Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Arthur Frank Wertheim, author of the excellent Vaudeville Wars, has just released part one of his new, comprehensive two volume book on the career of W.C. Fields…just in time for…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:16AM[SHARE]Tuesday, December 16, 2014
December 16, 1916 was the release date of The Matrimaniac, starring Douglas Fairbanks and Constance Talmadge. This is one of the most physical, action-packed Fairbanks comedies, the whole pi…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:57PM[SHARE]Monday, December 15, 2014
Thanks Tricia Vita and Jim Moore for tipping me off to this great new book about the theatres of Coney Island. I’ve long known about the work of Cezar Del Valle – he is THE go-to…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:15PM[SHARE]Long time readers know of my ambivalence to the shopworn vehicle A Christmas Carol, expressed here a year ago in this epic post: http://travsd.wordpress.com/2013/12/23/too-many-chri…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:51PM[SHARE]Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Charlie Chaplin short A Days’s Pleasure (1919). Critics have always panned this uncharacteristic little film; I find it intere…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:58AM[SHARE]Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Larry Semon feature length comedy The Perfect Clown (1925). The plot concerns a young clerk who is charged with the task of deliveri…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:15AM[SHARE]Sunday, December 14, 2014
Tonight starting at 8pm Eastern, Turner Classic Movies will be showing a perfect pairing of what remain two of the best cinematic Dickens’ adaptations to date. David Lean’s 19…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:54PM[SHARE]Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Laurel and Hardy holiday classic Babes in Toyland a.k.a March of the Wooden Soldiers (1934). I’d never heard of this film until t…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:58PM[SHARE]Today is the anniversary of the American release date of Laurel and Hardy’s last film, the notorious Utopia a.k.a Atoll K a.k.a Robinson Crusoeland (released in the U.S.…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:25PM[SHARE]Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Laurel and Hardy short Angora Love (1929). This is the team’s last silent short, and was released after several of their talki…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:34PM[SHARE]Today marks the 100th anniversary of the release date of the Keystone comedy Fatty’s Magic Pants a.k.a Fatty’s Suitless Day, starring Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:55AM[SHARE]Tonight (tomorrow, really) at 12:30am (EST) on Turner Classic Movies, Buster Keaton’s comedy The Cameraman (1928). The Cameraman was Keaton’s first film as an MGM con…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:07AM[SHARE]Saturday, December 13, 2014
Today is the birthday of playwright Marc Connelly (1890-1980), member of the Algonquin Roundtable, frequent collaborator of George S. Kaufman, and 1930 Pulitzer Prize winner for the first al…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:07AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of silent movie comedian Albert Austin (1882-1953). Austin’s movie career as an actor was confined almost entirely to the films of his fellow Karno alum, Charl…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:05AM[SHARE]Friday, December 12, 2014
Just a few words of enthusiasm for Mink Stole’s terrific holiday show, now playing at the Laurie Beechman Theatre through December 14.  OMG! It’s Christmas is a funny, freq…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:41PM[SHARE]Thursday, December 11, 2014
Filed under: BROOKLYN, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: Living Room, Sweet Soubrette
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:43AM[SHARE]Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Today’s earlier post about A Country Hero makes me think today might be a sensible day to post this little survey I’ve been sitting on about important silent comedies that …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:20PM[SHARE]Today marks the anniversary of the release date of the Comique film A Country Hero (1917), starring and directed by Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, and also featuring Buster Keato…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:28AM[SHARE]Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the classic W.C. Fields short The Dentist (1932). Along with The Fatal Glass of Beer and The Golf Specialist this film ranks…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:28AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of silent film actress Carol Dempster (1901-1991). We tend to think of her as D.W. Griffith’s equivalent of Linda McCartney. Griffith fell for her hard, the rest …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:27AM[SHARE]Monday, December 8, 2014
Today marks the anniversary of the release date of the classic 1934 Hal Roach spook comedy The Live Ghost starring Laurel and Hardy. The Live Ghost is a classic “haunted shipR…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:51AM[SHARE]Sunday, December 7, 2014
Tonight (tomorrow morning actually) on Turner Classic Movies, at 1:15am (EST), they will be showing the Mack Sennett feature length comedy Yankee Doodle in Berlin (1919). This WWI-e…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:36AM[SHARE]Today marks the 100th anniversary of the release date of the Charlie Chaplin comedy His Prehistoric Past. This was Chaplin’s last film for Keystone, so there’s a melancholy…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:00AM[SHARE]Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Harry Langdon comedy Feet of Mud (1924), directed by Harry Edwards. In this much-loved Langdon comedy, Harry plays a benchwarmer on …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:36AM[SHARE]Today is the anniversary of the release date of That Royle Girl (1925). This was D.W. Griffith’s second film for Paramount Pictures, and his second to star Carol Dempster. Mid-wa…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:11AM[SHARE]Saturday, December 6, 2014
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Laurel and Hardy comedy Nothing But Trouble (1944), directed by Sam Taylor. This movie is probably my favorite of the team’s p…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:06AM[SHARE]Friday, December 5, 2014
Happy Repeal Day! On this day in 1933, the disastrous experiment of Prohibition was overturned. The Keaton and Durante movie What, No Beer? might not be the funniest comedy…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:22PM[SHARE]We caught a good hunk of Peter Pan last night — not all of it, but enough to feel justified in expressing an opinion about the show. Let me preface it by saying we heartily appla…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:34AM[SHARE]Today is the 100th anniversary of the release date of the Keystone comedy Getting Acquainted, written and directed by Charlie Chaplin. Though Charlie is at the helm and the titular sta…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:00AM[SHARE]Today is the anniversary of the release date of Douglas Fairbanks’ second film Double Trouble (1915), directed by Christy Cabanne. Long thought lost, this feature turned up in an…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:35AM[SHARE]Thursday, December 4, 2014
Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Charlie Chaplin comedy The Rink (1916). The Rink is a gem from Chaplin’s Mutual period, that magical stretch when he could do …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:17AM[SHARE]Loading more stories…
