All stories by Trav S.d. on BroadwayStars

Monday, October 19, 2015

Giant Monsters, Phase One by Trav S.D.

And now a post in our month long series about classic horror we launched here, this one concerning giant monsters. We qualify our title with “phase one” for the obvious reason th…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:09AM[SHARE]

W.C. Fields & Co. in "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch" by Trav S.D.

Today is the anniversary of the release date of the Paramount film Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1934), directed by Norman Taurog. The ostensible star of the film is the stage actre…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:06AM[SHARE]
Sunday, October 18, 2015

Tonight on TCM: Fatty Arbuckle First Feature, "The Round Up" by Trav S.D.

Tonight (tomorrow morning) at 1:15am (EST) on Turner Movie Classics: Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle’s first feature film The Round Up (1920). Arbuckle was one of the firs…

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

On Voodoo and Zombies in Classic Horror by Trav S.D.

Today is the day of the NYC Zombie Crawl, a fitting day to do this post about zombies as part of our month long series on classic horror films we launched here. Most modern zombie production…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:12PM[SHARE]
Saturday, October 17, 2015

In Which We Wax Rhapsodic About "The Beverly Hillbillies" by Trav S.D.

Today is the birthday of the great Irene Ryan. Today she is best remembered for playing Granny on the hit CBS sit com The Beverly Hillbillies (1962-1971), although she had long career in vau…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:38PM[SHARE]

On My Distant Cousin Jean Arthur by Trav S.D.

Today is the birthday of Jean Arthur (Gladys Georgianna Greene, 1900-1991). It was only this week that I learned that I am distantly related to her! We are both descended from the early Virg…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:34PM[SHARE]

Hall of Hams # 97: Spring Byington by Trav S.D.

 Today is the birthday of Spring Byington (1886-1971). I associate her primarily with playing silly old fussbudgets and society women in comedies but a reflection on her career reveals th…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:06AM[SHARE]

The Horror of Vincent Price by Trav S.D.

Tonight at 11:30pm (EST) Turner Classic Movies will be showing Vincent Price in The Baron of Arizona (1950). A brief capsule review of the film below, and then, as part of the month…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:14AM[SHARE]
Friday, October 16, 2015

Family History Month by Trav S.D.

Apparently, as of today we are mid-way through something called “Family History Month”. To what extent that holiday designation is merely an advertisement for certain web sites I…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:58PM[SHARE]

Tonight on TCM: Evil Kid Movies by Trav S.D.

Tonight on Turner Classic Movies — a slate of movies about very, very bad children. 8:oopm (EST) The Nanny (1965) Who is the one to hate and fear in this Hammer film? The disturbed hel…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:33PM[SHARE]

The Invisible Man and His Offspring by Trav S.D.

Continuing our month-long series of classic horror posts launched here, today we look at Universal Pictures original Invisible Man series. While the first picture in this series is …

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:26AM[SHARE]

Force Majeur This Weekend! by Trav S.D.

Filed under: BROOKLYN, Contemporary Variety, PLUGS, Vaudeville etc. Tagged: BROOKLYN, Cobra Club, Force Majeur, new vaudeville, Tanya Solomon

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:02AM[SHARE]
Thursday, October 15, 2015

Stars of Vaudeville #915: Helen Ware by Trav S.D.

Today this is the birthday of Helen Ware (Helen Remer, 1877-1939). Ware was already a star of Broadway and the silent screen before she made her vaudeville debut at the Palace and the Keith …

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:21PM[SHARE]

Stars of Vaudeville #914: Mervyn LeRoy by Trav S.D.

Today is the birthday of Mervyn LeRoy (1900-1987) . Like most sentient beings I’ve known his name since childhood, as the producer of my favorite movie The Wizard of Oz (1939). I…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:20PM[SHARE]

On Mad Doctors in Movies by Trav S.D.

Continuing our month-long series of classic horror posts launched here, today we survey several films from the 1930s and 40s that are centered around mad scientists. Here we will find a cert…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:40AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Sadists and Serial Killers in Early Horror by Trav S.D.

As tonight TCM is showing a pair of Jack the Ripper related movies, I thought it would be timely to do this post about sadists and serial killers in classic horror, as part of the month long…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:52PM[SHARE]

Stars of Vaudeville #913: Flanagan and Allen by Trav S.D.

Today is the birthday of Bud Flanagan (Chaim Reuben Weintrop, 1896-1968) of the British music hall team of Flanagan and Allen.  A few years ago, someone slipped me a couple of CDs of this…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:42AM[SHARE]

Stars of Vaudeville # 912: Mound City Blue Blowers by Trav S.D.

Today is the birthday of William “Red” McKenzie (1899-1948).  Originally from St. Louis, he became a prominent Jazz Age figure by playing the kazoo and comb-and-tissue paper! …

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:21AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, October 13, 2015

The Bonfire of the Vanities: The Opera by Trav S.D.

We were excited to attend the premiere performance of friend Stefania de Kennesey’s new opera the other night, her long awaited adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s The Bonfire of the Vanit…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:21PM[SHARE]

W.C. Fields & Co. in "Tillie and Gus by Trav S.D.

Today marks the anniversary of the release date of the W.C. Fields comedy Tillie and Gus (1933). This was his second team-up with worthy foil Alison Skipworth, whom he had paired up…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:13PM[SHARE]

Stars of Vaudeville #911: Harry Hershfield by Trav S.D.

Today is the birthday of Harry Hershfield (1885-1974), known in his day as “the Jewish Will Rogers“. Iowa native Hershfield started out as a teenage cartoonist for Ch…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:10PM[SHARE]

Instead of Columbus Day, Maybe Celebrate THIS Guy by Trav S.D.

I think we can all agree that Italians and Italian-Americans rule. I come from Rhode Island, which is the closest thing America has to an Italiocracy. I grew up thinking beauty looked like P…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:04PM[SHARE]

Evil Magicians and Mesmerists in Classic Horror by Trav S.D.

Continuing our month-long series of classic horror posts launched here, today we survey several films from the 1930s and 40s that are centered around sinister monsters and villains who schem…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:34AM[SHARE]
Monday, October 12, 2015

Resuscitating The Marx Bros: A Night in Casablanca by Trav S.D.

Today is the anniversary of the release of the Marx Brothers’ comedy A Night in Casablnca (1946). A Night in Casablanca is the Marx Brothers’ come-back movie, made five yea…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:20PM[SHARE]

"The Mummy" and Its Offspring by Trav S.D.

Continuing our month-long series of classic horror posts launched here, today we survey Universal Pictures’ Mummy franchise. The fact that today also happens to be the birthday of t…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:42AM[SHARE]
Sunday, October 11, 2015

The Poe Pilgrimmage, Part One by Trav S.D.

I’ve only lived in New York for over 25 years — without ever getting around to visiting the home of Edgar Allen Poe, one of my favorite writers. New Yorkers, you know the reason …

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:38PM[SHARE]

The Stars of Woodlawn Cemetery, Part Two by Trav S.D.

This is Part Two of our post from six months ago, a report of our first excursion out to Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx to pay our respects to the vaudeville stars, et al. Read that ac…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:27PM[SHARE]

Doctors Jekyll and Messers Hyde: An Unconscionable Number of Versions by Trav S.D.

Tonight (tomorrow) at 12:45am (EST) Turner Classic Movies will be showing perhaps my favorite of the many cinematic versions of Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jeky…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:20AM[SHARE]
Saturday, October 10, 2015

The Horror of Edward D. Wood, Jr. by Trav S.D.

Today is the birthday of legendary cinematic auteur Edward D. Wood, Jr. (Read our full article on this amazing individual here).  We therefore devote today’s installment in our Hall…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:01AM[SHARE]
Friday, October 9, 2015

Zombies on Broadway by Trav S.D.

Continuing our series of horror posts for the Halloween season, and seeing as how it is Wally Brown’s birthday, if you’ll excuse my using this expression in a zombie context, pos…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:32PM[SHARE]

Sunday at the Schimmel Center: Harold Lloyd in "The Freshman" by Trav S.D.

Sunday at 2pm at Pace University’s Schimmel Center: Harold Lloyd’s classic feature length silent comedy The Freshman (1925) with music by the one and only Ben Model. …

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:14PM[SHARE]

All that Chat