Friday, May 23, 2025
1985 was the year Marine Corps vet Drew Carey (b. 1958) started writing jokes for a local Cleveland radio station. His stand-up grew out of that. By 1988 he had made it onto Star Search, and…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:18PM[SHARE]Imagine if you can (I have a hard time doing so) a world in which an introverted nerd can bag eight wives, including Lana Turner, Ava Gardner, and Evelyn Keyes, and date the likes of Betty G…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:06AM[SHARE]Tribute today to actor John Payne (John Howard Payne, 1912-1989). While he has around 100 screen credits, Payne will probably always be best remembered for his role as the anti-feminist nood…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:42AM[SHARE]May 23 was the birthday of Harlem singer, dancer and showgirl Isabel Washington (1908-2007). The younger sister of Fredi Washington, Isabel followed her sister from Georgia up to Harlem to j…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:42AM[SHARE]Thursday, May 22, 2025
Those of us of a certain age remember Johnny Olson (1910-85) from his last gig as the announcer on The Price is Right, from 1972 until his passing. Come to think of it, I remember his voice …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:24PM[SHARE]Our recent viewing of Lucy Worsley's latest BBC doc Holmes vs. Doyle (2023) awakened my longstanding desire to add a post here on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) that went beyond Sherlock…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:12AM[SHARE]Wednesday, May 21, 2025
If there were a dating app to match theatre-goers with shows, any successful software would have paired me up with The End of All Flesh, the new bluegrass musical by Greg Kotis, Tony-winning…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:36PM[SHARE]Tuesday, May 20, 2025
I've done a couple of posts to date on Hollywood star James Stewart (1908-1997) and several others that mention him, but none that encompass his whole story, so I thought I'd tackle that tod…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:42PM[SHARE]Monday, May 19, 2025
This year National Unicycle Day falls on May 18, and we want to use the opportunity to plug the King Charles Troupe! The unique Bronx based troupe can trace its origins to 1918 when Jerry Ki…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:54PM[SHARE]This may seem an odd thing for an online blogger to say, but at this moment in history the most constructive acts of affirmative dissent against encroaching techno-autocracy will take place …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:54PM[SHARE]Somewhat late in the game for us to shine a light on a silent comedy figure as significant as Natalie Kingston (Natalia Ringstrom, 1905-1991), but these things happen. Though her father's su…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:36AM[SHARE]Sunday, May 18, 2025
As a kind of private joke, whenever I listen to the old Searchers' tune "Needles and Pins", I likes to change the titular refrain "Needles and Pins-uh" into "Ezio Pinz-a". To those young 'un…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:42AM[SHARE]Saturday, May 17, 2025
How sweet it is that International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOBIT) falls on the birthday of playwright Ronald Tavel (1936-2009). Tavel is an important figure in 2…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 04:12PM[SHARE]As promised in yesterday's post on Margaret Sullavan, today a look at her posthumous son-in-law Dennis Hopper (1936-2010). Only time and distance have allowed us to see Hopper for the great …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:24PM[SHARE]Friday, May 16, 2025
May 16 was the birthday of Margaret Sullavan (1909-1960), an actress of great significance, remembered today only by classic movie buffs, and only a fraction of those, for her films are few …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:54AM[SHARE]Thursday, May 15, 2025
May 15 being the birthday of author L. Frank Baum, we thought today would be an appropriate time to create a finding aid for our dozens of posts related to my favorite childhood author and t…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:02PM[SHARE]Wednesday, May 14, 2025
May 14 is the baptismal day of the painter Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788), best known as the creator of The Blue Boy (1770), which ranks with the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, The Creation of…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:12PM[SHARE]Thanks to Sapphira for reminding me that May 14 was the birthday of the great Scottish music hall star Arthur Lloyd (1839-1904). While apparently unrelated to Marie Lloyd, Alice Lloyd, Daisy…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 01:06PM[SHARE]May 14 was the birthday of the great comedy foil Del Moore (Marion Delbridge Moore, 1916-1970). Moore completes a triad of comedy Dels that also includes Del Lord, who directed the Three Sto…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:02AM[SHARE]Born 100 years ago today, Oona O'Neill, Lady Chaplin (1925-1991). Those well-versed in Chaplinia will note the starting fact that this timeline means that Oona was still an infant on swaddli…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 10:02AM[SHARE]Tuesday, May 13, 2025
We are much too tardy in including so important a figure as J. Searle Dawley (1877-1949) into our annals. While perhaps not really the "First Motion Picture Director", as he liked to style h…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:24PM[SHARE]Monday, May 12, 2025
May 12 was the birthday of such diverse personages as Katharine Hepburn; Al Shean of Gallagher and Shean; Baby Leroy; Edward Lear; George Carlin; Burt Bacharach; Tom Snyder; Millie Perkins; …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 09:54AM[SHARE]Sunday, May 11, 2025
We're now less than two weeks out from our 2025 Marx Brothers Weekend, which will take place at Coney Island USA. By "our" I refer to members of the indomitable Marxfest Committee. For those…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 08:48AM[SHARE]Saturday, May 10, 2025
Larry Williams (1935-1980) would have been 90 years old today if things had played out differently. A cousin and former employee of Lloyd Price, Williams is best remembered as both a rival a…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 07:42AM[SHARE]250 years ago today there occurred another in a series of miracles that led to America's independence from Great Britain. In one of the first offensive actions of the war, jointly led by loc…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 05:32AM[SHARE]We have been exploring puppetry lately (as a researcher, not as a performer) and there are certainly worse things! As it happens May 10 was the birthday of influential marionette impresario …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 03:12AM[SHARE]Friday, May 9, 2025
James L. Brooks was born on May 9, 1940. Brooks' career in comedy entertainment was born around the same time I was, thus I most certainly grew up watching his television shows and movies. B…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 02:06PM[SHARE]Thursday, May 8, 2025
A new edition to the Travalanche Hall of Presidents " today we tip our hat to Harry S. Truman (1884-1972). Controversial in his own time, Truman has ranked high among both the public and Pre…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:02AM[SHARE]In my book Chain of Fools, I wrote about how animated cartoon shorts took over where live action silent comedy films left off " they were the natural successor, in a way. I left it as vague …
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:02AM[SHARE]80 years ago today: VE Day. Victory in Europe: what a great birthday present for Harry Truman! It seems like it was only a week ago when we observed that it was the 80th anniversary of Adolp…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 11:02AM[SHARE]Wednesday, May 7, 2025
Note to new readers: I have been producing this blog for over 17 years and only noticed yesterday that I could import my whole contact list into the subscriber base. As I used to blast out a…
SOURCE: Trav S.D. at 12:02PM[SHARE] 
