Sunday, October 4, 2015
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]Tonight on Turner Classic Movies: two classic westerns directed by William Wyler. 8:00pm (EST) The Big Country (1958) Big sprawling epic of the late ’50s type, co-produced by Wyler and…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:35AM[SHARE]Saturday, October 3, 2015
This post grew out of the introduction to a talk I gave at Clay McLeod Chapman’s Fear Mongers panel series a few years ago. The bulk of my talk was about a favorite tv show of mi…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:56PM[SHARE]Today marks the 100th anniversary of the release date of W.C. Fields’ second film, the 1915 silent short His Lordship’s Dilemma. Sadly, this movie is thought lost and v…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:33AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of actor  Alan Dinehart (1889-1994). Originally from St. Paul, Dinehart dropped out of school to act in repertory theatre and vaudeville, eventually making his way t…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:40AM[SHARE]Tomorrow at 11am, as part of their Film Forum Jr. series, the Film Forum in New York will be showing the Abbott and Costello  comedy Hold That Ghost (1941) This is the first of A & C&…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:40AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of the indispensible Henry Hull (1890-1977) . Originally from Louisville, Kentucky, he was one of a trio of thespian brothers, the other two being Shelly Hull …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:40AM[SHARE]Friday, October 2, 2015
Tonight on Turner Classic Movies, in celebration of the Halloween season: several films set in haunted (or otherwise evil) houses. 8:00pm (EST) Two on a Guillotine (1965) If you’d aske…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:21AM[SHARE]Today being the birthday of Bud Abbott AND the early days of the Halloween season today we thought we’d do a little post on the horror comedies of Abbott and Costello. And, no, A…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:31AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of actress/ author Florence Nash (1888-1950). As with her sister Mary Nash, her stage name also comes from her stepfather Philip F. Nash, an important vaudeville …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:07AM[SHARE]Thursday, October 1, 2015
Could you die? Tomorrow, starting first thing in the morning, Turner Classic Movies will be showing the films of the mature Bob Hope — for 14 straight hours! Get ready to set your DVR …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:39PM[SHARE]If only H.P. Lovecraft had known while he was alive that some day he would have an entire international cult of devotees! But given his truck with the supernatural I’ll just bet he DID…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:39PM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of the late Richard Harris (1930-2002). I have yet to induct him into my Hall of Hams, though that event is inevitable. I thought it more pressing to discuss a particul…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:37PM[SHARE]I just heard from the grapevine who shares my apartment that John Guillermin has passed away. Even if you don’t know the name, you know his work. He directed several films in the 1960s…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:55PM[SHARE]Let the Halloween season officially begin! Every day in October I’m going to do at least one post (some days several) on horror films and spook comedies, mostly ones from the classic s…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:08PM[SHARE]Wednesday, September 30, 2015
On Tuesdays and Thursdays in October, Turner Classic Movies will be presenting a series of programs called Trailblazing Women, hosted by none other than Ileana Douglas. This seemed an au…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:57PM[SHARE]Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Despite yesterday’s oppressively nasty weather, the Mad Marchioness and I finally shook off our summertime torpor last night and poked our heads out into the world. It’s been mon…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:17PM[SHARE]Coincidentally, two different friends are releasing films for home consumption and I can’t recommend either of them highly enough! Heather Quinlan’s terrific documentary If These…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:16PM[SHARE]Monday, September 28, 2015
Phillips Carlin (1894-1971) was a radio broadcaster who got his start locally at New York’s WEAF, and then was the announcer for several national programs on NBC, as well as the 1926, …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:14AM[SHARE]Sunday, September 27, 2015
Tonight (tomorrow morning really) on Turner Movie Classics: a pair of operatic if silent Lon Chaney “sad clown” pictures, (though neither one directed by Tod Browning): 12:15a…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:08AM[SHARE]The team of Gladys Clark and Henry (sometimes “Harry”) Bergman (1887-1962) were prominent in vaudeville throughout then teens and twenties. They often fronted tab shows produc…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:07AM[SHARE]Saturday, September 26, 2015
Tomorrow and Monday at Film Forum, two exciting programs featuring Diane Baker, from the cast of Hitchcock’s Marnie (1964), William Castle’s Straight-Jacket (1964), and Pat…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:37AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of actor Glenn Hunter (1894-1945). Hunter’s career lasted nearly thirty years, embracing Broadway, vaudeville and films. He was only 19 when he first made it to B…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:38AM[SHARE]3:45pm  (EST) Rio Lobo (1970) This is the last movie Howard Hawks directed and the law of diminishing returns applies. The first act is okay:  John Wayne is a civil war colonel o…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:38AM[SHARE]Friday, September 25, 2015
Filed under: BROOKLYN, Comedy, Indie Theatre Tagged: Acting Class for Comedians, BROOKLYN, Bushwick, Cobra Club
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:56PM[SHARE]Sunday morning at 11am, the Film Forum in New York will be showing the Beatles’ classic A Hard Day’s Night as part of its Film Forum Jr. series. As we did with our recen…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:12PM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of Ray (or Nat) Nazarro (1902-1986). And today I fear I have more questions for you than answers on this subject. But they are interesting questions, so I share them. E…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:21AM[SHARE]Thursday, September 24, 2015
Could there be a stupider name for this post? No! But I’m sorry, that’s all I could come up with! Today is the launch day for the annual celebration organized by the Netherland-A…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:24PM[SHARE]Filed under: Burlesk, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: New York Burlesque Festival, NYBF
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:08PM[SHARE]Bandleader Meyer Davis (1893-1976) was from the Washington, D.C. area. Â He started out with a musical quintet in high school (after the school band rejected him — his specialty was …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:48PM[SHARE]Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Today is the birthday of Beatrice Curtis (Beatrice Zinn, 1906-1963). Curtis was second generation show biz, the daughter of agent (and former vaudevillian) Jack Curtis and singer…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:19AM[SHARE]Loading more stories…
