All stories by Trav S.d. on BroadwayStars

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]
Monday, September 12, 2016

A Jaunt to the New York City Marble Cemetery by Trav S.D.

If you’ve done any amount of time kicking around the Lower East Side, you’ve passed the New York City Marble Cemetery on Second Street Between 1st and 2nd Avenues. It’s not…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:39PM[SHARE]

Circus Amok 2016! by Trav S.D.

We were fortunate to catch opening day of Circus Amok’s 2016 touring season yesterday at the Abrons Arts Center. It’s a more stripped down, lean and mean show this year, with a s…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:52PM[SHARE]

Tomorrow on TCM: Slapstick of the 30s by Trav S.D.

As part of their monthlong slapstick series, tomorrow TCM will be showing several classics from the 1930s — the first decade of talkies. Unsurprisingly, and much to their credit, they …

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:03AM[SHARE]
Sunday, September 11, 2016

The OTHER Other September 11: The Death of Bernard Gorcey by Trav S.D.

Lest the relatively frivolous or contained nature of this tragic post offend you, I hasten to point out all of the appropriately somber posts I have done about September 11, 2001. This is…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:26AM[SHARE]

Seven Grandparents by Trav S.D.

Apart from the more somber anniversary we’re observing this morning, today happens to be National Grandparents Day. I thought I would take this opportunity to remember my own grandpare…

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

Ten 9-11 Stories by Trav S.D.

In remembrance of the day, a little wrap-up of some of our past articles posted here on September 11 in years past. Just click on the link to get to the post. Here at Travalanche we NEVER fo…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:07AM[SHARE]
Saturday, September 10, 2016

Kita St. Cyr's New Show Tonight! by Trav S.D.

Filed under: Burlesk, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS Tagged: burlesque, Hard Swallow, Kita St. Cyr, Planet Kita

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:48AM[SHARE]
Friday, September 9, 2016

The Overshare Cabaret by Trav S.D.

It may be as long as ten years ago since I last saw my old friend Mel Delancey on stage. Let’s just say that it was long enough ago that she was still in an improv troupe with her (now…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:45PM[SHARE]

American Dunkirk: The Waterborne Evacuation of Manhattan on 9/11 by Trav S.D.

The horrific events of September 11, 2001 were, you must admit, a triumph of planning: time, resources, personnel, organization. And for the most part, the perpetrators achieved what they se…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:22AM[SHARE]

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