11,712 stories by "Trav S.D."
Say hello to the 1,702nd vaudeville performer we have written about on Travalanche. Toby Claude (Harriette Mary Kavanaugh, 1877-1962) was the Dublin-born daughter of English burlesque perfor…
In the mid '80s, I was briefly diverted by the charmless charms of a low-budget independent horror movie called Mother's Day (1980). I am not ordinarily a fan of graphic horror, nor was I th…
It's always amused me that though Howard McNear (1905-1969) was a key member of the ensemble on The Andy Griffin Show from 1961 to 1967 he did not play Howard. That was Jack Dodson. McNear w…
The first William Redfield (1927-1976) performances I ever saw were among his last (and I figure my experience is not unusual). He was the persnickety "Harding" in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's…
Fragments this morning on a vaudeville couple. I'm uncertain how I became aware of them " most likely from movie comedies in which they played supporting parts. May Milloy (1875-1967) was fr…
I don't write today to celebrate the person in the title of this post per se. Ray Stevens (b. 1939) left the American mainstream 40 years ago and for at least half that time he has devoted h…
A few words today in celebration of the great instrumentalist Django Reinhardt (Jean Reinhardt, 1910-1953). Not only has the word "legend" been overused in show business, so has the phrase "…
January 23 is National Pie Day, and so I thought I would, rather grudgingly, address a topic that may be of some interest to some classic comedy fans, and one I have sort of danced around in…
I have no recollection of how I first learned of the existence of the fascinating Burtis "Bert" Valjien Brookhart (1881-1942) but not only do I have no regrets, I find myself more interested…
Well, that inappropriately hilarious headline had to happen sometime, and if it sounds like Hazel burnt the dinner, the fault lies with the high school football coach of Dallas native Marvin…
We were delighted to learn this morning that beloved Scottish character actor Finlay Currie (1878-1969) had a vaudeville and music hall background. Currie occupied a wonderful casting niche,…
Here's a poser for all you aesthetically philosophical journalists out there: which photo of Cindy Sherman does one use to go with the story? There are thousands, all different. I chose the …
I undoubtedly first became aware of Lancelot "Lanny" Ross (1906-1988) by way of his film work, which is an irony, because there is so little of it. Ross's fame was chiefly on radio and recor…
On our first date my wife and I talked of many things: "of shoes and ships and sealing wax, and whether pigs have wings" doesn't begin to cover it. And of the thousand things we discovered w…
It's been 10 years since my original, rather cursory post on Danny Kaye. This year I thought I would mark the occasion of his birthday with a look at his major film and TV work in a little m…
Like many lovers of classic comedy and other vintage Hollywood movies I had no doubt seen Jack "Tiny" Lipson (1901-1947) dozens of times, but his sight-gag walk-ons were too brief for me to …
Coincidentally, today is the centennial birthday of Sally Demay (born 1922), born the very same day as Betty White. I first became aware of her from Marcia Keegan's terrific, quirky 1975 boo…
James Earl Jones (b.1931) turns 91 today. I was half-tempted to backdate this post for last year, when Jones reached a much rounder age, but this year his birthday falls on Martin Luther Kin…
Well, Betty White (1922-2022) passed away just 2.5 weeks shy of her centennial birthday, but "close enough", say I. To paraphrase Hamlet, let the funeral cake coldly furnish the birthday par…
The title of this piece refers to the fact that another female star of B movies whom we've written about, Carol Hughes, also sometimes went by the name of Kay Hughes. Meanwhile, the one in q…
Today would have been the birthday of Kelly Asbury (b. 1960) but for the fact that he passed just recently, in mid-2020 in the depths of the pandemic's first wave (though the cause was stoma…
January 15 was the birthday of Lady Beth Bancroft (Elizabeth Jane Wrisley, 1902-1985), billed also as Miss Betty, Lady Betty and especially Buckskin Betty. 1954 can handily be said to be Bet…
Ours is an Ernest Thesiger worshipping house. Thesinger (1879-1961) is best known for playing Dr. Pretorius, the campy, flamboyantly effeminate mad scientist mentor in James Whale's The Brid…
We return today to an evergreen theme on this blog and that's entertainers I once found intrinsically ridiculous and have since acquired respect for. The "lounge singer" thing was held in ve…
Just came across the delightful news that starting at midnight tonight and throughout tomorrow, our friends at the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum will be showing (online) several comedies …
