11,712 stories by "Trav S.D."
If you were like me and roughly between the ages of 8 and 16 when Don Kirshner's Rock Concert was on television, you might have asked the question, "Who is Don Kirshner, and why does he have…
I would likely have done a post on English actor George Frederick Cooke (1756-1812) anyhow, but the lore surrounding his death, posthumous dismemberment, and the permanent residency of his r…
April 17 is National Bat Appreciation Day. In the past we have used this day as an occasion to explore Mary Robert's Rinehart's The Bat, and we have certainly talked quite a lot about Batman…
World Circus Day is always the third Saturday in April; this year, we thought we would use the occasion to help you maximize the usefulness of the content in the Travalanche circus section, …
This World Circus Day presents us with an occasion to explore a stage and screen vehicle we have mentioned many times on this blog, Polly of the Circus. This influential play was penned in 1…
60 years ago (April 15, 1962) an important show biz act, then known as The Osmond Brothers. made its television debut. The group was a barber shop quartet made up adorable Mormon kids from U…
Carl Rosini (Jakob Rosenzweig, 1885-1969) was the original Rosini, the man from who the later magician Paul Rosini took his name (much as Harry Houdini took Robert-Houdin's), although in the…
Tonight at midnight Eastern time, TCM will be premiering something truly rare: an independently made silent film from 1938! Seattle native Richard H. Lyford would eventually amass many legit…
I don't want to imply that Howard Keel (1919-2004) was interesting, but he did occupy an interesting niche. He specialized in two genres, each at the opposite of the gender normative scale: …
Variety and other sources have just posted the very sad news that Gilbert Gottfried (b. 1955) has passed away at the age of 67 following a long illness. What the hell is going on, lately? No…
In the old-time automobile world, an "antique" is older than 45, a "classic" dates from 20 to 45 years ago. It's been in that spirit that in recent years I've been adding more material to Tr…
We use the occasion of today's tribute to Lily Pons (1898-1976) to inaugurate the new opera section of Travalanche (having done nearly 3 dozens posts about opera singers, composers and impre…
Ah Eastertide! A time of rebirth! And so we are delighted to spread the word about Undercrank's new release of the restored Beverly of Graustark (1926). Yes, Beverly of Graustark. I'll confe…
I can't help it but the name Marshall Neilan (1891-1958) sounds like a department store to me. Guess I'm mashing up of Marshall's and Neiman Marcus. At any rate, as it happens, Neilan himsel…
Today we add yet another Indiana scribe to a chronicle that already includes Booth Tarkington, Theodore Dreiser, George Ade, James Whitcomb Riley, Kurt Vonnegut, and Robert John Wildha…
Today would have been the 80th birthday of that evergreen exemplar of youth personified, Brandon de Wilde (Andre Brandon de Wilde, 1942-72). I have an unfortunate tendency to think of de Wil…
Born 125 years ago today: Joseph "Jo" Swerling (1897-1964). Musicals fans know Swerling best as the co-author (with Abe Burrows) of the book to Guys and Dolls; like most Marx Brothers fans I…
Just a few of the known fragments on actor John C. Rice (John C. Hillburg, 1857-1915), who, in addition to being a stage star, is one of history's first identifiable screen actors. A child o…
April 6 is the birthday of Tin Pan Alley lyricist Leo Robin (1900-1984), best known for his collaborations with tunesmith Ralph Grainger. He is chiefly remembered today for having written th…
When I was in the kid in the late 1970s there was a regular feature/program on PBS called Lowell Thomas Remembers. Ironies abounded, then and now, in the heart of that title, for the time qu…
Not to be confused with the hip hop/ martial arts movie director of the same name, Charles "Charlie" Ahearn (1886-1940) was a trick-riding comedy bicyclist in vaudeville " only the second on…
Today we tell of the vaudeville, radio and movie team of Ed East (1894-1952) and Ralph Dumke (1899-1964) as well as their later individual solo careers. We now have yet a couple of new entri…
I began performing in comedy shows with Scott Stiffler just about a quarter of a century ago, from the bowels of the Bowery to Caroline's on Broadway. About half that span ago, our relations…
Just a few fragments I've been able to gather on the act known as the Rossow Midgets. Originally from Vienna, they were sideshow triple threats: "twin" strongmen little people. The twins are…
I first became aware of the team of Henshaw and Ten Broeck when I saw their names amongst the acts that had played the Smith Opera House in western New York. John E. Henshaw (ca. 1853-1939) …
