All stories by Trav S.D. on BroadwayStars

Saturday, October 1, 2016

Forgotten Shows of My Nonage #93: Banacek by Trav S.D.

Today is the birthday of the late George Peppard (1928-1994). Peppard’s checkered acting career came in a series of well-known peaks and valleys, with the peaks occurring at rough ten …

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:39AM[SHARE]

Horror Month on Travalanche! by Trav S.D.

Happy Halloween! I know it is only October 1, but I can’t wait. I’ve come to think of the entire month of October as Halloween MONTH, and I know the chain drugs stores will back …

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:39AM[SHARE]
Friday, September 30, 2016

Todd Robbins Returns in "True Nightmares"! by Trav S.D.

We are very excited to report that our friend Todd Robbins’ show True Nightmares on the Investigation Discovery network, has been renewed for a second season and that the season premie…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:56AM[SHARE]
Thursday, September 29, 2016

New York Burlesque Festival Opens Today! by Trav S.D.

Filed under: Burlesk, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: 2016, New York Burlesque Festival

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:18AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Hall of Hams #106: William Conrad by Trav S.D.

Today is the birthday of William Conrad (John William Cann, 1920-1994). Conrad was one of those figures I frequently write about who were cheated of respect by their times. Conrad was a show…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:08PM[SHARE]

Tomorrow on TCM: Slapstick in the '80s and Beyond by Trav S.D.

Tomorrow night, Turner Classic Movies wraps up its monthly slapstick series with a look at the 1980s and beyond. It’s a notably strong line-up, and heartening to those who care about t…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:14AM[SHARE]
Monday, September 26, 2016

R.I.P. Herschell Gordon Lewis (on Political Symbolism in "2,000 Maniacs") by Trav S.D.

Just got wind that the “Godfather of Gore” Herschell Gordon Lewis has passed away.  An interesting dilemma for his afterlife: shouldn’t his “heaven” be some …

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:37PM[SHARE]

Tomorrow on TCM: Slapstick in the '70s by Trav S.D.

Tomorrorow, Turner Classic Movies will be continuing their slapstick series by pressing farther into the future than you might have thought possible. 8:00pm (EST): Bananas (1971) To appropri…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:07PM[SHARE]

Fields Fest Lives! by Trav S.D.

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 mini-…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:04AM[SHARE]
Friday, September 23, 2016

The Marx Brothers and the Golden Age of Vaudeville! by Trav S.D.

Opening tonight at New York’s Film Forum: an exciting screening series entitled the Marx Brothers and the Golden Age of Vaudeville. They actually seem to have lumped two series ideas t…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:04PM[SHARE]

Windows on the Bowery, Part Two by Trav S.D.

An excellent time was had by all assembled (I decree it) at last night’s celebration for the Windows on the Bowery exhibition at the historic HSBC bank on the lower Bowery in Chinatown…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:59AM[SHARE]

Tomorrow: Early Talking Comedies at City Reliquary by Trav S.D.

Filed under: BROOKLYN, Comedy, Hollywood (History), Movies, PLUGS Tagged: City Reliquary, movie, screening, The Good the Bad and the Ugly of Early Talking Comedy, The Slapstick Showw

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:59AM[SHARE]
Thursday, September 22, 2016

Merrily We Live (1938) by Trav S.D.

Originally posted on The Old Hollywood Garden: In many ways, Merrily We Live (1938) is the neglected, younger brother of My Man Godfrey (1936). See if you can spot the similarities: The Kilb…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:26PM[SHARE]

Why the World Needs More John Housemans by Trav S.D.

 Today is the birthday of that great theatrical man John Houseman (1902-1988). We’ve already done a biographical post on him (read that here), and we’ve done one on his late c…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:31AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, September 21, 2016

A Belated Pat Harrington Tribute by Trav S.D.

Well this is only nine months late! When Pat Harrington passed away nine months ago I briefly considered writing a brief tribute, but couldn’t really muster a meaningful link. He was m…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:59AM[SHARE]

Tammy Faye Starlite is Back (and My Rave About Her is Up) by Trav S.D.

I caught opening night of Tammy Faye Starlite in Holy War 2016 at Pangea and it was every bit as dazzling as I knew it would be. Read my rave here in Chelsea Now: http://chelseanow.com…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:56AM[SHARE]

Tonight on TCM: Slapstick in the '60s by Trav S.D.

Tonight Turner Classic Movies continues its month-long salute to slapstick, with a look at the 1960s. On the menu: 8:00pm (EST): It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) This all-star co…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:54AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Don't Bother With "The Black Crook" by Trav S.D.

We expressed no little excitement here and here regarding the advent of a show calling itself The Black Crook at the Abrons Arts Center. Marketing materials strongly implied a revival,…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:50AM[SHARE]
Monday, September 19, 2016

For Talk Like a Pirate Day: Trav S.D.'s "Sea of Love" by Trav S.D.

All things considered we give our plays short shrift here (and elsewhere,I think) and one of our New Year’s resolutions is to make amends by plugging them aggressively. The best way to…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:35PM[SHARE]

Tomorrow on TCM: Slapstick in the '50s by Trav S.D.

Tomorrow evening, Turner Classic Movies continues its month-long series on movie slapstick with a look at the 1950s (and one from the early ’60s). As I wrote in Chain of Fools, with ce…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:25AM[SHARE]
Saturday, September 17, 2016

Scary Thoughts on Constitution Day by Trav S.D.

Today is Constitution Day, celebrated annually on the anniversary of our founding document’s final adoption at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 (it was finally ratified two years …

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:19AM[SHARE]

"How to be an American" at the York by Trav S.D.

Filed under: Bowery, Barbary Coast, Old New York, Saloons, Indie Theatre, LEGIT, EXPERIMENTAL & MUSICAL THEATRE, PLUGS Tagged: How to be an American, Indie Theatre, T. Cat Ford, Tammany …

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:06AM[SHARE]
Friday, September 16, 2016

My New York Maritime Connection (A Sea Cap'n in My Past) by Trav S.D.

It’s taken me a little while to post on this subject because I wanted to nail it down a bit and get my ducks in a row. But I had a revelation the other day that made things click into …

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:48PM[SHARE]

Tomorrow: The Annual German-American Steuben Parade (2016) by Trav S.D.

Much like New York’s  German American community itself, the German American Steuben Parade maintains kind of a low, dignified profile. As compared with, say, the St. Patrick&#…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:35AM[SHARE]

This Weekend: "The Black Crook" by Trav S.D.

In 1866 (150 years ago), a show called The Black Crook opened at Niblo’s Garden that has been credited with everything from being the first musical comedy, to having been the Cradle of…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:34AM[SHARE]

Wheeler and Woolsey in "Hold 'Em, Jail" by Trav S.D.

Today is the anniversary of the release date of the 1932 Wheeler and Woolsey comedy Hold ’em Jail . In this one, one of their funnier ones, the boys get their turn at a fun…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:34AM[SHARE]

3 More Days to See a WWII Liberty Ship in NYC by Trav S.D.

It seemed for awhile as though I would never get to see the Liberty Ship  S.S. John W. Brown during her current stay at Pier 36 in New York. Originally scheduled to arrive on September 9 …

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:26AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, September 14, 2016

TMI ABT TRAV S.D. ON RFB by Trav S.D.

D’oop! It just occurred to me that I neglected to mention something major in THIS space. The word went out over all manner of social media, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and so forth. B…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:54PM[SHARE]

Who Were the Gibson Girls? by Trav S.D.

Today is the birthday of the illustrator Charles Dana Gibson (1867-1944)  — a distant relative of mine! Gibson was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts and studied at the Arts Students Le…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:45AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Tomorrow on TCM: Slapstick in the '40s by Trav S.D.

E’en as we are in the midst of today’s TCM slapstick offerings, we give you a sampling of tomorrow’s, wherein they  will be showing several slapstick classics from…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:40PM[SHARE]

What This City Could Be by Trav S.D.

I’ve been planning this post for a while, as a follow up to my earlier post highlighting some of my idle dreams about a future Coney Island. It’s some of my cray-cray and not-so-…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:13PM[SHARE]

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