All stories by Trav S.D. on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Evil Magicians and Mesmerists in Classic Horror by Trav S.D.

Continuing our month-long series of classic horror posts launched here, today we survey several films from the 1930s and 40s that are centered around sinister monsters and villains who schem…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:34AM[SHARE]
Monday, October 12, 2015

Resuscitating The Marx Bros: A Night in Casablanca by Trav S.D.

Today is the anniversary of the release of the Marx Brothers’ comedy A Night in Casablnca (1946). A Night in Casablanca is the Marx Brothers’ come-back movie, made five yea…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:20PM[SHARE]

"The Mummy" and Its Offspring by Trav S.D.

Continuing our month-long series of classic horror posts launched here, today we survey Universal Pictures’ Mummy franchise. The fact that today also happens to be the birthday of t…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:42AM[SHARE]
Sunday, October 11, 2015

The Poe Pilgrimmage, Part One by Trav S.D.

I’ve only lived in New York for over 25 years — without ever getting around to visiting the home of Edgar Allen Poe, one of my favorite writers. New Yorkers, you know the reason …

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:38PM[SHARE]

The Stars of Woodlawn Cemetery, Part Two by Trav S.D.

This is Part Two of our post from six months ago, a report of our first excursion out to Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx to pay our respects to the vaudeville stars, et al. Read that ac…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:27PM[SHARE]

Doctors Jekyll and Messers Hyde: An Unconscionable Number of Versions by Trav S.D.

Tonight (tomorrow) at 12:45am (EST) Turner Classic Movies will be showing perhaps my favorite of the many cinematic versions of Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jeky…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:20AM[SHARE]
Saturday, October 10, 2015

The Horror of Edward D. Wood, Jr. by Trav S.D.

Today is the birthday of legendary cinematic auteur Edward D. Wood, Jr. (Read our full article on this amazing individual here).  We therefore devote today’s installment in our Hall…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:01AM[SHARE]
Friday, October 9, 2015

Zombies on Broadway by Trav S.D.

Continuing our series of horror posts for the Halloween season, and seeing as how it is Wally Brown’s birthday, if you’ll excuse my using this expression in a zombie context, pos…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:32PM[SHARE]

Sunday at the Schimmel Center: Harold Lloyd in "The Freshman" by Trav S.D.

Sunday at 2pm at Pace University’s Schimmel Center: Harold Lloyd’s classic feature length silent comedy The Freshman (1925) with music by the one and only Ben Model. …

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:14PM[SHARE]

Tonight on TCM: Rogue Body Parts by Trav S.D.

Tonight on TCM: several cool horror flicks about body parts run amok, gone AWOL, or gone awry! 8:00pm (EST): Mad Love (1935) An exquisite remake of the silent classic The Hands of Orlac.…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:14PM[SHARE]

Stars of Vaudeville #910: Rube Marquard by Trav S.D.

Today is the birthday of Rube Marquard (1886-1980). Marquard was a legendary pitcher for the New York Giants, Boston Braves, Brooklyn Robins, and one non-defunct team, the Cincinnati Reds. H…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:10AM[SHARE]

Tomorrow on TCM: The 4 Marx Brothers in "Horse Feathers" by Trav S.D.

Tomorrow Morning at 8:30am (EST), Turner Classic Movies will be screening the Marx Brothers classic Horse Feathers. As you may have seen in my earlier post, several Marx Brothers movie…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:10AM[SHARE]

On the Priceless Edward Andrews by Trav S.D.

Today is the birthday of the great character actor Edward Andrews (1914-1985). You probably don’t know the name, but I’ll lay dollars to donuts you know that FACE! God, how I lov…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:10AM[SHARE]

Swamp Yankee Days by Trav S.D.

Tomorrow, at Washington County Fairgrounds in Rhode Island, Swamp Yankee Days will once again see the light of day. I cannot tell you how happy I am that this relatively new annual festival,…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:45AM[SHARE]

Vaudeville Lives This Weekend " In Schenectady! by Trav S.D.

Filed under: Contemporary Variety, PLUGS, Vaudeville etc. Tagged: Brevities, Carol Bradshaw, Proctors, Schenectady, vaudeville

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:01AM[SHARE]
Thursday, October 8, 2015

Next Week, Todd Robbins Brings You TRUE NIGHTMARES by Trav S.D.

“It’s just like comedy!” Todd Robbins always quips in his act, and hearing about his new show True Nightmares , which premiers on Investigation Discovery next Wednesd…

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

The World Awaits a True "Lizzie Borden" by Trav S.D.

Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather. In honor of Nance O’Neil’s birthday and the Halloween season upon us, I thought I would do a little post about great screen a…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:28AM[SHARE]

Drink and Draw Tonight by Trav S.D.

Filed under: Burlesk, PLUGS, VISUAL ART Tagged: Drink and Draw, The Parlor

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:28AM[SHARE]

Hall of Hams #96: Nance O'Neil by Trav S.D.

Today is the birthday of Nance O’Neil (Gertrude Lamson, 1874-1965). O’Neil was a major stage and screen star of her day, called “the American Bernhardt“, managed by M…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:20AM[SHARE]

Tomorrow on TCM: Buster Keaton in "The General" by Trav S.D.

Tomorrow at 6:00am (EST) on Turner Classic Movies, to kick off their day-long program of train movies, they will be showing Buster Keaton‘s The General (1927). Unthinkable as …

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:20AM[SHARE]

My Most Astounding Relative Was a 19th Century Black Occultist , Trance Medium and Sex Magician by Trav S.D.

Today is the birthday of Paschal Beverly Randolph (1825-1875).  I learned about this astounding person through genealogical research. I am distantly related to him through our mutual ance…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:20AM[SHARE]

On Frankenstein and Family by Trav S.D.

Continuing our month-long series of classic horror posts launched here, today we survey Universal Pictures’ Frankenstein franchise. As we know there have been countless reboots o…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:22AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Stars of Vaudeville # 909: R.G. Knowles by Trav S.D.

Today is the birthday of Richard George “R.G.” Knowles (1858-1919). Technically, Knowles was Canadian by birth, though his parents were American and he was raised in America (his…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:24PM[SHARE]

On Dracula and His Children by Trav S.D.

Continuing our month-long series of classic horror posts launched here, today we survey Universal Picture’s Dracula franchise. As we know there have been countless reboots of the…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:37PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, October 6, 2015

The Mystery and Horror of Lon Chaney and Tod Browning by Trav S.D.

When I said yesterday that the Americans didn’t take a back seat to the Germans in the business of morbidity and horror  even during the 1920s, I was thinking chiefly of director To…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:22AM[SHARE]
Monday, October 5, 2015

Imported Nightmares: On Some Early and Influential German(ic) Horror by Trav S.D.

Far be it from me to lay all the morbidity of the world at the feet of the Germans (after all, neither the English nor the Americans take a back seat to them in the category we are discussin…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:21PM[SHARE]

A Great New Book About Lili St. Cyr by Trav S.D.

Burlesque being what it is, there aren’t many dancers who came up through its ranks during the classical era who broke through to mainstream fame. Lili St. Cyr was one of the few who d…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:37PM[SHARE]
Sunday, October 4, 2015

Century of Slapstick #92: Charlie Chaplin in "Shanghaied" by Trav S.D.

Today is the 100th anniversary of the release date of the Charlie Chaplin comedy Shanghaied (1915). In this funny Esssanay comedy, Charlie plays a poor shlub who loves the daughter (Ed…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:33PM[SHARE]

Buster Keaton: The Spook Comedies by Trav S.D.

As we have observed, it is Buster Keaton‘s birthday today. But it’s also the Halloween season, and so (we think) what better way to explore it than by celebrating some of Keaton&…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:06PM[SHARE]

The Many Incarnations of "The Phantom of the Opera" by Trav S.D.

Tonight (tomorrow morning, really at 12:45am Eastern) Turner Classic Movies will show the 1925 horror classic The Phantom of the Opera starring Lon Chaney. This seemed a fitting day to…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:31AM[SHARE]

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