Tuesday, March 31, 2020
An unabashed mash note today to stage and screen actor William Daniels (b. 1927). Daniels is one of a handful of actors who gives me a delight that is almost uncontainable, every second he i…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:03AM[SHARE]Monday, March 30, 2020
Thanks, friend Jonathan Smith, for making me more aware of screenwriter and producer Robert Riskin (1897-1955). To grapple with the legend of Frank Capra over time is to let a certain amount…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:48PM[SHARE]Herman Bing (1889-1947) was one of a slew of popular comical German Hollywood character actors of the first decade of talkies. He made hay while the sun shone, but was unable to cope with th…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:36AM[SHARE]Sunday, March 29, 2020
Billy Merson (William Henry Thompson, 1879-1947) was born and bred in Nottingham and got his show biz start as an acrobat and comedian at the Nottingham Theatre Royal. For a time he worke…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:48PM[SHARE]We just heard from Troma's Amanda Flowers the sad news that Alan Merrill, who co-wrote Joan Jett's hit "I Love Rock and Roll" has died of Covid-19. As the noose tightens here in New Yo…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:48PM[SHARE]I first became aware of Irish-American character actor Arthur O'Connell (1908-1981) at a young age; he was in the first movie I ever saw in a cinema, The Poseidon Adventure (1972). At this s…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:48PM[SHARE]Saturday, March 28, 2020
A somber story to contemplate during chaotic times, and I'm in no mood to mince words today about its lessons. Philip Loeb (1891-1955) was a Jewish-American actor from Philadelphia. Followin…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:03PM[SHARE]Friday, March 27, 2020
My adopted city is going through a lot right now. There are simple common sense reasons why New York's number of Covid-19 cases are so much more numerous than the rest of the country's, even…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:36AM[SHARE]Thursday, March 26, 2020
In honor of Tennessee Williams' birthday, we append this little sidebar to the massive tribute we wrote to the playwright here. Our conceit lies in the observation that in the thick of Willi…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:42PM[SHARE]Terence McNally dead, yet Anita Bryant lives " thus runs the world's cold calculus. And yet, we may take solace in the fact that McNally's plays live on, and Bryant is at best a Trivial Purs…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:12AM[SHARE]Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Today we'll talk a little about a show business family named the Kellys. It's not the family vaudeville act which gave us Gene Kelly, however, nor is it the Philadelphia bunch that gave us W…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:18PM[SHARE]Tuesday, March 24, 2020
Today we celebrate animation pioneers William Hanna (1910-2001) and Joseph Barbera (1911-2006), immortalized through the name of their joint production company Hanna-Barbera. Like millions o…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:36PM[SHARE]Well, it has ceased to be abstract. The great American playwright Terrence McNally (1938-2020) has died of complications related to Covid-19. All of you who aren't taking this seriously, go …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:32PM[SHARE]Monday, March 23, 2020
Saharet (Paulina Clarissa Molony, 1878-1964) was a popular performer of the vaudeville, burlesque, music hall, and musical comedy stages of the fin de siècle  and early 20th century. Sah…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:12PM[SHARE]Sunday, March 22, 2020
A celebration today of minor movie star Virginia Grey (1917-2004) who appeared in films with many classic comedians. But first a detour into the life of her father, whose career was also rel…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:12PM[SHARE]I can see and hear the face and voice of Cliff Norton (1918-2003) in my head so clearly but have struggled in vain to identify the ONE place I know him from. The answer is probably a thousan…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:12PM[SHARE]Saturday, March 21, 2020
A few words today in remembrance of pioneering screen director W.S. Van Dyke (Woodbridge Strong "Woody"Â Van Dyke II, 1889-1943). Born in San Diego, Van Dyke was raised in the theatre acti…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:03PM[SHARE]Today being World Puppetry Day, and many of us housebound due to rapidly spreading Covid-19, I wanted to do a quick plug for a thing to watch to lighten your spirits. I first watched The Mup…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:03PM[SHARE]Friday, March 20, 2020
I only discovered the existence of Rusty Warren (Ilene Goldman, b. 1930) a few months ago, in a record shop in San Luis Obispo, while speaking at their local historical society. Warren was b…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:36AM[SHARE]The career of Vaughn Meader (Abbott Vaughn Meader, 1936-2004) describes one of the most drastic spikes in show business history. Meader enjoyed monster success for just over one year before …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:36AM[SHARE]This piece is excerpted from a new talk about medicine shows I am developing, shared today in honor of the birthday of dime novel author, journalist, promoter and impresario Ned Buntline (18…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:36AM[SHARE]A little thing today about game show host and producer Jack Barry (Jack Barasch, 1918-1984). I was first aware of Barry when I was a kid, for he was the host of a show called The Joker's Wil…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:36AM[SHARE]Thursday, March 19, 2020
Charles Ross Taggart (1871-1953) was a humorist who made an entire career out of being a rural Vermonter. He was generally billed as either "The Man from Vermont" or "The Old Country Fiddler…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:06AM[SHARE]Wednesday, March 18, 2020
George Sidney (Samuel Greenfield, 1877-1945) was a vaudeville, stage and screen comic, closely associated with Jewish stereotype characters. He was the brother of producer Louis K. Sidney, a…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:48AM[SHARE]Tuesday, March 17, 2020
How perfect is it that Michael O'Shea (1906-1973) was born of a St. Patrick's Day? Irish Catholic Hartford native O'Shea is best remembered, at least among my set, as the male lead Biff Bran…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:06AM[SHARE]Contemporaries of Rockliffe Fellowes (Rockliffe St. Patrick Fellowes, 1883-1950) would be surprised to learn that his best remembered role would turn out to be his supporting turn as gangste…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:06AM[SHARE]Monday, March 16, 2020
Originally posted on Puppets in Review: review by Jennifer Wilcox March 6, 2020Coney Island Sideshow Stage This opera is as downtown as you can get with all the joy of live music and cardboa…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:24PM[SHARE]Shirley Deane (Shirley Deane Blattenberger, 1913-1983), sang and danced from her childhood years, and got her first stage experience in her hometown of San Francisco. A good showing in a bea…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:48AM[SHARE]Sunday, March 15, 2020
Verree Teasdale (1903-1987) appeared in RKO's very first release Syncopation (1929); as well as The Sap from Syracuse (1930) with Jack Oakie; They Had to Get Married (1932) and Love Honor an…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:18AM[SHARE]Constance Bergen (1912-79) started out as a singer in her native Chicago, presumably with the approval of her parents, who had named her Constance Talmadge Bergen in honor of the movie star.…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:36AM[SHARE]Saturday, March 14, 2020
Today we shed light on stage and screen actress Mary Carr (Mary Kennevan, 1874-1973). Carr was a native of Germantown, Pennsylvania (a suburb of Philadelphia). She began her working life …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:03PM[SHARE]Loading more stories…
