Thursday, March 12, 2026
I was delighted to bump into my old yet evergreen friend Jonny Porkpie last night at Target Margin’s This is Real — it reminded me that I have yet to plug his excellent Substack Burlesqu…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:24PMToday’s new Travalanche posts for March 12, 2026 are about Liza Minnelli’s new book and recent documentary, as well as Target Margin’s terrific new production This is Real, and Jonny P…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:24PMWe are grateful for a third occasion to post about show biz monster Liza Minnelli, on top of our main biographical post, and the account of the time we met her. Her new autobiography Kids, W…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:12PMThus, in just under a week, Travalanche takes you all the way from Moxie to Doxsee. The Doxsee, that is, Target Margin’s theatrical fortress in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The company moved int…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:06PMWednesday, March 11, 2026
Today’s new Travalanche post for March 11, 2026 is about songwriter and serial rapist Joseph Brooks. Earlier Travalanche posts for March 11 (in no particular order) include ones on: Buster…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:18PMGood Lord, has this one taken me to some unexpected places. Who would have thought that looking into Joseph “Joe” Brooks (Joseph Kaplan, 1938-2011), the ultimate lucky stiff hack songwri…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:18PMTuesday, March 10, 2026
Today’s new Travalanche post for March 10, 2026 is a review of a new movie starring Rosanna Arquette. Earlier Travalanche posts for March 10 (in no particular order) include ones on: Bix B…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:18PMHaving already done a post on Lou Reed upon his passing, I pin today’s post to the birthday of John Cale (b. 1942). And Todd Haynes’ recent Velvet Underground (2021) documentary went a l…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:01AMWe hasten to clarify that this is NOT about Yoko Ono’s Grapefruit, quite a different citrus altogether. I got a press release the other day, informing me that this recent film (privileging…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:42AMMonday, March 9, 2026
Today’s new Travalanche post for March 9, 2026 is about Paul Revere and the Raiders. Also Joe Franklin was born 100 years ago today! My 2015 post on the show business legend is here. Earli…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:48PMWe have been circling AROUND this topic for ages. We have posted about their greatest hit “Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian)”, and about their producer…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:24AMSunday, March 8, 2026
Today’s new Travalanche posts for March 8, 2026 are about my recent appearance on the Flash Back internet radio show (topic: the Marx Brothers), and a couple of new record releases by old …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:42PMGeordie Austen released this new album Moments That Shine with his band The Sad Dogs about a week ago, and I’m just now catching up with it. Geordie was a key member of my vaudeville show …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:36PMLast week, I was delighted to chat for an hour about the Marx Brothers with Dr. Wesley Britton on his internet radio show Flash Back, in connection with my recent book The Marx Brothers Misc…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:12AMSaturday, March 7, 2026
Yes, I know they say it’s 1884 on the signs, but 1876 was the year that year that Civil War hero and homeopath Dr. Augustin Thompson (1835-1903) first concocted his patent medicine and “…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:24PMLainie Miller (Sheila Elaine Halpern, 1941-2025) passed away back in May; today would be her 85th birthday. Miller battled polio as a young kid in Toronto, then took dance lessons for years,…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:24PMToday’s new Travalanche posts for March 7, 2026 are about Moxie, National Cereal Day, Barbara Heller (The Jackie Gleason Show), Virginia Pearson (Larry Semon’s Wizard of Oz), Beatrice Ro…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:24PMBeatrice Roberts (1905-1970) had over 70 screen credits, all between the years 1932 and 1949, and yet her screen career manages not to be the most interesting thing about her somehow; it’s…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:12PMA few fragments on silent screen star Virginia Pearson (1886-1958). Travalanche readers may consider her especially notable for a trio important supporting parts she played in 1925: as the c…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:01PMMarch 7 has been designated by somebody as National Cereal Day — but isn’t EVERY day National Cereal Day for most of us? After all, the King of the Quotidian, Jerry Seinfeld is surely th…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:54AMSinger, impressionist, comedienne, and “pantomimist” Barbara Heller (Barbara Jean Thompson, 1926-1995) Vintage show biz fans may know her as a regular on Jackie Gleason’s variety show …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:42AMFriday, March 6, 2026
Today’s new Travalanche posts for March 6, 2026 are about an important upcoming Marx Brothers event, the recent panel about The Comics vs. The Fascists, the many incarnations of Star Searc…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:31PMSome synchronicity afoot — I’ve posted a half dozen comics related posts over the past week (sometimes weeks pass between posts on that topic); purely by coincidence it is also Will Eisn…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:24PMHere’s a timely bit of info — the Marx Brothers Council Podcast, the show I was on most recently just a week ago, and co-hosted by Noah Diamond of Pintele, has announced their first ever…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:24PMMarch 6 was the birthday of the late great Ed McMahon but we’ve already done a dedicated post on his life and career, so I thought I would do one that focuses on the best known project of …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:12PMHere’s an illustration of how vaudeville entertainment evolved into contemporary show business in some quarters without a break. James Robert “Bob” Wills (1905-1975) is generally conce…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:54AMWe honor Monty O’Grady (1916-2000) here today more for quantity than his quality. Not that he’s bad — it’s just that most of his nearly 500 screen credits were as a crowd extra. O’…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:54AMThursday, March 5, 2026
Today’s new Travalanche post for March 5, 2026 is about Noah Diamond’s Pintele Earlier Travalanche posts for March 5 (in no particular order) include ones on: The Much Mourned Catherine …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:18PMNoah Diamond’s long awaited podcast series Pintele launched three weeks ago. I’ve listened to all four of the projected seven episodes that have been released so far within minutes after…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:06PMWednesday, March 4, 2026
I’ve hated sports all my life, but that’s not true of 95% of the other straight males, so there have been times when I have had to grin and bear it. That was especially true in childhood…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:31PMToday’s new Travalanche posts for March 3, 2026 are about Disney animator Ward Kimball, cartoonist Milt Gross, character actor Wallace Howe; Singing Cowgirl Dorothy Page, stage and screen …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:31PM 
