Monday, June 6, 2016
Today is the birthday of the great American heroic painter John Trumbull (1756-1843). I am distantly related to this artist; we both count the Pilgrims John and Priscilla Alden among our anc…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:26AM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of Helen Ford (Helen Barnett, 1894-1982). Ford started out in vaudeville as a singer in upstate New York, eventually moving up to Broadway, where she appeared in 14 pro…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:26AM[SHARE]Sunday, June 5, 2016
Today is the birthday of Franklyn Farnum (William Smith, 1878-1961). Originally from Boston Smith (later Farnum) is said to have started out as an actor in vaudeville from age 12. (He is not…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:48AM[SHARE]Saturday, June 4, 2016
Saddened to hear of the passing yesterday of three time World Heavyweight Champion Muhammad Ali. We had been expecting this news not just for years but for many decades. It’s startling…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:51PM[SHARE]In which we continue our ongoing series of Marx Brothers posts. (We observe this morning with satisfaction but not surprise that, after Charlie Chaplin, the Marx Brothers are the vaudeville …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:22PM[SHARE]Friday, June 3, 2016
Today is the birthday of legendary show biz scribe Abel Green (1900-1973). Most of us know him because he cowrote the super-useful book Show Biz: From Vaude to Video with Joe Lau…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:54PM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of Larry McMurtry (b. 1936), author of many a literary and cinematic success, including The Last Picture Show, Terms of Endearment and even (with collaborators)…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:45PM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of Robert Edeson (1868-1931). Born in New Orleans, Edeson was a second generation thespian, his father being the actor George E. Edeson. The younger Edeson made his pro…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:20AM[SHARE]Thursday, June 2, 2016
Today in NYC it’s Pietro Cesare Alberti Day! On this day in 1635, the gentleman in question arrived in what was then New Netherland and became the first Italian American. You will find…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:31AM[SHARE]While it existed (1966-1982), there was no more controversial political organization than the Black Panther Party. The word “controversial” is often misused, but in this case it …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:25AM[SHARE]Wednesday, June 1, 2016
June is Immigrant Heritage Month. As I wrote a few days ago on a related topic (the related topic being Mexicans), though I do a lot of crowing here about my 400 year old American background…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:02PM[SHARE]Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Wanda Nevada (1979) Today is the birthday of Brooke Shields (b. 1965). Today we talk about her 1979 buddy picture with Peter Fonda, Wanda Nevada. In the cinema, Fonda is best kn…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:28AM[SHARE]Monday, May 30, 2016
Part two of our little tribute to Howard Hawks today, this one focusing on his comedies. In this area, I find Hawks downright anomalous. I don’t know of anything comparable among film …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:32PM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of Mike Donlin (1878-1933). Donlin is probably better known to the wider world for his main occupation — that of professional baseball player. He played for the N…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:20PM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of Irving Thalberg (1899-1936), a name well known to hardcore movie buffs as a visionary producer and studio chief; even better known to comedy buffs for his pivotal ro…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:14PM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of the great Hollywood producer/ director/ screenwriter Howard Hawks (1896-1977). He’s a big subject to tackle, and the king of many a genre. Today I’ll con…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:54AM[SHARE]We are apt to be pessimistic these days about so many things that we may forget the things there are to celebrate — and there are a great many of these, as well: more than you might su…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:54AM[SHARE]Today the nation observes Memorial Day, an official federal holiday since 1971, an unofficial one since the days following the Civil War, when there were 620,000 war dead to mourn (nearly ha…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:49AM[SHARE]Saturday, May 28, 2016
Today is the birthday of Jazz Age playwright Avery Hopwood (1882-1928). Hopwood was long legendary for the feat of having four successful plays up on Broadway simultaneously, a feat la…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:03AM[SHARE]Friday, May 27, 2016
Preview performances for I’ll Say She Is, our revival of the lost 1924 Marx Brothers Broadway musical begin tomorrow! If you didn’t get your ticket yet, the more fool you! But th…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:26AM[SHARE]A thought occurred to me the other day: New York is such a large, complex and amazing city that events that would be earth-shaking elsewhere can go relatively unnoticed here. Case in point: …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:15AM[SHARE]This just in — and don’t be caught snoozin’! Bear Manor Media has announced a Memorial Day Sale, staring tomorrow May 28, 2016 and running through the end of the month. 30%…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:15AM[SHARE] Today marks the 100th anniversary of the release date of the Charlie Chaplin comedy Police. Police was Chaplin’s last short for Essanay Studios. Rather spitefully, after he …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:20AM[SHARE]Thursday, May 26, 2016
It’s John Wayne’s birthday! Why aren’t you having a party? You what? You don’t like John Wayne!? Haha, funny joke! I didn’t hear that! Now I’ve already do…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:13PM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of the late, great Levon Helm (1940-1912), the only American in The Band, but I think most of his fans will agree that he had enough America in him for a million Americ…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:00PM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of the great pugilist Robert “Bob” Fitzsimmons (1863-1917), a.k.a. “Ruby Robert” and “The Freckled Wonder”. Contemporary description…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:50AM[SHARE]Wednesday, May 25, 2016
It’s Fleet Week in New York as of this morning — and this reminded me that there’s many a classic comedy involving ships, sailors and sailing. And so here’s a selecti…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:15PM[SHARE]Happy National (and apparently International) Tap Dance Day! One of the things I enjoy doing is reading criticism from outside the accustomed vineyards in which I generally toil. Which i…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:05AM[SHARE]Marxfest, and the Fringe production of I’ll Say She Is (both 2014) were such a flurry of activity that I didn’t get to finish all that I set out to do during those months. The…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:45AM[SHARE]Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Today is the 75th birthday of that mod, mad minstrel Bob Dylan (Robert Zimmerman). Writing about an artist who’s so important to me is a Cow in a Can I have kept kicking down the road …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:38PM[SHARE]Today is the birthday of the great thespian Richard Mansfield (1857-1907). Mansfield’s background is every bit as interesting as his stage career (which I can’t wait to get to, e…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:09AM[SHARE]Loading more stories…
