Saturday, December 2, 2017
Okay here goes nothing! Well not nothing actually: like everything else people tell you is easy in the Internet age it was a royal pain in the ass! It’s my Patreon page — I’…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:42AM[SHARE]Friday, December 1, 2017
Buying holiday gifts for that slapstick comedy book lover in your life? Here are deals like you wouldn’t believe for all of you perverse, resistant hold outs who haven’t yet boug…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:54AM[SHARE]There was only one Dick Shawn (Richard Schulefand, 1923-1987). The thing to do in show business is to carve out a niche for yourself, and for many year Shawn cornered the market on being com…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:48AM[SHARE]Thursday, November 30, 2017
Great news for all Anglophiles, lovers of the L.E.S., lovers of variety theatre, theatre history and theatre for kids (that should cover most of you): stage and screen legends Mat Fraser and…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:42AM[SHARE]Tuesday, November 28, 2017
November 28 is the natal day of Edwin Pearce (“E.P.”) Christy (1815-1862). Christy’s name has lived on through a rather roundabout way, giving it probably a higher Q Factor…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:48PM[SHARE]Monday, November 27, 2017
Today is the 50th anniversary of the American release date of the Beatles Magical Mystery Tour album. It also happens to be the birthday of Jimi Hendrix, and both Charles Manson and Davi…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:24AM[SHARE]Born today in New York’s County of Kings, Ziegfeld Girl Anastasia Reilly (1904-1961). Reilly has to have been one of the luckiest people who ever lived. She was discovered as a tap dan…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:18AM[SHARE]Friday, November 24, 2017
Will Rogers, who was part Cherokee, used to joke, “My people didn’t come over on the Mayflower, but they were there to meet the boat.” In recent years, Thanksgiving has inc…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:42AM[SHARE]Thursday, November 23, 2017
Brooklyn born character actor George O’Hanlon (1912-1989) was born on this day. O’Hanlon was the son of George Samuel O’Hanlon and Lulu Beeson, who performed in vaudeville …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:54AM[SHARE]Broadway titan (playwright, lyricist, book-writer, screenwriter, author) Guy Bolton (1884-1979) deserves a shout out today. Bolton’s wit was sophisticated without being pretentious, pe…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:48AM[SHARE]Monday, November 20, 2017
Towards the end of It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) there is a scene where all the characters have shown up in Santa Rosita Park, and are running around with shovels trying to fi…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:42AM[SHARE]Sunday, November 19, 2017
What with Black Friday and the Holiday season soon upon us, here’s a great gift for the vaudeville lover in your life. David Weinstein’s new book The Eddie Cantor Story: A Jewish…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:33AM[SHARE]James “Jimmy” Harder (1931-2009) was born on this day. I’ll cut right to the chase: he’s “Big Fig” from the Fig Newton commercials. If you’re too yo…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:24AM[SHARE]Saturday, November 18, 2017
We have written about Marceline the Clown and his sad end here. Spanish-speaking fans now have a great new resource from which to learn about him, in the form of this new biography by Victor…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:36PM[SHARE]Friday, November 17, 2017
November 17 happens to be the birthday of Hollywood’s one-time go-to Russian Mischa Auer (Mikhail Semyonovich Unskovsky (1905-1967). Auer is especially prized for a handful of classic …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:18AM[SHARE]Thursday, November 16, 2017
Born this day, terrifying character actor Richard Hale (James Richards Hale, 1892-1981). I am totally related to this guy! And I am beginning to smell a pattern: I keep turning up familial r…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:36PM[SHARE]Theatre isn’t just art; it’s also culture. My wife loves restaurants and food shows. Spending some time in that head space, as well as my years of reviewing, and working in place…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:24AM[SHARE]Tuesday, November 14, 2017
A salute today to television savant Sherwood Schwartz (1916-2011), whose birthday it is. Best known today (and always, really) for his two pillar franchises Gilligan’s Island (1964-67)…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:33PM[SHARE]Silent movie era child star Peggy Cartwright (1912-2001) was born on this day. I am amused by how Our Gang-centric her wikipedia entry is. Cartwright is thought of as the first Our Gang R…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:12PM[SHARE]Veronica Lake (Constance Frances Marie Ockelman, 1922-1970) was born on this day. It’s rather perfect that she shares a birthday with Louise Brooks, also highly intelligent, who also c…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:12AM[SHARE]Thanks to Ben Williams of Elevator Repair Service for making me mindful of this act. Born today was Jimmy Clemons (1883-1950), who made this terrific short Dream Cafe for Vitaphone in 1927. …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:06AM[SHARE]Monday, November 13, 2017
At some point in recent years November 13 became “Odd Couple Day”, due to the voiceover narration at the top of every show during the ABC situation comedy’s first season: &…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:18AM[SHARE]November 13 is the birthday of the late Garry Marshall (Garry Masciarelli, 1934-2016). It’s not hard to remember the date; he dunned it into us at the top of every episode of The Odd C…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:18AM[SHARE]Saturday, November 11, 2017
Maude Adams (Maude Ewing Adams Kiskaadden 1872-1953) is one of those wonderfully transitional figures in the American theatre, with one foot in the 19th century, one in the 20th. There are a…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:42AM[SHARE]Friday, November 10, 2017
It’s a measure of how busy and scattered I am that this post didn’t go up on Tuesday or even late Monday evening, when the afterglow of Everett Quinton’s production of Char…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:24PM[SHARE]Today we celebrate a minor — but not insignificant — figure in show biz history: Bob (or “Bobby”) Callahan (1895-1938), whose birthday it is today. Even comedy bu…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:54AM[SHARE]Thursday, November 9, 2017
This Saturday night! A gala benefit to support Coney Island USA! Come, come, you must come! It’s a hundred smackers but I guarantee you it contains more than $100 of party — one …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:48AM[SHARE]Wednesday, November 8, 2017
November 8 is the birthday of the best remembered female member of Our Gang/ Little Rascals, Darla Hood (1931-1979). We remember Darla for all sorts of reasons. One is that she starred with …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:33AM[SHARE]The legendary Hollywood character John Decker (Leopold Von Der Decken, 1895-1947) was born on this day. Many of my New York friends live and die by dreams of the Algonquin Roundtable. Person…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:33AM[SHARE]Comedy character actor Joe Flynn (1924-1974) has the same birthday as me! There is no one quite like the irascible, diminutive, bespectacled Flynn, a perfect comic foil, for he could wor…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:24AM[SHARE]Tuesday, November 7, 2017
Joe Cobb (1916-2002) was born November 7. Due to his large size, Cobb was to be one of the most memorable of the original Our Gang kids, during its earliest, silent phase. He appeared in 86 …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:24AM[SHARE]Loading more stories…
