11,708 stories by "Trav S.D."
A sad passing occurred the other day without much hullabaloo or fanfare: April 27, 2023 was the end of The Late Late Show after a run of 28 years. Today happens to be the birthday of the man…
I'm delighted to report that André Gregory (b. 1934) is still with us as I write this, a hale and hearty 89. The Mad Marchioness and I had a delightful time re-watching My Dinner with Andr�…
Born this day Léon Ernest Gaumont (1864-1946), founder of the world's first and oldest film studio (incorporated 1895, one year prior to Pathé Frères.) Gaumont was an employee of a firm t…
"She don't hit you between the eyes with the snappy bits " she hands it to you like a lady" So saith a vaudeville flack on the topic of Edith Meiser (1898-1993). Thanks to her great-nephew R…
We got curious when we noticed a bump in the traffic for my post on the 1970s comedy troupe Ace Trucking Company over the last several weeks. That usually portends that the act in question h…
We've tipped our hand in the title to this post. Most who know the name Arthur Q. Bryan (1899-1959) know him as the man who inconveniently breaks Mel Blanc's reputation for "doing all the ch…
Born of May 8, Ernest Loring "Red" Nichols (1905-1965), not to be confused with Red McKenzie. Hot jazz buffs know the name well as one of the pivotal figures of the musical form's early year…
In the world of stage magic we are accustomed to a lamentable but long tradition of male domination: male illusionists and their female assistants. In the world of mediumship, however, it wa…
Anne Baxter (1923-1985) would be 100 years old at this writing. Only with restraint have we stayed our impulse to do a dedicated post on her prior to this benchmark: for as we wrote here, he…
Born today, Loretta Clemens (1906-1990), who, with and without her brother Jack (1909-1970) enjoyed success in just about every entertainment medium. The siblings were from the Lake Erie tow…
Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846-1916) was born this day. And you can be forgiven for asking "Quis est?" in addition to "Quo vadis?" A century ago, this Polish author's name was more widely known in…
With apologies to Irish poet Thomas Moore, a celebration today of Hollywood bit player Edgar Dearing (1893-1974). Dearing was best known as a silent and slapstick comedy heavy, especially fo…
I write this on what would have been the birthday of Harry Lorayne (Harry Ratzer, 1926-2023) but since he passed away less than month ago, it will also serve as an obit. Lorayne was a much b…
Wednesday, May 10, 2023 at 5:30pm EDT Once again, friend, Ralph Lewis, Bowery Booster and vital third of the conscientious triumvirate known as Peculiar Works Project is offering his grippin…
We're not sure, but we think Earl Wilson (1907-1987) may be the last of the great classic gossip columnists we've gotten to covering here: we've already had Walter Winchell, Ed Sullivan, Hed…
I'm just about a year younger than Crispin Glover, and we'll get to him, because his own birthday just passed, and I am an enormous fan of his. But prior to that we must contend with the pri…
The First of May is a witching time and so we may be forgiven for attributing (probably nonexistent) significance to the fact that Wendy the Good Little Witch first saw light of day in the M…
It's likely that even hardcore classic movie buffs will draw a blank when the name Harry Leon Wilson (1867-1939) is mentioned, but they certainly the many screen adaptions of his works, and …
Vintage bandleader Vince Giordano is having a moment " one of several such moments over a long and enviable career " and so we thought it made sense to bundle them together and report them o…
April 30 is International Jazz Day! Travalanche has hundreds of posts celebrating jazz singers, composers, and musicians, but they are not grouped into a single section. Rather, the various …
I don't know if you've been following the Theatre 80 saga over the last few months. I should have weighed in much sooner, but I kept thinking the cause was lost…then I would see that the o…
There are three major milestone Williversaries to celebrate this year: Willie Nelson (b. 1933) turns 90 years old today; and 2023 also marks 50 years since his first annual 4th of July Picni…
It's National Superhero Day, an appropriate time seemingly for an overdue explication upon the worthwhile topic of the Saturday morning cartoon show Underdog (1964-67). I watched the show in…
I was saddened to hear from my friends at Peculiar Works Project about the death on April 12 of Megan Terry (Marguerite Duffy, 1932-2023). Terry wasn't just one of the top female playwrights…
Animation isn't our main "space jam" here on Travalanche, but we have inevitably encroached on that territory, as many of the vocal performers and artists in that field had connections to va…
