill Freedman. The show will include over twenty vint…
 This part is part five of a five-part series. For Part One (Pilgrims) go here; and Part Two (Puritans) go here, for Part Three (Dissenters) go here, and for Part Four (where they all co…
This part three of a series. For Part One (Pilgrims) go here; and Part Two (Puritans) go here, and for Part Three (Dissenters) go here. I think it’s pretty hilarious that in a nation t…
Filed under: Burlesk, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: Battery Park, Clipper Castaways, Clipper City, Dances of Vice, Manhattan By Sail, pirates
Today is the birthday of Dorothy Lee (Marjorie Elizabeth Millsap, 1911-1999). Los Angeles born Lee jumped into vaudeville at age 14, and married an adagio dancer named Robert Booth two…
This part three of a series. For Part One (Pilgrims) go here; and Part Two (Puritans) go here. History is very complicated. It’s even more complicated to five year olds. When we he…
Filed under: Burlesk, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: Coney Island USA, Divas, Howling Vic, Liza Minelli
Filed under: BROOKLYN, Coney Island, Indie Theatre, PLUGS Tagged: Coney Island, Dick Zigun, Funhouse Philosophers, Indie Theatre, Maxim Gorky
Filed under: BROOKLYN, Contemporary Variety, Indie Theatre, PLUGS Tagged: Bushwick, Cobra Club, Force Majeuer, vaudeville
Tonight on TCM: a program of films from one of my favorite cinematic subgenres: the sinking ship flick. 8:oopm (EST) The Poseidon Adventure (1972) The first movie I ever saw in a cinema and …
This is the second post in our series on our distinguished New England ancestors. (The first, on the Pilgrims of Plymouth, is here. ) Plymouth struggled along for years, with just a few hund…
It’s been my career-long ambition to study this ancient art form. It’s kind of the foundation of everything I’m interested in and it’s kind of a glaring gap in my dos…
This is the first in a promised series of posts containing details about my ancestry, for those four people who care. The first leg will take place over the next several days and will provid…
Today is the birthday of Vivien Oakland (Vivian Andersen, 1895-1958). The daughter of Norwegian immigrants, Oakland started out as a child in vaudeville in San Francisco, became a Ziegfeld c…
Filed under: Dixieland & Early Jazz, Music, PLUGS Tagged: Sidney Bechet Society, Sweet and Lowdown Reunion, Symphony Space, Woody Allen
 As we promised in our earlier piece on Penny Arcade, we here share some of the other things we discussed that didn’t make it into my Chelsea Now/ Village piece: On the development…
Tonight’s theme on TCM is “The 15th Century”. That’s all well and good, but there’s a sub-theme in tonight’s program in that they are showing two films fr…
Today is the birthday of Elsie Ames (1902-1983). Comedy is a matter of taste, of course. I’ve never encountered any comedian (no matter how popular or great) that I didn’t knowÂ…
Tonight on TCM, starting at 12:15am tonight (tomorrow) , four classic silent comedy shorts starring the comedy team of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy: Double Whoopee (1929) One of the team&…
