12,228 stories from Trav S.D.
 In No Particular Order: 1. Charlie Chaplin 2. Buster Keaton 3. Leo McCarey 4. Preston Sturges 5. Jules White 6. George Stevens 7. Mack Sennett 8. Hal Roach 9. Ernst Lubitsch 10. Jer…
Tomorrow at 6:00 am (EST) Turner Classic Movies swill be showing one of my favorite films, Charlie Chaplin’s first talkie The Great Dictator (1940). By the 1930s there was no…
Today is the birthday of Francis Leon (Francis Patrick Glassey, b. 1844). Eventually billed simply as “Leon” or “The Only Leon”, he was the foremost female impersonat…
Filed under: BROOKLYN, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: Bushwick, Cobra Club, Force Majeure, new vaudeville, Sara Valentine, Tanya Solomon
Today is the birthday of Tennessee-born silent film actress and comedian Jobyna Ralston (1899-1967). Ralston was named after stage and screen actress Jobyna Howland by her mother, a…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Mack Sennett produced short Her Painted Hero (1915). In this early Polly Moran comedy, Polly moons around a stage door hoping for a …
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Charlie Chaplin comedy A Night in the Show (1915). This short from Chaplin’s Essanay period is extremely interesting for two r…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the silent Laurel and Hardy short Do Detectives Think? (1927). This is an interesting one — it’s one of the first films in w…
Only recently I made a notation to write soon about my second experience in the cinema and its great power over me. Sadly now there’s an occasion that makes it topical. The first…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Mabel Normand feature Molly O (1921). It is her first feature with Mack Sennett following her return to him after three years with S…
Today is the birthday of François Alexandre Nicolas Chéri Delsarte (1811-1871), one of the most influential figures in the 19th century and early 20th century theatre, as well as e…
Thank God for the Mad Marchioness, who noticed recently that we have access to the Warner Archive through some thingamajig on what used to be called our television. And the Warner Archive tu…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Laurel and Hardy feature The Dancing Masters (1943), directed by Mal St. Clair. This film is generally considered by die-hard fans t…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Buster Keaton feature Our Hospitality (1923). Our Hospitality may be called Keaton's first true feature as director (with co-dire…
Tomorrow at the crack of dawn, Turner Classic Movies will show one of Laurel and Hardy’s worst features, followed by one of their best: Â 4:45am (EST): Air Raid Wardens Air Raid War…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Mae West comedy Go West, Young Man (1936). Unthinkably this movie is not a western, the title is literally just a pun on the star…
Filed under: Burlesk, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: Ulm Uberbusen, Victrola Burlesque
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Vitagraph comedy Frauds and Frenzies (1918), co-starring Larry Semon and Stan Laurel. There are many interesting things about Se…
 Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Eddie Cantor comedy The Kid from Spain (1932), written by Kalmar and Ruby, directed by Leo McCarey, featuring Lyda Roberti, and…
Today is the anniversary of the release of the Douglas Fairbanks comedy Reaching for the Moon (1917), written by Anita Loos and directed by John Emerson. It is not to be confused with …
Tonight (tomorrow, really) at 1:00am (E.S.T.) on Turner Classic Movies, Harold Lloyd in Dr. Jack (1922). Dr. Jack is easily my least favorite (and the weakest) of Lloyd's features. …
Today is the birthday of one of the greatest cartoon voice-over actors of all-time, Daws Butler (1916-1988). Butler got his start as a teenager in the last days of vaudeville (post-vau…
Today is the birthday of Jim Jordan (1896-1988). Together with his wife Marion Driscoll Jordan, he was creator and star of the groundbreaking radio sitcom Fibber McGee and Molly. Original…
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Laurel and Hardy short The Hoose-gow (1929), directed by James Parrott. The pen! This is a familiar scenario for Laurel and Hardy, shar…
Today is the 100th anniversary of the release of the Keystone comedy Fatty’s Jonah Day a.k.a Fatty’s Hoodoo Day, directed by and starring Roscoe “Fatty” Arbu…
