Thursday, November 3, 2016
Today is the birthday of William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878). 19th century America would be astounded to know that a man of his standing and eminence could be so swallowed up by time &#…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:06AM[SHARE]Wednesday, November 2, 2016
Today is the birthday of the great Hollywood star Burt Lancaster. The toothy tall one made many films in many genres, but for the sake of focus (and because I already have the notes written …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:18PM[SHARE]This new series of posts came out of the stunning realization that I have family in all 50 states. My ancestors lived in 14 of them, all on the eastern seaboard or adjacent, and I have writt…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:06PM[SHARE]Last Night’s launch of Fields Fest at the Lambs was a smash success. Thanks to all who helped us put it on and all who came! For information and updates about upcoming Fields Fest even…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:48AM[SHARE]I am extremely excited to be taking part in this special theatrical event by Peculiar Works Project. It’s a production of Androboros the first play written and published in Ameri…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:48AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of actress Alice Brady (Mary Rose Brady, 1892-1939). She was the daughter of actor/ producer/ boxing promoter William A. Brady; his position as both a Broadway and movi…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:54AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of character actor Paul Ford (Paul Ford Weaver, 1901-1976). Ford doesn’t easily fit into any of my usual content streams here: he wasn’t in vaudeville ro si…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:31AM[SHARE]Tuesday, November 1, 2016
Today is the birthday of Reginald Venable (1890-1964). Venable was a U.S. naval officer, and later a businessman. How on earth did he come to be in vaudeville? Well, it all has to do with hi…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:24AM[SHARE]December 25, 2016 will mark the 70th anniversary of the passing from our plane of the great stage and screen comedian W.C. Fields. To mark the occasion we have organized Fields Fest, a festi…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:24AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of useful character actor Edward Van Sloan (1882-1964). If only he’d been born a few hours earlier! He’d fit so neatly into all our October Halloween-Mon…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:24AM[SHARE]Monday, October 31, 2016
Just a little photo essay of Jack O’Lanterns I saw just now at the brownstones around my neighborhood. Happy Halloween! And now, meet my neighbors — the Carvers! At this point I …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:18PM[SHARE]This new series of posts came out of the stunning realization that I have family in all 50 states. My ancestors lived in 14 of them, all on the eastern seaboard or adjacent, and I have writt…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:18PM[SHARE]90 years ago this very night, Harry Houdini shuffled off this moral coil. I happened to find myself near the Houdini Museum today, so I popped in to remember him (it’s located in the F…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:06PM[SHARE]Â Happy Halloween! Today we continue our series of family background posts by relating some relatives with a spooky connection. I’m not really close kin to most of these characters,…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:06AM[SHARE]Happy birthday to the Romantic poet John Keats (1795-1821). It being also Halloween, today we share a narrative poem from his quill we found to be especially Gothic, the 42 stanza Spencerian…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:06AM[SHARE]Friday, October 28, 2016
Filed under: Halloween, Horror (Mostly Gothic), Movies (Contemporary), PLUGS, SOCIAL EVENTS Tagged: Addams Family, costume party, Halloween, Loew's Jersey, masquerade, screening
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:12AM[SHARE]Wednesday, October 26, 2016
I was too busy getting married on October 15 to notice the big news that THIS masterwork had finally come out. Rob Bader provided a privileged few of us with some memories to last a life tim…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:15AM[SHARE]Last year, when I read the terrific nonfiction book The Witches: Salem 1692, my over-riding takeaway was that I’d love to write a horror screenplay that worked off the mindset and beli…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:15AM[SHARE]Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Tuesday, November 1, 7:00pm: W.C. Fields for President! You may not have heard, but we’re in the middle of a Presidential election season! Well, not the middle so much as near the end …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:51PM[SHARE]Today is the release date of the 1926 silent feature So’s Your Old Man (1926) starring W.C. Fields and directed by Gregory La Cava. If you’ve already seen the 1934 talkieÂ…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:49PM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of Sam Lewis (1885-1959), today best remembered as a tin pan alley songwriter, who co-wrote such classics as “How You Gonna Keep ’em Down on the Farm (After…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:49PM[SHARE]Sunday, October 23, 2016
 Marie Loftus (1857-1940) was known as the “Sarah Bernhardt of the Music Halls” . Born in Glasgow to Irish parents, she grew up near the Scotia Music Hall, which is where she …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:28AM[SHARE]Saturday, October 22, 2016
As TCM is screening Jaws and its sequels tonight I thought it would be interesting to look at Steven Spielberg’s work in horror, fantasy and science fiction in isolation. As I opined i…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:16PM[SHARE]My best friend from the ages of about six to twelve was a ginger-haired, wide eyed chap by the name of Bruce Goodness. The surname is an Anglicized translation; his real last name is LaBonte…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:03PM[SHARE]Friday, October 21, 2016
Tonight on TCM, and into the wee hours of tomorrow, a continuation of their tidal wave of classic horror films for the Halloween season. 8:00pm (EST): Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941) This is …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:21AM[SHARE]I first encountered the work of writer/ anthropologist/ folk-lorist Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) in the early 1990s when I was researching voodoo and the blues (thank you, New York Public …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:22AM[SHARE]Thursday, October 20, 2016
Adapted from my book Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, released by Bear Manor Media, also available from amazon.com etc etc etc When…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:09PM[SHARE]What madness that I didn’t think of this post sooner! (And I confess someone else inadvertently gave me the idea). We’ve done many posts about the great Hungarian-American thespi…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:02PM[SHARE]Wednesday, October 19, 2016
I have been collaborating off and on with composer David Mallamud on a not-so-secret comic opera project for nigh on a decade, so I can testify that the man is not just musical, not just fun…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:59AM[SHARE]Monday, October 17, 2016
Okay, “last” is probably a bit optimistic, cuz pix are still trickling in. But since we pretty much inundated social media with images all day yesterday I just wanted to assure t…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:52PM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of character actor Clem Bevans (1879-1963). I’d undoubtedly seen Bevans in dozens of movies and tv shows, but didn’t finally become aware of him unti…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:27AM[SHARE]Loading more stories…
