All stories by Trav S.D. on BroadwayStars

Thursday, June 6, 2024

Few Went as Low…as Skip E. Lowe by Trav S.D.

Someone who watches vintage celebrity interviews as often as I do was bound to discover Skip E. Lowe (Sammy Labella, 1929-2014) sooner or later. I’d heard of him long before I ever saw him…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:06AM
Wednesday, June 5, 2024

This Friday! Catch “The Spy Who Went Into Rehab” by Trav S.D.

Today we venture outside our wheelhouse a smidge, but not TOO far, for the post concerns the coming together of two previous subjects: Cyndy Fujikawa, who wrote this wonderful six part serie…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:42AM
Tuesday, June 4, 2024

Breaking Down Bruce Dern by Trav S.D.

Have no fear, I have no attention of taking down or running down the idiosyncratic genius of Bruce MacLeish Dern (b. 1936). The title refers to the fact that this post will divide aspects of…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:54AM
Monday, June 3, 2024

Ten Questions Answered for the Marx Brothers Newbie by Trav S.D.

I am in the midst of a very mushy “soft roll-out” of my latest book. The Marx Brothers Miscellany became available to purchase about six weeks ago, and I certainly hawked it at the just-…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:32PM
Sunday, June 2, 2024

Two Troupers Born 150 Years Ago Today: Lulu Glaser and E. Alyn Warren by Trav S.D.

Two old time actors of note were born on June 2, 1874. Lulu Glaser came from Pennsylvania Dutch stock. She was only 17 when she began to show up in New York stage productions, initially unde…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:24AM

Hat’s Off to Kevin Brownlow by Trav S.D.

Today we salute one of the key figures in the silent movie Renaissance of the last several decades: author, collector, preservationist, director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, and…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:12AM
Saturday, June 1, 2024

The Travalanche Guide to Game Shows by Trav S.D.

June 1 is National Game Show Day apparently, a holiday one mightn’t have thought society required (“Those poor neglected game shows! Let us…let us take a day to memorialize them!”) B…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:36AM
Friday, May 31, 2024

150 Years of Madison Square Garden by Trav S.D.

It’s quite true! And (a fact that should be much more widely known) it was started by none other than P.T. Barnum! The final iteration of Barnum’s American Museum burned down in 1868, bu…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:42AM

For National Smile Day: On the Coney Island Funny Face by Trav S.D.

Happy National Smile Day! With several Coney Island events fresh in our rear view mirror, and the Mermaid Parade just three weeks away, the natural topic of exploration today would appear to…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:24AM
Thursday, May 30, 2024

Circus Amok Returns! by Trav S.D.

Here’s news so good I had to share it in my Marxfest talk at Coney Island USA last Sunday…and that is Woman with a Beard Jennifer Miller and Circus Amok, her ground-breaking Brechtian st…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:54AM
Wednesday, May 29, 2024

A Bob Hope Finding Aid by Trav S.D.

We’ve only got about 20 posts in the Bob Hope (1903-2003) section of Travalanche, but still it seemed useful to create a post which laid them out in a sensible order for ease of perusal. A…

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

Bob Hope in TV Variety by Trav S.D.

Who was television variety’s biggest comedy giant? My answer may throw you for a loop, but I have a sound rationale. Other names may spring automatically to mind through force of habit, an…

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

Two Pieces of Local Theatre Preservation News by Trav S.D.

Item One: Coney Island. A couple of weeks ago the Daily News announced a plan by Thor Equities to build a casino and other commercial retail in Coney Island. Though Thor has behaved rapaciou…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:54AM
Monday, May 27, 2024

Memorializing Marxfest by Trav S.D.

Well it’s Memorial Day, and this year we unavoidably think of those fallen in the battle between Freedonia and Sylvania in Duck Soup…as well as the many Marxfest events of the past 10 da…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:32PM
Sunday, May 26, 2024

Pam Grier Turns 75 by Trav S.D.

A celebration today of actress Pam Grier (b. 1949). Grier was working as a receptionist at American International Pictures when the producers wisely judged that her talents were being wasted…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:06AM
Saturday, May 25, 2024

Booking Bennett Cerf by Trav S.D.

Among show biz buffs, Bennett Cerf (1898-1971) has become the poster child for How American Pop Culture Has Changed And Not for the Better. Cerf was the co-founder of the Random House publis…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:12AM
Friday, May 24, 2024

The Joan Barry Story by Trav S.D.

Most of us think of Charlie Chaplin’s Waterloo as arriving with the release of Monsieur Verdoux in 1947, or his exile from the U.S. in 1952. But his alienation from the public had commence…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:18AM
Thursday, May 23, 2024

For National Taffy Day: The Magic Clown by Trav S.D.

May 23 is National Taffy Day. The word taffy is a variant on the English word toffee, and though today we think of them as quite different candies, both words have always been used with a ce…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:12AM
Wednesday, May 22, 2024

The Tragedy of Harvey Milk by Trav S.D.

It’s more than likely that I would have done a post on Harvey Milk (1930-1978) eventually anyway, but a few weeks ago I was reminded of something that pushed it to the top of the agenda: h…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:32AM
Tuesday, May 21, 2024

A Century of Leopold and Loeb by Trav S.D.

A century ago today, a couple of rich numbskulls with the erroneous idea that they were somehow superior to the other members of the human race brutally killed a 14 year old boy just to prov…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:18AM

The Peggy Cass Centennial by Trav S.D.

Peggy Cass (Mary Margaret Cass, 1924-1999) would be 100 years old today. Cass was one of the thousand or so older celebrities you’d see on game shows and talk shows as a kid in the ’70s …

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:12AM
Monday, May 20, 2024

Estelle Taylor: The Delaware Delilah by Trav S.D.

May 20 was the birthday of of silent and pre-code screen star Estelle Taylor (1894-1958). Taylor was a Wilmington native, raised by grandparents who owned a piano store. She was briefly marr…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:18AM
Sunday, May 19, 2024

Of The Elusive Victoria Chaplin and “The Freak” by Trav S.D.

I don’t know if I’ll get around to writing about ALL of Charlie Chaplin’s numerous progeny here but several have interested me, and so we have done posts on Charlie Jr, Sydney the Youn…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:42AM
Saturday, May 18, 2024

Tribute to Candice “Candy” Azzara by Trav S.D.

You would have particular cause to know the screen work of Candice “Candy” Azzara (b. 1945) if you were around during the 1970s. That Brooklyn-accented voice, slightly daffy demeanor and…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:24AM
Friday, May 17, 2024

On the Arresting Horace McMahon by Trav S.D.

May 17, was the day character Horace McMahon (1906-1971) came into the world. Not to be confused with Horace Mann, where you’ll get an entirely different sort of schooling! The tough looki…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:24AM
Thursday, May 16, 2024

A Plug for Music Hall and Variety Day (and the Herring Barrel Revue) by Trav S.D.

We’ve marked Music Hall and Variety Day here in the past because we think it is a marvelous idea. Today, I hope you will forgive me if I hijack the occasion for my own nefarious variety pu…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:32AM
Wednesday, May 15, 2024

Canned Laughter: Campbell’s Soup On the Air by Trav S.D.

May 15 was the birthday of Joseph A. Campbell (1817-1900), founder of the Campbell Soup Company (est. 1869). We take the product for granted now, especially since it has been overtaken by be…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:32AM
Tuesday, May 14, 2024

Don’t Miss “Cracking Up” (1994) by Trav S.D.

New Yorkers! Tomorrow night, Alamo Drafthouse in Brooklyn is rolling out a rare treat: a 30th anniversary screening of the downtown indie cult film Cracking Up (1994). This is quite a differ…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:54AM
Monday, May 13, 2024

Clown Hall of Fame Opens Today by Trav S.D.

Today (May 13) is opening day of the 2024 summer season at The International Clown Hall of Fame and Research Center in Baraboo, Wisconsin. The current season of Top Chef is in Wisconsin this…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 06:36AM
Saturday, May 11, 2024

Bernard Fox: Beyond Bombay by Trav S.D.

Wales has produced some of the world’s finest actors, Richard Burton, Anthony Hopkins, a long list, but surely none more beloved than Bernard Fox (Bernard Lawson, 1927-2016). You can’t i…

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:18AM
Friday, May 10, 2024

Blansky’s Beauties by Trav S.D.

Well, I’m in a super Las Vegas kinda place at the moment, and I know why. The third season of Hacks is out, and I just posted on Pete Barbutti, who still performs regular shows there, and …

SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:32AM