Australian-born alcoholic gay Hollywood costume designer Orry-Kelly was BOTD in 1897 & died in 1964 at 66. He journeyed to NYC to pursue an acting career & shared an apartment in Greenwich Village w/ Cary Grant, with whom he had an on-again, off-again relationship until the 1930s

Spent my 43rd birthday at my favorite childhood restaurant. Going into 2026 with this energy.

On Paul Bowles’s birthday, sharing this 1980 letter to my great-uncle, the poet and translator Robert Friend. Bowles discusses their mutual friends/acquaintances Alfred Chester and Édouard Roditi, and praises Robert’s book of poems, ‘Somewhere Lower Down.’

Patti Smith at the Hotel Chelsea (with Sam Shepard) - BOTD

German poster for THE RED SHOES (1948)

Looking through some of my Grandpa‘s old sheet music. He didn’t have the money to buy sheet music during the great depression, so he copied it out by hand.

Dec. 28, 1925: “Tip-Toes,” a show with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin, opens at Broadway’s Liberty Theatre. The musical centering on a vaudeville dancer’s attempt to snare a wealthy husband amid the Florida land boom is a solid hit, with 192 performances. 1/2

Some thoughts on the late Brigitte Bardot: www.theguardian.com/film/2025/de...

Home for the holidays, at Olney Theatre Center, at the fourth production I’ve seen of ‘Hello, Dolly!’ (Previously: Volksoper, Vienna; Goodspeed; Bette).

Happy 98th Birthday to Show Boat!

Hanna Schygulla at a benefit performance at the Circus Krone in Munich (with Rainer Werner Fassbinder) - BOTD

Goddess bless ye Mary gentlepeople let nothing you dismay. Remember Crisp our Saviour was born on Christmas Day (BOTD in 1908, died in 1999 at the ripe old age of 90). Quentin Crisp was an English raconteur and fellow Capricorn

Dec. 25, 1925: F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and daughter Scottie in Paris.

Polish poster for THE NIGHT OF THE IGUANA (1964) Directed by John Huston Starring Ava Gardner - BOTD in 1922

Lois Smith, who just turned 95 and whose career stretches back to live television and mid-1950s Broadway, reflects on the life her acting has drawn from and the life it's given her. www.americantheatre.org/2025/12/23/l...

Remember, Beckett is for life, not just for Christmas

From "Shtetl, My Destroyed Home: A Remembrance" (1922), a set of 30 lithographs by Jewish artist Issachar Ber Ryback, who died #onthisday in 1935. The series pictures Ryback's village in Ukraine before it was destroyed in the pogroms following WW1: publicdomainreview.org/collection/s...

I just finished the second of these & if you have any trace of theater kid in you, or you’re curious about the origins of Busby Berkeley films (& possibly Gypsy, which allegedly lifted freely from Stage Mother), or you just like a little fun just-trashy-enough vintage fiction, strongly recommended.

One of the problems facing producers who want to do musicals is that if a musical is upbeat it seems square and if it isn't upbeat it seems to violate the musical-comedy form, which derives from the kinesthetic pleasures of song and dance. (1975)

Swedish poster for Dancing Mothers (1926). Poster art by Eric Rohman.

Greta Garbo stunning in a Santa hat

Remembering Edith Piaf on her birthday 🎂 📷 Irving Penn, New York, 1948 "Avert your ears and Piaf’s life was a punk opera decades before the genre exploded." - Jeremy Allen

I’ll share again this great discount on my book, but only to remind folks that any novel in the Ropes backstage trilogy makes a wonderful gift for appreciators of theatre history and lore; the Jazz Age and Prohibition eras; and sparkling shady wit. www.amazon.com/dp/B0CXTYLVH3

Dec. 18, 1925: A dancer in the Marx Brothers’ new Broadway show “The Cocoanuts” keeps herself in shape with a makeshift exercise setup backstage.

#RIP Rosa von Praunheim www.theguardian.com/film/2025/de...

Williams/O’Neill.

HBD the great Bergman muse & director Liv Ullmann, BOTD in 1938, turning 87 today. Both were married when they met on the set of "Persona" in 1965 & became involved. It's her most indelible performance, even though the only word her character says in the whole movie is "Nothing"

Remembering Noël Coward on his birthday 🎂 📷 Horst Tappe, 1963 Charles: Anything interesting in The Times? Ruth: Don't be silly, Charles. - Blithe Spirit, 1941

Italian poster for BLITHE SPIRIT (1945) Directed and co-written by David Lean Based on the 1941 play of the same name by Noel Coward - BOTD in 1899

Brilliant piece by Andrew Pulver on the late Rob Reiner www.theguardian.com/film/2025/de...

With their new show Happiness, Kip Chapman and Luke Di Somma have created a welcome New Zealand answer to the backstage musical TV show.

Elves on a shelf

Patty Duke in a publicity still for VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (1967) Duke was BOTD in 1946

A few months ago I did finally succumb to temptation and acquire this paperback copy of The Lottery, with cover art by Herman Bischoff. The "wickedly delicious" quote, by the bye, comes from Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, author of The Yearling.

Dick Van Dyke is 100 today. Hooray! The most extraordinary thing about his life is that in 2010 he fell asleep at sea on his surfboard, nearly drowned, but was rescued by porpoises (it’s true, Google it) and it seems no-one wrote the headline: HE WAS RESCUED ON PORPOISE. youtu.be/I_CE7GqqrvY?...

Japanese poster for THE LADY AND THE BEARD (1931) Directed by Yasujiro Ozu - BOTD in 1903 Poster designed by Takashi Kono

New unpublished film shows a happy and smiling Federico García Lorca performing with his theatrical company ‘La Barraca’ in 1932. There's a video at the link below! #Lorca

How did anyone concentrate in the early 1930s when they knew that at almost any given moment they could go to their local movie palace and watch Joan Blondell play a nurse?

Thornton Wilder, THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH (1942), Act 1

Entering the US public domain in 2026: Evelyn Waugh's Vile Bodies. More info behind window 10 of our advent-style countdown calendar for works entering the #publicdomain on Jan 1st: https://publicdomainreview.org/features/entering-the-public-domain/2026/ #PDin2026

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1946) The transformation of the Beast into Prince Charming is ambiguous—what we have gained cannot take the place of what we have lost. (When shown the film, Greta Garbo is reported to have said at the end, "Give me back my beast.")

‘Not minor to me’ is my personal call to archival research and scholarship. I am loving Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s newest novel, ‘The Bewitching.’

Currently reading:

John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands Cassavetes was BOTD in 1929

More good news on the critical front: The New Yorker’s new theater critic will be the wonderful @emilynussbaum.bsky.social, who distinguished herself mightily as its TV critic for years and will surely do so again in this new post

[RISKY BUSINESS] There's a stale cuteness in the idea; it's like a George Bernard Shaw play rewritten for a cast of ducks and geese. (1983)

Dec. 8, 1925: "The Cocoanuts," a Broadway musical starring the Marx Brothers, premieres at New York's Lyric Theatre. The madcap comedy set against the backdrop of Florida's real estate boom adds the talents of Irving Berlin (music and lyrics) and George S. Kaufman (book). 1/4

Two thought-provoking off-Broadway plays today and a banquet of great acting. Never mind her age—June Squibb’s funny, rueful, exquisite performance in ‘Marjorie Prime’ encapsulates the humanity of Jordan Harrison’s play and the inimitable essence of live theater.

What a story by @tomandlorenzo.bsky.social about Rachel Harlow Billebault, the trans nightclub queen of Philly who after decades out of the spotlight, is again ready for her close-up.