11,712 stories by "Trav S.D."
Kentucky native Dick Curtis (1902-1952) appeared in nearly 250 films between 1930 and 1952, mostly westerns and comedy shorts at Columbia, in roles ranging from extra parts and walk-ons to d…
Memorial Day fast approaches and savvy downtown theatre junkies know what that means " the annual return of Theater for the New City's Lower East Side Festival of the Arts. This year's will …
Well do I remember singer Rosemary Clooney (1928-2002), for she passed away when I was in my late '30s. I'd known her all my life as a stout older woman in glasses who appeared occasionally …
This is our fourth post on Richard Benjamin (b. 1938) and he's mentioned in 15 others on Travalanche, but we swear we're not obsessed with him. It just so happens that we've written about as…
Today marks the 100th birthday of famed television producer Quinn Martin (Irving Martin Cohn, 1922-1987). Back in the day the brand "A Quinn Martin Production" was advertised as a mark of a …
Continuing what amounts to a random little mini-series on original Saturday Night Live staff that has included Gary Weiss and Alan Zweibel in recent days, today a nod to the unique comedy te…
Millions have laughed at the comedy of Alan Zweibel (b. 1950) without ever knowing his name. Zweibel is a practitioner of the humble, thankless craft of comedy writing, one who commendably f…
An overdue look today at Stanley Fields (Walter Agnew, 1883-1941). A Greek American from Alleghany, Pennsylvania (catch that surname), he had the bad instincts to adopt a sort of forgettable…
We've had many an occasion to mention Warner Brothers cartoons here over the years, as of course we would. They are the favorite Golden Era animation studio of most cartoon buffs, including …
Thus far we have written about nearly three dozen persons of gigantic physical stature on Travalanche, but somehow we have heretofore omitted two of the best-known of their number in the wor…
The date of birth of Robert Morse (1931-2022) falling less than a month after that of his passing, we resolved to wait until today to send him off. Whether or not his spirit will return to e…
It's hard to think of anyone so important to American history yet as obscure as John Pintard (1759-1844). I only know about him because he founded New York's oldest museum and library, the N…
Today we celebrate songwriter and scriptwriter of stage and screen Bob Merrill (Henry Robert Merrill Levan (1921-1998), not to be confused with operatic tenor Robert Merrill (1917-2004) or c…
Brief mention this morning of John W. Vogel (1863-1951). Born in Chillicothe, Ohio just months after the Emancipation Proclamation, Vogel was to succeed J.H. Haverly as America's pre-eminent…
Today we invite you to join our friends of the British Music Hall Society in celebrating British Music Hall & Variety Day. How can you do this? Why, you could share your favorite relevan…
Happy Ride a Unicycle Day, which also happens to be Day One of National Unicycle Week (May 15-22, 2022). Don't believe me? Looka here. "Ride a unicycle"? Easier said than done, right? 99.99%…
I am amused by an internet reference which claims that Barbara "Bobo" Lewis (1926-1998) is best known for her role as Midge Smoot on Shining Time Station (1989-1995), and for the precise sam…
I am so bummed! I was very much looking forward to checking out the Omnium Circus at the Queens Theatre tomorrow, but I am still out of circulation due to the Covid bug. I had planned to rev…
May 13 was the natal day of William Shakespeare "W.S." Berger (1878-1972). Berger was not a professional entertainer. In fact, he spent his entire working life at the Cambridge Tile Company …
When I was in my late teens, going through an extended patch of misery that lasted several years, a birthday gift from my sister made everything worse. It was kindly intended, of course, by …
The visage of Lionel Belmore (1867-1953) is one you have surely seen in supporting roles in dozens of classic Hollywood films. Today we are apt to associate him with horror, although that wa…
When I see a name like Allen McQuhae (Charles Allen McQuhae, 1890-1960), I discern with amusement the inadequacy of the Latin Alphabet in attempting to service Gaelic consonants and vowels. …
Recently cloistered in a sick bed, I found myself binging the first couple of seasons of Saturday Night Live and was delighted to discover that I didn't know them nearly as well as I thought…
I'm fairly certain that I first learned about Frank Garcia (1927-1993) from either Torkova or Richard Cohn during our recent conversations about old time NYC magic shops for my Chelsea Commu…
I had intended to blog about the Astor Place Riot today, it being the 173rd anniversary of that looney event, when nativist supporters of actor Edwin Forrest did battle in the streets of New…
