12,139 stories from Trav S.D.
Today’s new Travalanche post for October 10, 2026 is about the Johnny Green. Earlier Travalanche posts for October 10 (in no particular order) include ones on: Johnny Stompanato W.C. Field…
You’ve got your Johnny Mercer, your Johnny Williams, your Adolph Green and now you’ve got your Johnny Green (1908-1989). Green was a musical Jack of All Trades who left his mark on Broad…
Today’s new Travalanche post for October 9, 2026 is about Ruth Ellis, The Last Woman Executed in the UK. Earlier Travalanche posts for October 9 (in no particular order) include ones on: J…
Today marks the 100th birthday of Ruth Ellis (Ruth Nielsen, 1926-1955). The centennial arrives at a time of maximum resonance on several fronts, both in the wider world and on this blog. Con…
Today’s new Travalanche post for October 8, 2026 is about The Vanderbilt Cup. Earlier Travalanche posts for October 8 (in no particular order) include ones on: The Great Chicago Fire and t…
October 8, 1904 marked the first iteration of the Vanderbilt Cup. You might think that any race bearing the Commodore’s name would involve yachting but not in this case. The great grandson…
Today’s new Travalanche post for October 7, 2026 is about exploitation auteur Dwain Esper. Earlier Travalanche posts for October 7 (in no particular order) include ones on: Andy Devine Jun…
How delightful that the birthday of exploitation impresario Dwain Esper (1894-1982) lies during the Halloween season, a perfect time of year in which to screen his motley cinematic works. I …
Contrary to appearances this is not a local New York post. The Bindlestiff Family Circus Open Stage Variety Show does indeed take place in downtown Brooklyn but the good news is that it stre…
Today’s new Travalanche posts for October 6, 2026 are about Murray Hill’s new book and what’s up with the Bindlestiff Family Circus. Earlier Travalanche posts for October 6 (in no part…
Murray Hill is having a moment, and I am here for it. (Ugh, I hate how that came out, but it is proof that I once wrote for legit newspapers and magazines). Some of us have been watching thi…
Today’s new Travalanche posts for October 5, 2026 are about 150 Years of the Yiddish Theater, Harriet McGibbon (The Beverly Hillbillies), and September 11 victims from my home state. It is…
This one goes out to one of Travalanche’s best friends, the superlative biographer, inexhaustible gossip, and hilarious wit Ms. Eve Golden, one of the few human beings whose advice I will …
October 5th 1876 saw the world’s first professional theatre production in the Yiddish language. Previous to this there had been amateur productions, concerts, poetry readings, singing and …
This is one of the more provincial posts I’ll burden my readers with but it’s probably an inevitable one. It concerns the intersection of the place where I spent the first 1/3 of my life…
I first became aware of Cowboy Jack Patton (Frank Aloysius Piecuch, 1914-1995) as a cohort of eden ahbez, the man who gave us the song “Nature Boy”. Patton grew up in the Polish communit…
Today’s new Travalanche posts for October 4, 2026 are about Bob Finlayson, Brother Bones, Mr. Fingers (Irv Weiner), and Cowboy Jack Patton. Also RIP Marjoe Gortner And for Fire Prevention …
This swell looking book by Scott Martell came out several months ago but I thought I would wait to plug it on the birthday of its illustrious subject, Boston based magician Mr. Fingers (Irv …
October 4th was the birthday of entertainer Brother Bones (Freeman Davis, 1902-1974), also billed sometimes as Whistling Sam. Born in Montgomery Alabama, Davis later moved to Los Angeles whe…
As if any additional evidence were required that James “Jimmy” Finlayson was one of the classic comedy greats, we’ve learned recently that he too, much like Charlie Chaplin, Buster Kea…
Today’s new Travalanche posts for October 3, 2026 include ones on Thomas Wolfe and Black Cherry Lane: Presence. Earlier Travalanche posts for October 3 (in no particular order) include one…
It’s been more than a minute since I’ve had a guest contributor here on Travalanche. Past ones have included my wife Carolyn Raship, Lauren Milberger, and Cheryl Rice. Today I am delight…
The title of this post is because my previous post on Thomas Wolfe (1900-1938) had (not unpredictably) to do with vaudeville, specifically that author’s distaste for it. Wolfe is one of my…
Today’s new Travalanche posts for October 2, 2026 include ones on Nick Mohammed and Richard Hell. Earlier Travalanche posts for October 2 include ones on: Groucho Marx Bud Abbott Spanky Mc…
Sleep well, Baby Boomers and over, and all those of tender and delicate sensibilities. We are not becoming a full time punk blog, nor never will be. It’s just that we’re in the midst of …
