11,721 stories by "Trav S.D."
Edward Earle (1882-1972) is third-billed in Buster Keaton's Spite Marriage (1929), which is undoubtedly how he came to our attention. He amassed nearly 450 screen credits over his 50 year fi…
There are several discrete pieces to the stage and screen career of actor Raymond Hackett (1902-1958). Along with his older brother Albert, he was first a Broadway child actor, managed by th…
Happy Bastille Day! In celebration of the French nation, we have this coming up: * Saturday, July 18, 2020 at 12:00pm Eastern I'll be giving a post-Bastille Day Zoom talk on How the Frenc…
Born this day, British ventriloquist A.C. Astor (Thomas Ferguson, 1890-1966). Astor was born and raised in Carlisle, England. He started out performing in pantomimes, and by 1920 was a top h…
I first became aware of the team of Arren and Broderick through their appearance in Broadway Melody of 1940 with Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell, and George Murphy. In that film, Charlotte Arre…
Well someone needs to find a more attractive and catchy phraseology for these here live streaming presentations, and I ain't got one yet, so I'll just tell you in those words: got some live …
A horrific milestone in the lives of Baby Boomers today " Ringo Starr of the Beatles is turning 80. As such, Ringo (Richard Starkey, MBE, b. 1940) is certainly among the oldest of his genera…
We are nothing if not thorough on Travalanche. But only reasonably thorough. Frank Morgan had ten siblings but we shan't be doing posts on them all. It's just that his older brother Ralph (R…
Those of us of a certain age will remember Milburn Stone (1904-1980) from his role as Doc Adams (1955-1975) on the long-running western Gunsmoke. How delightful to learn this morning that no…
Josephine Joseph is almost exclusively known today as the He/She in the movie Freaks (1932). His/her most memorable scene was the one where stuttering Rosco Ates says to Hercules (Henry Vict…
Oscar-nominated actress Susan Peters (1921-1952) enjoyed a spell in the sunlight that was all too brief due to a hunting accident that left her paralyzed from the waist down. But she fought …
I am old enough to remember Ken Curtis (1916-1991) as the kooky comic relief on Gunsmoke, as Matt Dillon's deputy sidekick Festus. It's rewarding to learn that he has a rich show biz pedigre…
It's Canada Day today and well past time I should talk about my favorite comedy show of all time, SCTV. I've referred to it three dozen times so far on Travalanche, and written about several…
When Margherita "Madge" Evans (1909-1981) chalked up her final screen credit in 1958 she had been a professional for nearly a half century. She started out as a child model at age two, in ad…
I've long wanted wanted to create a July 4th celebration that also celebrated one of the more famous people to have that birthday (though there are dissenters as to whether he was born that …
I regret to report that Nelson Eddy (1901-1967) is not what you get when you cross Duane Eddy with Nelson, 'cuz that would be a mighty cool music act. I have been remiss in not posting about…
I like the photo above because it provides one justification for the screen name of western actor Slim Pickens (Louis Burton Lindley Jr, 1919-1983). He actually was slim at one time (those o…
Neil Burgess (1846-1910) was a comic drag performer in the early days of vaudeville who specialized in playing elderly widows. Originally from Boston, his first such turn came when he had to…
Andrew Tombes (1885-1976) was a comical character actor of stage and screen whose career lasted about 50 years. Originally from Ashtabula, Ohio, Tombes started out as a comedian in minstrel …
Well, today is the last day of Pride Week in NYC, and would have been the day of the Pride Parade (though it was the day of a Pride Protest March), and we are a couple of days away from the …
The Keech Brothers were Alvin (1890-1948) and Kelvin (1895-1977). Born in Honolulu before Hawaii was even a U.S. territory (though the colonial takeover had begun), the boys were adept ukule…
I'm a multi-tasker: my daily routine includes catching up on the highlights of the previous night's late shows on Youtube, while I do the busywork of sharing my blogposts. It's an exciting t…
So Chaplin Days begins today (you can see my video talk on "Chaplin and Vaudeville" here) so it seemed a propitious day for a preliminary post on a contemporary artist I'm presently obsessin…
Maurice Rocco (Rockhold, 1915-1976) was the boogie-woogie piano showman who originated the idea of playing while standing up. He claimed he first did it when a tough guy appropriated his ben…
A reader got in touch yesterday to comment on a list we shared here about five years ago which reported on the popularity of the various classic comedians on Travalanche (he was pleased to s…
