11,712 stories by "Trav S.D."
Carl Gottlieb (b. 1938) has been at the hub of American show business for over half a century and its hard to find a decent vintage photo of him online! This is because, though he sometimes …
My entry point for today's excursion was silent screen actress Ella Hall (1896-1981), born on this day. But she proved to be a human hub at the center of a family of other performers, now al…
Yes, THAT Pat Nixon (1912-1993), First Lady of the United States (1969-1974), and hopefully the title of this post will attract as many people as it repels, if no other reason than to find o…
Given that nowadays one of her best known roles is as the voice of the demon in The Exorcist (1973), it is with perfect logic that we learn that Mercedes McCambridge (1916-2004) started out …
We just got the bad but somewhat expected news that beloved vocal teacher Barbara Maier Gustern has passed away from her injuries sustained from an unprovoked attack a few days ago. "Unprovo…
Though he was one of the top Hollywood movie stars of the late teens and most of the 1920s, multiple factors have served to obscure the memory of Charles Ray (1891-1943). Nowadays, there's h…
Okay, this literally just happened five minutes ago: I was eulogizing Conrad Janis, noticed that he was in Mr. Saturday Night (1992) and remembered that I'd been meaning to do a post on Bill…
I'm sure I'll be roundly ridiculed for this, but while the rest of the blogosphere has been mourning the untimely passing of William Hurt since last night, I am going to have to take the Roa…
A few words this morning on German-American bandmaster and composer Theodore "Theo" Metz (1848-1936). Born the same year as Europe's multiple "Revolutions of 1848", Metz became one of thousa…
Classic film fans know well the work of Henry Hathaway (1898-1985), especially later triumphs like the original True Grit (1969), The Sons of Katie Elder (1965), How the West Was Won (1962, …
Young singer/pianist Estrild Raymona Myers (1909-1972) performed under the single name "Ramona", much like the incomparable Hildegard, and "Jerry" (she of the Baby Grands). In her day, it wa…
We just learned of the passing of designer and director Tony Walton (1934-2022). I once had the honor of talking to him for about an hour at a party, although I rather stupidly didn't know i…
Like millions around the world, I can't help obsessing about the conflict in Ukraine (I was about to characterize it as "one-sided" but, no, the Ukrainians, from uniformed soldiers to old la…
Playwright Kenneth H. Brown (1936-2022) passed away a month ago, but as with my recent Howard Hesseman post, I thought I'd save an obit for his impending D.O.B, which is today. And another t…
Haha, THAT title got your attention! With this post, I believe we complete the Holy Trinity of Jewish comedy Marties, joining Marty Allen and Marty Feldman. No less of a kooky character than…
I am proud and relieved to report that, as it turns out, my lifelong record of never having seen Cirque du Soleil remains unbroken. (Curious about why? Looka here). I was offered a chance to…
This past weekend we had the distinct privilege of obtaining a much clarified picture of an American institution we had long known and written about and occasionally experienced: the small t…
A hard-working sword swallower was born in Russia on this day in 1881. He had more professional names than a check kiter and I've no idea which came first, although over his half century car…
The life and career of Kalla Pasha (Joseph T. Rickard, 1879-1933) make for a ripping yarn, one both comical and dramatic " just like a wrestling match! Originally a professional wrestler, Pa…
A credo for the times, for good or for ill. 100 years ago this day black Broadway star Bert Williams left the earth at the young age of 47. The causes were a bad heart and, more immediately,…
Paging Friends of Dorothy! Haha, and straight people, too. But on a whim I just did a little tally and realized that we have done articles on nearly 30 Dorothies here on Travalanche. That wo…
More exciting news for Buster Keaton fans! This weekend, New York's Film Forum is launching a two month series of Keaton films called Buster's Century (though to be quite anal, they're later…
Fans of classic movies all know and love character actor Felix Bressart (Solomon Breslau, 1892-1949). The wispy, willowy little man with an otter-like face often played music masters, profes…
The name Edwin Milton Royle (1862-1942) is important in show business annals for at least a couple of different reasons. One is that he wrote The Squaw Man, which had five Broadway productio…
I originally published this review here on Travalanche ten years ago (2012). At some point, I moved most of my book reviews over to Goodreads. A couple of days ago a bunch of people noticed …
