Saturday, February 1, 2014
Louis Sunlin (born February 1857) was a clown and comedian who worked with a succession of trained animals, both in vaudeville and circuses. A second generation performer, he was born in Ohi…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:42AM[SHARE]Friday, January 31, 2014
Happy Chinese New Year! It is the Year of the Horse! A fitting time methinks to give a shout-out to the many Chinese vaudeville and sideshow performers we’ve profiled on Travalanche. ﾃ…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:08PM[SHARE]Today is the anniversary of the release date of the hilariousﾃつHarry Langdon shortﾃつSaturday Afternoonﾃつ(1926). I think it’s safe to say this film is the most widely seen of Lang…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:50AM[SHARE]Thursday, January 30, 2014
Warning: I absolutely always include spoilers, so now’s the time to turn back if you must. IsﾃつThe Babyﾃつthe weirdest movie you will ever see? Let’s just say it’s likel…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:42PM[SHARE]As part of TCM’s month long salute to Joan Crawford, tonight and tomorrow morning they will be showing three camp classics starring the high strung actress, from her late, “thick…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:07PM[SHARE]Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Today is the birthday of Mary Eaton (1901-1948), best remembered today as the ingenue in the Marx Brothers filmﾃつThe Coconutsﾃつ(1929) and as the sister of the “Last Ziegfeld Girl&#…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:20AM[SHARE]Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Today is the birthday of Mary Boland (Marie Anne Boland, 1880-1965), best known and loved for playing ditzy and/or dumb wives and mothers, usually wealthy ones in high society (or pretentiou…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:59AM[SHARE]Monday, January 27, 2014
February 15, 2014 at the Brooklyn Lyceum February 2014 marks the centennial anniversary of Charlie Chaplin’s first movies! To celebrate this landmark, Trav S.D. will screen Chaplin's f…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:21PM[SHARE]Sunday, January 26, 2014
I was excited to complete a piece of my education today. Like all good classic comedy fans I’d long since seen all of Mae West’s pictures throughﾃつMy Little Chickadeeﾃつ(1940)…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:35PM[SHARE]One of about a half dozen movie vehicles of the radio comedy team Lum and Abner (Chester Lauck and Norris Goffﾃつ), Two Weeks To Liveﾃつ(1943) is one of those strange animals that just wig…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:22PM[SHARE]Oggi ﾃｨ il compleanno del piﾃδｹ eccellente attore caratterista Vito Scotti (Vito Scozzari, 1918-1996). I know I say everyone is one of my favorite character actors, but Vito Scotti truly is…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:14PM[SHARE]Tonight at midnight on Turner Classic Movies, a particular favorite of many New York City loving silent comedy fans, Harold Lloyd’sﾃつSpeedyﾃつ(1928). Counterintuitively, given that …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:33AM[SHARE]No assessment of 20th century screen comedy would be complete without some mention of character actor Charles Lane (Charles Levinson, 1905-2007). I call him the original one, because there i…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:48AM[SHARE]We found ourselves mostly disappointed by the much-hyped Lifetime movieﾃつLizzie Borden Took an Axeﾃつstaring Christina Ricci as the titular (accused but acquitted) axe murderer. We can be…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:50AM[SHARE]Saturday, January 25, 2014
ﾃつTonight (tomorrow morning really) at 12:15am on Turner Classic MoviesﾃつRollercoaster. One of the last of the original 1970s cycle of disaster movies, owing debts especially toﾃつEarth…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:26PM[SHARE]Filed under: SOCIAL EVENTS Tagged: Flute, Red Hook Ramblers, Wit's End
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:51AM[SHARE]Friday, January 24, 2014
Filed under: AMERICANA, Indie Theatre, Music, PLUGS Tagged: Hard Times, Larry Kirwan, Stephen Foster
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:17PM[SHARE]I am very excited: tonight at 6:15pm E.S.T. Turner Classic Movies will be showing this camp classic. I’ve not yet seen it, but have known about it for years through the good graces of …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:11AM[SHARE]Filed under: Burlesk, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: burlesque, Champagne Riot, Cutting Room, Dandy Wellington, Gelber and Manning
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:34AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of Eva Shirley (Eva Schainbaum, 1891-1982). Shirley began her singing career on the Lower East Side where she was born, built her own orchestra which played everything …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:49AM[SHARE]Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Unless the news I received about a couple of hours ago is some kind of sick prank, a good friend has passed away. Dan Jagendorf was as good as they come. In a very short time he became a tru…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:03PM[SHARE]We are pleased to present the next installment of our ongoing series of experiments in silent and slapstick comedy film. ﾃつToo Much Nutcrackerﾃつis my tribute to what I call the “ob…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:42AM[SHARE]ﾃつ Good news! Volume 2 of Ben Model’s popular “Accidentally Preserved” series of rare silent film comedies is now out and available to purchase. As with Volume 1 this is …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:14AM[SHARE]Today is the anniversary of the release of Buster Keaton’s 1923 comedy shortﾃつThe Balloonatic,ﾃつco-written and directed with Eddie Cline. This is a very episodic film窶ｦI found it …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:59AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of that great star of German Expressionist cinema Conrad Veidt (1893-1943). Veidt was sort of the German equivalent of Lon Chaney, and is most highly regarded today as …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:33AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of Constance Collier (Laura Constance Hardie, 1878-1955). Most of us know her strictly from her late career Hollywood roles in films likeﾃつStage Doorﾃつ(1937),ﾃつWe…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:51AM[SHARE]Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Could there ever be a more deceptive advertisement? Far from being the funniest comedy in history, it must rank with the unfunniest. It’s definitely among the worst of Keaton’s f…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:03AM[SHARE]This one came as something of a revelation. We watched it last night; hadn’t heard of it before. It’s an early entry into the “psycho-biddy” genre, characterized by f…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:36AM[SHARE]Monday, January 20, 2014
Today (January 20, 2014) makes the 111th anniversary of the opening night of L. Frank Baum’s hit Broadway stage adaptation of his popular 1900 children’s bookﾃつThe Wizard of Oz…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:33PM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of the brilliant film maker David Lynch (b. 1946). I was all of twelve when his first movieﾃつEraserheadﾃつ(1977) came out, and that only played the art circuits. Lik…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:24PM[SHARE]Today (January 20) is the anniversary of the release date of Stan Laurel’s 1924 solo comedyﾃつSmithy, co-directed by producer Hal Roach and Keystone veteran George Jeske. In his nearl…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:06PM[SHARE]Loading more stories…
