Monday, June 9, 2025
Cole Porter, Jackie Mason, S.N. Behrman, Bob Cummings, Michael J. Fox, Fred Waring, Skip James, Harry Gribbon, George Axelrod, John Howard Payne, and Leslie Banks were all born on June 9; so…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:18AMSunday, June 8, 2025
The title of this piece in not to imply that my previous post on Joan Rivers (Joan Molinsky, 1933-2014) was in any way improper. It was however, incomplete. I wrote it in 2013, when she was …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:54PMVaudeville lovers owe much to the enterprise of Hans August (H.A.) Spanuth (1884-1976). Spanuth was a second generation cultural figure. His father, August Spanuth (1857-1920) was a German p…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:32AMTribute today to burlesque legend Kitty West (Abbie Jewel Slawson, 1930-2019), whose ingenious stage name plants the idea in your head that you’ve heard of her before, no doubt because it …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:24AMSaturday, June 7, 2025
Broadway composer Charles Strouse (1928-2025) would have been 97 years old today; we lost him three weeks ago. Strouse left behind a staggering body of accomplishment at the time of his pass…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:02AMFriday, June 6, 2025
Having had temperatures in the high 80s in New York the past couple of days put me in an odd frame of mind to contemplate the life (and death) of British polar explorer Robert Falcon Scott (…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:54PMThis may shock you, maybe it won’t, most likely you won’t care, but I was a huge fan of Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn (2002-2004) back in the day, and I’m still a fan of Quinn’s. If y…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:32PMBefore Mitzi Green and Mitzi Gaynor, show biz had Mitzi Mayfair (Juanita Emylyn Pique, 1914-1976). This Mitzi started out as a kid act in vaudeville at age 11 in her hometown of St. Louis, e…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:18AMTribute now to stage and screen actor Tyler Brooke (Victor Hugo de Bierre, 1886-1943), known especially for his association with classic comedy. Brooke had been a bank clerk and a lawyer pri…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:06AMOkay, no one remembers Peter Donald (1918-1979) but the handful who do know him as the Irishman Ajax Cassidy from Allen’s Alley on The Fred Allen Show. In that and such-like capacities he …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:06AMThursday, June 5, 2025
June 5 is National Hot Air Balloon Day, so we thought we would expend a little hot air celebrating their history and presence in pop culture, as we have done previously with blimps and Zeppe…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:24AMWednesday, June 4, 2025
Of all the major comic strips of the early 20th century, it seems to me none have been quite as forgotten as Toonerville Folks. I’m trying to think why. In its own time (1908-1955) there w…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:12AMTuesday, June 3, 2025
I’ve only caught the first episode of The Mortician, HBO’s three-part documentary series, airing over three consecutive Mondays through June 15, but I hasten to recommend it for a couple…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:36AMJune 3, 2025 marks the centennial anniversary of the maiden voyage of the Goodyear Type AD airship Pilgrim, the first commercial non-rigid airship to use helium. Though the company had been…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:54AMMonday, June 2, 2025
June 2 is the birthday of Charlie Watts, Johnny Weissmuller, Jerry Mathers, Marvin Hamlisch, Max Showalter, Kevin Brownlow, Cagliostro, June MacCloy, Leopoldo Fregoli, and Valaida Snow, et a…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:48PMI’ve come across the occasional mention of this chap, who appears to have been well-regarded by contemporaries, so we include him now in our annals. Jack Goode a.k.a. Jack Good (Irwin Thom…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:24AMSunday, June 1, 2025
I was so bummed to miss the premiere and launch party for The Big Johnson, Lola Rocknrolla’s documentary on the life of queer icon Dean Johnson (1961-2007) a couple of weeks ago, but fortu…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:24AMSaturday, May 31, 2025
Tomorrow is the release date of Aaron Smith’s new book Natural Born: Circus, Sideshow, and The Art of Being Human (Outside Talker Press). But before I sing its praises, I only just realize…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:42AMFriday, May 30, 2025
Today, a show biz father and son, each legendary in completely different spheres. The father was character actor Douglas Fowley (Daniel Fowley, 1911-1998). Fowley amassed over 300 credits in…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:31AMThursday, May 29, 2025
Well, I couldn’t let National Alligator Day pass without adding pop culture representations of this ancient reptile to our store of animal posts. Just click on links below to learn more ab…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:36PMWe seem to to be all about the headlines today, although I think you’ll agree we are keeping it on mission. Dramatic events concerning the Texas Renaissance Festival, generally touted as t…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:54PMA few items of timely clown and silent comedy news have accrued, so I’ve bundled them into this handy bulletin: It’s that time again! Since last year’s was such a resounding success, a…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:24AMWednesday, May 28, 2025
May 28 was the birthday of Edith Massey (1918-1984) the dentally challenged oddball at the heart of most of John Waters’ early movies, best known for her egg-sucking scene in Pink Flamingo…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:48AMTuesday, May 27, 2025
This will be my third substantial post on the late Paul Reubens a.k.a. Pee-Wee Herman (1952-2023). I was among the many for whom Reubens was a professional hero. That guy had a LOT of vaudev…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:12PMMonday, May 26, 2025
Well whattaya know? This is the second Memorial Day in a row that I found myself sharing memories of Marx Brothers events that took place the weekend before, over and above such other stuff …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:24PMKnowest thou of the Moondog (Louis Hardin, 1916-1999)? Moondog is notable for multiple reasons: he was a highly influential composer, musician and recording artist; a pioneering figure of th…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:06PMMay 26, 1882 was the birthday of the Maurice Dubinsky (1882-1929), oldest of the three Dubinsky Brothers, followed by Edward (1885-1860), and Barney (1895-1949). These guys went from travell…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:42AMThis is a footnotey sort of story but its subject is not without significance. The stage and screen career of May Collins (1903-55) was major for about a decade (1920-30) and was followed by…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:42AMSunday, May 25, 2025
May 25 is National Wine Day. Here on Travalanche we have something of an Americana fixation, and that would appear to rule out wine, at first blush (see what I did there?). In the realm of i…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:02PMToday we celebrate a comedian so great that he has transcended having the same name as the psycho killer from Halloween. To date, there have been well over 150 regular cast members on Saturd…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:06PMSo many of the classic comedy directors are fairly anonymous as compared with the comedians they helped make look good. I checked myself from using the word “great” with reference to Cha…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:42AM 
