Wednesday, August 28, 2019
Harry Delf (1892-1964) had a hand in nearly every facet of show biz. The younger brother of Miss Juliet Delf, he attended Columbia, then went into vaudeville, where he partnered with the lik…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:36AM[SHARE]Tuesday, August 27, 2019
Working on my Alan Reed/ Flintstones post the other day gave me the idea for this little listicle on the history of caveman comedy, for it's probably not widely known that the genre of cavem…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:42PM[SHARE]Monday, August 26, 2019
The lovely little photo display above comes from this intriguing Spanish language website (and book) of dog photographs. Having just learned about Dandy George and Rosie this morning from re…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:54PM[SHARE]A brief tribute today to inventor Lee de Forest (1873-1961). De Forest is probably best known and most widely celebrated for his most significant invention, the Audion, a particular sort of …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:42AM[SHARE]Sunday, August 25, 2019
It only took me nearly a year, and only because they showed it on TCM this week, but I finally caught up with The Great Buster, Peter Bogdanovich's 2018 tribute to Buster Keaton. I'm pleased…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:54PM[SHARE]Montana born James C. Morton (1884-1942) started out in vaudeville and burlesque, and for a time in the early 20th century he was teamed with Frank Moore, Florence Moore's brother in an act …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:06AM[SHARE]Friday, August 23, 2019
There were three singing Del Rubio Triplets: Eadie (Edith) Boyd, Elena Boyd and Millie (Mildred) Boyd, all born in the Panama Canal Zone on August 23, 1921. Edith was named after the girls' …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:24AM[SHARE]When one learns Bing Crosby's younger brother was in show business, one is prepared to encounter one of those hanger-on relatives, who are given make-work assignments and are carried along b…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:03AM[SHARE]Wednesday, August 21, 2019
Brooklyn born Albert Campbell (1872-1947) literally started out working on Tin Pan Alley in the 1880s, as a song plugger for the publishers Marks and Stern. When his employers branched out i…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:33PM[SHARE]I got a delightful surprise this morning when looking into the background of actress Blossom Rock (1895-1978), best known for playing the broomstick-wielding Grandmama on the original The Ad…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:12PM[SHARE]I first learned about the multi-faceted public figure Burr McIntosh (1862-1942) from Laurette Taylor's 1918 book The Greatest of These, which I read when I participated in Necromancers of th…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:12PM[SHARE]Diminutive dancer Lee Murray (Leterio Rosario Mari, 1905-1969) made an impression in show business, and not always a small one. Originally from Brooklyn, he danced in vaudeville from childho…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:24AM[SHARE]Tuesday, August 20, 2019
It's been very gratifying looking into the background of Alan Reed (Herbert Theodore Bergman, 1907-77), best remembered as the original voice of Fred Flintstone. Reed had a ton of exciting c…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:32PM[SHARE]Sunday, August 18, 2019
Walter O'Keefe (1900-1983) had a hand in nearly every form and corner of show business, and though almost completely forgotten in our time, was very well known in his. Irish-American O'Keefe…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:06PM[SHARE]A tribute today to character actor Alan Mowbray (Alfred Ernest Allen, 1896-1969). Like Arthur Treacher, Reginald Gardiner and others, Mowbray was one of Hollywood's "go to" Englishmen for se…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:06PM[SHARE]Friday, August 16, 2019
Texas-born character actor Lucien Littlefield (1895-1960) amassed nearly 300 screen credits over a 46 year career. He was one of those chameleon style actors in the vein of Lon Chaney, altho…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:54AM[SHARE]Thursday, August 15, 2019
Today a tribute to Chief Yowlachie (Daniel Simmons, 1891-1966). If you don't know the name, surely you know that face! Yowlachie was a full blood Yakama native from Washington State. Delight…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:42AM[SHARE]August 15 is the birthday of the great British show biz Renaissance Man Jim Dale (b. 1935). Dale is a major star of every medium in his home country. In the U.S. he's only truly conquered Br…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:42AM[SHARE]What an interesting figure is Albert Spalding (1888-1953). The namesake of his uncle, A.G. Spalding, pro ball player and co-founder with his father James of the famous sporting goods concern…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:24AM[SHARE]Steve Porter (1864-1946) was a popular American singer and recording artist and successful entrepreneur, active from the 1890s to the 1930s. As his date of birth is not known we have chosen …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:24AM[SHARE]Wednesday, August 14, 2019
Philadelphia-born stage and screen star Ethelind Terry (1899-1984) was renowned for her physical beauty and her lovely singing voice, which briefly catapulted her to the front ranks of Ameri…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:36AM[SHARE]Here's a little preview/ by-product of my upcoming Wizard of Oz talk on August 24. Arthur Hill (1875-1932) originated the role of the Cowardly Lion in the 1902 Broadway adaptation of L. Fran…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:36AM[SHARE]Monday, August 12, 2019
We are coming up on the 80th anniversary of my favorite movie The Wizard of Oz (1939). To celebrate, on August 24, I will visit the birthplace of American amusement, Coney Island, to speak a…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:06PM[SHARE]Olympe Bradna (Antionette Olympe Bradna, 1920-2012) was from a famous family of Bohemian circus equestrians. She was the niece of Fred and Ella Bradna, stars of the Ringling Brothers, Barnum…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:18AM[SHARE]August 12 is the birthdate of the great Mexican stage and screen comedian Cantinflas (Mario Moreno, 1911-1993). Cantinflas is considered (and positioned himself as) the Charlie Chaplin of Me…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:54AM[SHARE]Sunday, August 11, 2019
Though they might know his name, classic comedy fans know the work of T. Roy Barnes (1880-1937) chiefly from two performances. He's the insurance salesman who disturbs W.C. Fields' rest in I…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:36AM[SHARE]We've already had occasion to talk about the foundings of several of the major Hollywood studios of the classic era (RKO, MGM, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, United Artists, Walt Disney), most…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:12AM[SHARE]Friday, August 9, 2019
This is part two of our two-part series commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Tate-LaBianca murders. Part One, on the murders themselves, is here. Today we review Quentin Tarantino's Onc…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:48AM[SHARE]Thursday, August 8, 2019
Like the Beatles' White Album, this bloated post comes in a set of two. This is Part One. Part Two, a review of Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, will follow either later…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:18PM[SHARE]Wednesday, August 7, 2019
It's taken me a good little while to get a proper bead on Stan Freberg (1926-2015) and I wanted to be pretty familiar with his work before presuming to write about it. I knew of his legend f…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:36PM[SHARE]A post today about funny character actress Renie Riano (1899-1971), whose first name was sometimes rendered as Rene, Renee, or Reine. (It's short for Irene and was pronounced "Reenie"). Rian…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:24AM[SHARE]Loading more stories…
