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]Sunday, November 5, 2017
Okay, maybe not God, but if George Burns had been unavailable, Herb Edelman (1933-1996) would have been very amusing in the role.(Even Christians ought to know that God is Jewish; if they…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:54AM[SHARE]Friday, November 3, 2017
Born on November 3: burlesque legend Ricci Cortez (Ethel Bronson, 1924-2008.) Originally from New York City, she changed her name for professional reasons after she started dancing circa 194…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:33AM[SHARE]Tuesday, October 31, 2017
There’s a case to be made for Thompson and Dundy — that is, Fred Thomson and Skip Dundee — being the greatest showmen of all time. There are other contenders of course and …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:54AM[SHARE]Sunday, October 29, 2017
Having earlier done a post on classic horror era giant monster films (e.g. King Kong, etc) and also yesterday’s post on man-sized monsters of the drive-in era, this one combines the…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:33AM[SHARE]Saturday, October 28, 2017
Songwriter and performer Tell Taylor (William Tell Taylor/Tell Roberts, 1876-1937) was born this day. Taylor was a farm kid from rural Ohio who sang with church choirs, studied music at Find…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:36AM[SHARE]Friday, October 27, 2017
This post was conceived as a sort of postscript to a series I did a couple of Halloweens ago which covered the classic horror monsters of the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s. It occurre…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:42PM[SHARE]Thursday, October 26, 2017
Two important American cultural heroes passed away within 24 hours of each other this week; both were exactly the same age, 89. Robert Guilliaume, star of Soap and Taxi, passed away on Tuesd…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:12PM[SHARE]Lew Brice (1893-1966) was born on this day. Unfortunate fellow! Brother of Fanny Brice, husband of Mae Clarke, Brice was destined to be outshone by the women around him — to the extent…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:12PM[SHARE]John F. Byrne, founder of the Byrne Brothers, was born on this day in 1859. The Byrne Brothers may the major vaudeville act with origins closest to my own hometown in Southern Rhode Island. …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:36AM[SHARE]Wednesday, October 25, 2017
While today he is one of the better known of the Our Gang kids, Eugene Gordon “Porky” Lee (1933-2005) had one of the least eventful careers of any of them. One encounters no tale…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:06AM[SHARE]Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Bio-pics are preposterous enough when the star decides his job is to don a bad Halloween disguise to impersonate a real person — John Travolta just did a gut-busting turn as Robert Sha…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:18PM[SHARE]Monday, October 23, 2017
Born on this day, character actress Billie Bennett (Emily B. Haynie, 1874-1951). Bennett began her career as a stage actress in the mid 1890s, breaking into comedy films in 1913, with…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:12PM[SHARE]Sunday, October 22, 2017
Irish-American man of the theatre Arnold Daly (1875-1927) was born and bred in Brooklyn. To my shock, he is no relation to the seminal Augustin Daly, although I have little doubt he profited…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:06PM[SHARE]Many thanks to friend Beth Greenberg who happened to be in Texas a few months and sent these photos back, prompting this post. Missouri-born Karl Hoblitzelle (1879-1967) was one of 13 childr…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:04AM[SHARE]Friday, October 20, 2017
Screen actress Marian Nixon (Marian Nissinen, 1904-1983) was born on this day. Nixon began as a teenage vaudeville dancer, before landing her first walk-on in The Shriek of Araby (1923) with…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:04AM[SHARE]Wednesday, October 18, 2017
How surprising to learn that Norman “Chubby” Chaney (1914-1936) time as a Little Rascal was so short, and so to learn that his time on earth was, as well. He’s in just …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:24AM[SHARE]October 18 is the birth day of Herbert Dyce Murphy (1879-1971). I can’t for the life of me recall how this remarkable individual came on to my radar. While Murphy did go on the lecture…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:18AM[SHARE]Singer Annette Hanshaw (1901-1985) was born in New York City on this day. Hanshaw was a niece of vaudeville performers Uke Henshaw and Nellie McCoy, sister of Bessie McCoy. Her father had be…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:04AM[SHARE]Sunday, October 15, 2017
Happy 150th Birthday, Joe Weber and Lew Fields: October 16, 7pm 2017 marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of both members of America’s premier comedy team and pioneers of Broadway:…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:42PM[SHARE]Friday, October 13, 2017
Filed under: BROOKLYN, Coney Island, Indie Theatre, PLUGS Tagged: Coney Island USA, Halloween, kid's show, Sammy's Coney Island Misadventure
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:24PM[SHARE]We’ve chosen Friday the 13th as the day for a little Halloween tribute to the director of Dementia 13. This is part of a slowly germinating series we are doing on directors who are…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:36PM[SHARE]With Woody Allen’s new movie Wonder Wheel due to open tomorrow at the New York Film Festival, we thought it would be a good time for a little post on the background of the real thing, …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:48AM[SHARE]Theatrical soubrette Della Fox (1870-1913) was born this day. She was the daughter of noted St. Louis theatrical photographer A.J. Fox. Her amateur theatrical debut was in a production of H.…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:54AM[SHARE]Thursday, October 12, 2017
October 12 is the birthday of His Unholiness Aleister Crowley. I don’t know that I “celebrate” the date; let us rather say that I “note” it or “mark”…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:36PM[SHARE]Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Today is the birthday of Hollywood’s favorite go-to Teutonic foil Sig Ruman (Siegfried Albon Rumann, 1884-1967). Ruman moved to the U.S. from his native Hamburg in 1924, and five years…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:24PM[SHARE]October 11 is the birthday of early stage and screen star Anna Laughlin (1885-1937). Originally from Sacramento, Laughlin started out as a child performer in vaudeville and variety, minstrel…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:54AM[SHARE]English actor Frederick Kerr (Frederick Keen, 1858-1933) was born this day. Kerr had a long theatrical career, but only appeared in 19 films, with one performance so iconic and memorable we …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:54AM[SHARE]Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Comic character actor Arthur Housman (1889-1942) was born on October 10. These days Housman is best remembered for the last decade of his career, during which he was a bit player who special…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:48AM[SHARE]Monday, October 9, 2017
With each passing go-round I get an enhanced appreciation for the wonderful job Ralph Lewis has done with Androboros. The natural question (“Why has no one tackled it before now?”…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:36PM[SHARE]On October 9 was born Hope Dare (Rose Luetszinger, 1909-1999). Dare’s offstage life was arguably more colorful than her brief theatrical career. Born in Iowa and raised in Las Vegas, N…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:18AM[SHARE]Loading more stories…
