Monday, August 25, 2025
Those who saw the 2015 HBO bio-pic Bessie, may recall the scene where Queen Latifah as Bessie Smith confronts her husband and manager Jack Gee (Michael K. Williams) about the attention he is…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:48AMSunday, August 24, 2025
Today’s new Travalanche posts for August 24, 2025 are about early game show pioneer Dennis James, actor Steve Guttenberg, and the recently departed Jerry Adler. Previous August 24 posts in…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:12PMThanks, Eve Golden, for the sad intel that Jerry Adler (1929-2025) breathes no more. 96 years old! He must have had the same doctor as Fyvush Finkel! Strange…I had cause to mention him her…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:03PMAll things remaining the same, it might have been quite some time (if ever) that I would have devoted a post here to actor Steve Guttenberg (b. 1958). But a couple of recent developments hav…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:02AMOver 9,000 posts on Travalanche and I have not yet had any occasion to mention broadcasting announcer, emcee, commercial pitch man, and game show host Dennis James (Demetrio “Demie” Spos…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:48AMSaturday, August 23, 2025
I only just got the memo (via Dan Christopher’s TikTok) that magician and ventriloquist Tom Ladshaw passed away suddenly back on August 7. A sure sign the social media isn’t working for …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:32PMToday would have been the 62nd birthday of Little Person actor Ed Gale (1963-2025), if he hadn’t passed away back in May. The Michigan native was 23 years old when cast as the body of the …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:12PMToday’s new Travalanche post for August 23, 2025 are about Warhol Superstar Viva, and the late Little Person actor Ed Gale. Previous August 23 posts include ones on: Gene Kelly (and his fa…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:12PMAugust 23 is the birthday of Viva (Janet Susan Mary Hoffman, 1938). Viva was one of the few Warhol Superstars to have a modicum of a screen career after departing the Factory. The daughter o…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:02AMFriday, August 22, 2025
Today’s new Travalanche post for August 22, 2025 is about David Chase and The Sopranos. Previous August 22 posts include ones on: Dorothy Parker Valerie Harper and Rhoda George Herriman an…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:12PMDavid Chase (b. 1945) turns 80 today. Which sounds young, if anything; the guy has been working in television for over 50 years. My apologies in advance for the sheer conventionality of this…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:06AMThursday, August 21, 2025
Today’s new Travalanche posts for August 21, 2025 include ones on film and television creator Hugh Wilson (WKRP), Dreamlander David Lochary, and the recently passed Michael Antunes, saxoph…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:32PMI experienced a strange collision of worlds yesterday when I opened one of Eve Golden’s show biz obits (she turns out several daily) and recognized the name of a guy who used to play in ba…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:18PMFew people have created so many well-known and well-loved projects and yet remained so anonymous as writer/ director/ producer Hugh Wilson (1943-2018). Wilson started out as an ad-man; by 19…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:18PMThe name David Lochary (1944-1977) will surely never be better known, and it’s scarcely known now, but few who have appeared in films have given me more pleasure. Lochary is best known as …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:12AMWednesday, August 20, 2025
Today’s new Travalanche post for August 20, 2025, concerns boxing promoter and public character Don King. Previous August 20 posts include ones on: Alan Reed (Fred Flintstone) Jacqueline S…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:36PMApologies for the pointy-headed title of this post. It came as the result of a little dance I did. Upon learning that Don King (b. 1931) was still alive I considered something purely celebra…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:32PMTuesday, August 19, 2025
How do, strangers! Here’s our wrap-up of new Travalanche posts for August 19, 2025, in recommended order of reading, ranked on the basis of excellence: On the history of the back-to-nature…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:54PMThat’s a trick question, readers. The worst Bill Clinton is of course…Bill Clinton. I got no use for that dude, never did. If he’s the best this country could do for a liberal Presiden…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:48PMAugust 19th was the birthday of Robert Bootzin, a.k.a. Boots Bootzin, a.k.a. Gypsy Boots, a.k.a. Nature Boy (1915-2004) (Some sources give 2014, but the birth certificate says 2015). Boots w…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:42PMThe title of the present post is because my previous one on Ogden Nash (1902-1971) focused on but a single poem. Was Ogden Nash the greatest writer of light verse who ever lived? That’s a …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:24PMAmerica lost the great American realist painter George Bellows (1882-1925) a century ago, and today (August 19) is one of two possible birthdays for him (August 12 is sometimes also given). …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:12AMHappy World Photography Day! This is not a photography blog by any means, but there have been a few occasions when our worlds have collided, so we link you to some notable photographers we h…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:12AMMonday, August 18, 2025
This one is just for New Yorkers and Long Islanders. Tomorrow (August 19, 2025) the Cinema Arts Center in Huntington, L.I. will be showing the first feature film directed by Frank Capra, sta…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:48PMToday’s new Travalanche post for August 18, 2025 is on The Great Waldo Pepper. Previous August 18 posts have included ones on: Criswell Shelley Winters Jack Pickford Alan Mowbray Walter O�…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:12AMAugust 18 is Robert Redford’s birthday; August 19 is National Aviation Day; and it just so happens that this year marks the 50th anniversary of a motion picture that combines those two ele…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:03AMSunday, August 17, 2025
Today we inaugurate a new pocket of Travalanche dedicated to U.S. States. When I began the series I doubted I would do one on every State in the Union. Now that I have done nearly 20% of the…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:06PMToday’s new Travalanche posts for August 17, 2025 are on: National Massachusetts Day National Black Cat Day The Writing of Julian Fellowes Barbara Stanwyck’s Uncle Buck Previous August 1…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:06PMAugust 17 is the birthday of Julian Alexander Kitchener-Fellowes, Baron Fellowes of West Stafford DL (b. 1949), commonly known as Julian Fellowes by people who don’t have time to say all …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:03PMWe’re getting very niche these days! One would think that there was celebration enough of black cats on Halloween, or on National Cat Day (October 29) or International Cat Day (August 8). …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:42PMAugust 17 was the birthday of Buck Mack (1888-1959), best known to vintage film fans as “Uncle Buck”, the somewhat shadowy friend, fixer, butler, bodyguard, and all around caretaker for …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:24AM 
