All stories by Trav S.D. on BroadwayStars

Saturday, September 27, 2025

Your Travalanche Daily Digest for September 27, 2025 by Trav S.D.

Today’s new Travalanche posts for September 27, 2025 include ones on three pretty obscure guys: 19th century writer Epes Sargent, Broadway songwriter Joseph McCarthy (right?), and sit…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:02PM

A Sou for Cy Howard by Trav S.D.

September 27 was the birthday of comedy creator Cy Howard (Seymour Horowitz, 1915-1993), apparently no relation to the Howards from the Three Stooges, who were also born Horowitz. This Howar…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:12PM

The Other Joseph McCarthy by Trav S.D.

Have no fear! The title of this post doesn’t refer to some imagined “good side” of the Red-Baiting Senator from Wisconsin. That man was all bad. But as it happens there wa…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:54AM
Friday, September 26, 2025

Your Travalanche Daily Digest for September 26, 2025 by Trav S.D.

Today’s new Travalanche posts for September 26, 2025 include ones on The Rocky Horror Picture Show, fitness guru Jack LaLanne, and artists Thomas Nast and Charles Bird King. In no par…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:36PM

The Jack LaLanne Show by Trav S.D.

September 26 was the birthday of fitness pioneer and health guru Jack LaLanne (1914-2011). LaLanne’s significance lies at the very pivot point between old school physical culture of t…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:24PM

Thomas Nast: Father of the American Cartoon by Trav S.D.

Okay, the title of this post is hyperbole. Whenever you think you’ve I.D.’d the first anything, you’re sure to be foiled. And of course everyone CLAIMS primacy. That�

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:24PM

The Rocky Horror Picture Show Turns 50 by Trav S.D.

September 26, 1975 was the date of the American release of that singular cinematic specimen, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Is Rocky Horror the hub of the universe? For a theatre-maker of my…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:12PM

Portrait of Charles Bird King by Trav S.D.

Just a few words of acknowledgment about 19th century painter Charles Bird King (1785-1862). I first became aware of the artist through repeated visits to the Redwood Library and Athenaeum i…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:48AM
Thursday, September 25, 2025

Your Travalanche Daily Digest for September 25, 2025 by Trav S.D.

Today’s new Travalanche posts for September 25, 2025 include ones on Mercy Otis Warren, and the Beatles animated cartoon show. In no particular order, other Travalanche posts for Sept…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:06PM

60 Years Ago: The Beatles Cartoon by Trav S.D.

60 years ago today, September 25, 1965 saw the television premiere of the animated children’s television show The Beatles. The show aired 39 new episodes over the following two years,…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:02AM

Mercy Otis Warren: Poet, Patriot, Pamphleteer, Propagandist, and Playwright by Trav S.D.

September 25 was the birthday of pioneering American literary figure Mercy Otis Warren (1728-1814). Daughter of Massachusetts lawyer James Otis, Mercy received the benefit of the same educat…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:48AM
Wednesday, September 24, 2025

Your Travalanche Daily Digest for September 24, 2025 by Trav S.D.

Today’s new Travalanche posts for September 24, 2025 includes ones on Jim Henson, silent movie director Barry O’Neill, and movie actress Julia Faye. In no particular order, oth…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:18PM

Julia Faye: The Legs of the Lasky Lot by Trav S.D.

September 24 was the birthday of actress Julia Faye (Julia Faye Maloney, 1892-1966). Faye was a faye-vorite of Cecil B. DeMille, in more ways than one, and had over 100 screen credits to her…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:18PM

Your Jim Henson and the Muppets Finding Aid by Trav S.D.

It’s Jim Henson’s birthday again! Having already posted a good deal about him and his Muppet creations, I thought this year I would observe the occasion by adding this little f…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:02PM

A Bio of Barry O’Neil by Trav S.D.

September 24 was the birthday of pioneering silent film director Barry O’Neil (Thomas J. McCarthy, 1865-1918). O’Neil was the son of Irish immigrants residing in New York City.…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:48AM
Tuesday, September 23, 2025

Your Travalanche Daily Digest for September 23, 2025 by Trav S.D.

Today’s new Travalanche posts for September 23, 2025 includes ones on Ken Burns’ The Civil War, and Seinfeld‘s Jason Alexander. In no particular order, other Travalanche …

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:18PM

Of Jason Alexander vs. George by Trav S.D.

The order in which I have posted about the primary cast members and creators of Seinfeld speaks volumes: Jerry Seinfeld (2020), Larry David (2021), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (2024), Heidi Swedberg…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:18PM

The Civil War by Trav S.D.

Today marks 35 years since the opening shot of Ken Burns’ The Civil War (1990) went hurtling toward Fort Sumter. Arriving at the height of the Culture Wars, this nine part, ten hour d…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:12PM
Monday, September 22, 2025

Your Travalanche Daily Digest for September 22, 2025 by Trav S.D.

Today’s new Travalanche posts for September 22, 2025 includes ones on Narragansett Indian track champion Tarzan Brown, and a thing on rhinoceros movies. In no particular order, other …

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:18PM

Three Movies for World Rhinoceros Day by Trav S.D.

September 22 is Elephant Appreciation Day, but I have already done numerous elephant themed posts. Fortunately, it’s also World Rhinoceros Day so I thought I would do a small post on …

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:18PM

On Tarzan Brown and the People He Ran With by Trav S.D.

Born of a September 22, track star Ellison “Tarzan” Brown (1913-1975). My recent trip back to the city of birth, Westerly, Rhode Island, reconnected me with memories of Brown, a …

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:12PM
Sunday, September 21, 2025

Your Travalanche Daily Digest for September 21, 2025 by Trav S.D.

Today’s new Travalanche post for September 21, 2025 is about actress/author/entertainer Fannie Flagg. In no particular order, other Travalanche posts for September 21 include ones on:…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:24PM

A Salute to Fannie Flagg by Trav S.D.

I was working at a bookstore when the 1992 screen version of Fried Green Tomatoes was released. Naturally at the time there was a reissue of the novel, which had been written in 1987 by Fann…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:24PM
Saturday, September 20, 2025

Your Travalanche Daily Digest for September 20, 2025 by Trav S.D.

Today’s new Travalanche posts for September 20, 2025 are about Batman (for Batman Day), tempestuous actress Rachel Roberts, and Nelson Sardelli, secret father of Mariska Hargitay. In …

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:42PM

For Batman Day: A Travalanche Guide to Posts on the Caped Crusader by Trav S.D.

The third Saturday in September is celebrated as Batman Day by nerds throughout the globe, and why should I be any different? In observation of the day I have pulled together my many posts r…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:36PM

Rachel Roberts: Ruff, Ruff, Ruff by Trav S.D.

There used to be more than one definition of the word sexy. It’s come to mean sexually attractive, or attractive full-stop. Long ago, maybe a century ago or thereabouts, it was someti…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:32PM

The Secret Nelson Sardelli by Trav S.D.

Nearly every online photo of Las Vegas lounge singer Nelson Sardelli (b. 1934) shows him either with Jayne Mansfield, his romantic partner for a few months in 1963 and 1964, or with Mariska …

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:12AM
Friday, September 19, 2025

Your Travalanche Daily Digest for September 19, 2025 by Trav S.D.

Today’s new Travalanche post for September 18, 2025 is about actor William Hickey: In no particular order, other Travalanche posts for September 19 include ones on: (For Talk Like a P…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:12AM

In Which We Raise a Glass to William Hickey by Trav S.D.

September 19 was the birthday of acting legend William Hickey (1927-1997). Coincidentally, Hickey is the name of the character at the heart of Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Comet…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:12AM
Thursday, September 18, 2025

Your Travalanche Daily Digest for September 18, 2025 by Trav S.D.

Today’s new Travalanche posts for September 18, 2025 are about the late country comedian and actor Gailard Sartain and the recent cancellations of Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert: In…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:02PM

Of Kimmel and Colbert and Company by Trav S.D.

I’m fairly certain I have nothing to say about the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel and the cancellation of Stephen Colbert that hasn’t already said by millions, but I do want to get…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:48PM

All that Chat

2025-2026 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 12, 2025: Call Me Izzy - Studio 54
Sep 16, 2025: Art - Music Box Theatre
Oct 08, 2025: Beetlejuice - Palace Theatre
Nov 13, 2025: Oedipus - Studio 54
Nov 16, 2025: Chess - Imperial Theatre
Mar 23, 2026: Giant - Music Box Theatre
Apr 06, 2026: Becky Shaw - Hayes Theater
Apr 16, 2026: Proof - Booth Theatre
Apr 26, 2026: Drama Desk Cut-Off