Friday, November 16, 2018
The sad, wasted life of starlet Barbara Payton (Barbara Lee Redfield,1927-67) is usually told as a footnote in the lives of bigger stars. Despite having seen her in a couple of films, I̵…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:54AM[SHARE]Thursday, November 15, 2018
Saddened to hear just now of the death of Roy Clark today at age 85. As I wrote here, I was a huge Hee Haw fan while growing up, and as co-host of the show he was always at the forefront of …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:18PM[SHARE]Today being the birthday of C.W. McCall (William Dale Fries, Jr. b. 1928) it seemed an appropriate time to cut loose with my long-gestating post on the seemingly inexplicable trucker and CB …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:12PM[SHARE]A few scribbles on the topic of Yitzhak Edward Asner (b. 1929), whose natal day it is. The son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Asner grew up in Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas, s…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:54AM[SHARE]Wednesday, November 14, 2018
Well, it’s Sherwood Schwartz’s birthday again, and having already written a post on the man himself, as well as The Brady Bunch and several of his other shows, it is high time…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:54PM[SHARE]A tribute today to the Quixotic career of comedic actor McLean Stevenson (Edgar Mclean Stevenson, Jr, 1927-1996). Stevenson’s name has become sort of legendary in show business, a rare…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:42AM[SHARE]Tuesday, November 13, 2018
Very excited! Tonight rehearsals begin for the next show I’m in, Me and the Lee: The Musical by Jason Trachtenburg, of Pendulum Swings and the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players. Me…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:42AM[SHARE]Monday, November 12, 2018
Yes, even I mourn the passing of Marvel Comics founder and master Stan Lee, who passed away today at the of 95. And this wasn’t like our usual 95 year olds, who last did a lick of work…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:12PM[SHARE]I don’t know anybody who doesn’t feel like they’re being chewed up by the Cuisinart of history at the moment, on all fronts. It feels bad (rotten) most of the time: unsettl…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:48AM[SHARE]A salute today to the late Ernie Anderson (1923-1997), who is notable enough to write about for all manner of reasons, notably four: He was the father of genius filmmaker Paul Thomas (“…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:36AM[SHARE]I first became aware of Kathryn Stanley (1897-1978), whose birthday it is today, when I wrote my piece on famous stage and screen Salomes. There is a wide online dissemination of her in the …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:33AM[SHARE]Sunday, November 11, 2018
As we celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the end of World War One, some are also celebrating a particular outcome of the Armistice: Polish Independence. It’s, mm, a bit of a stretch…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:48PM[SHARE] November 11 is the birthday of the late, great Jonathan Winters (1925-2013). I remember once when I was about 12 or 13 (circa 1977 or 1978) and a school friend asked me who my f…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:32AM[SHARE]Saturday, November 10, 2018
A look today at problematic and pathbreaking poet/performer Vachel Lindsay (1879-1931). Folks of a century ago would be astounded to learn how obscure a figure he has become today. He was a …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:54PM[SHARE]Friday, November 9, 2018
I have always counted myself lucky that my birthday comes as a sort of tent pole between Halloween and Thanksgiving, helping maintain a holiday momentum that encompasses the entire butt end …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:42PM[SHARE]Dick Zigun’s The Education of Al Capone As If Told by Jimmy Durante opens at Coney Island USA tonight. I caught it in previews last weekend and can’t say enough good things about…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:24AM[SHARE]Silent screen cutie Marvel Rea (1901-1937) had a little good luck, and much terrible fortune to offset it. Today she is sadly best known for the latter, but there is some good stuff to tell …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:06AM[SHARE]Thursday, November 8, 2018
For someone whose name is a household word, Bram Stoker (1847-1912) remains pretty much incorrectly known, or incompletely known to the millions who associate the name with his best remember…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:54AM[SHARE]Wednesday, November 7, 2018
The name Al G. Field or Al G. Fields (1848-1921) pops up in many a former minstrel’s** biography. His birth name was Alfred G. Hatfield, the G. standing either for Griffin or Griffith.…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:48AM[SHARE]Tuesday, November 6, 2018
Those of a certain age will recognize in the title a sly reference to the 1976 TV movie Sybil, a shift in direction in the career of Sally Field (b. 1946) of which there have been many. We d…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:51AM[SHARE]Monday, November 5, 2018
We naturally watched the long-awaited released of Orson Welles’ The Other Side of the Wind on opening day (November 2) and were delighted when it it turned out not only to be up to Wel…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:33AM[SHARE]Saturday, November 3, 2018
My copy of the the Sobel’s Pictorial History of Vaudeville features the above right picture, and informs us it is Charles Daly and Dan Healy in the Montgomery and Stone parts (roughly)…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:36AM[SHARE]Friday, November 2, 2018
Funny thing about Ray Walston (Herman Raymond Walston, 1914-2001): the second half of his career was supposedly overshadowed by his stint as Martin the Martian on My Favorite Martian (1963-6…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:04PM[SHARE]Thursday, November 1, 2018
It’s National Authors Day! I guess I would be remiss in my duties indeed if I did not use the opportunity to recommend my favorite author and two favorite books. Here’s how to ge…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:06PM[SHARE]A few weeks back I had the chance to tour a brand new tourist attraction that suddenly appeared in our midst: Chelsea’s Museum of Illusions. I’d been offered the chance to tour t…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:36AM[SHARE]Tuesday, October 30, 2018
Tonight at Dixon Place, Cardone’s Spook Show, The House of Ghostly Haunts. I saw an earlier incarnation of this at the Canal Street Playhouse several years ago, and loved this knowing …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:18AM[SHARE]One of the largest and longest-lasting acts in vaudeville began in the 1920s with Utah music and vocal teacher William King Driggs Sr. (1885-1965) who formed a family orchestra with his wife…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:06AM[SHARE]Monday, October 29, 2018
. It’s not well known that Coney Island USA’s founder and artistic director Dick Zigun (the man and the organization behind the Mermaid Parade, the Coney Island Circus Sidesho…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:48PM[SHARE]Friday, October 26, 2018
I found myself appropriately distressed at the prospect of seeing Tammy Faye Starlite’s tribute to the Rolling Stones’ 1967 album Their Satanic Majesty’s Request without be…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:06PM[SHARE]Today is National Mule Appreciation Day. Believe it or not, I cooked up this post a few months ago and held it in reserve ’til now. Stubborn as a mule and crazy like a fox! By the way,…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:33AM[SHARE]Having written about Gavin MacLeod (Captain Stubing) and Bernie Kopell (Doc) as well as executive producer Aaron Spelling, and scores of the actors who guest starred on the show, today we se…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:24AM[SHARE]Loading more stories…
