11,502 stories by "Trav S.D."
Today's new Travalanche post for November 5, 2025 is about silent movie child star Baby Marie. Earlier Travalanche posts for November 5 (in no particular order) include ones on: Hats Off wit…
Thus far we have told you of Baby Peggy, Baby Leroy, and even Baby Rose Marie on this all-encompassing universal Ur blog! Today we tell a tale of yet ANOTHER baby! Can there be more babies? …
Today's new Travalanche post for November 4, 2025 is about Ralph Spence (The Gorilla). Earlier Travalanche posts for November 4 (in no particular order) include ones on: Will Rogers Joe Fris…
Little is known about the origins of Ralph Spence (1890-1949), but by the mid '20s he had earned a reputation as Hollywood's most highly paid and best known title writer, and was highly valu…
Today's new Travalanche post for November 3, 2025 is about the life and death of Hungarian Jewish silent comedian Charles Puffy. Earlier Travalanche posts for November 3 (in no particular or…
I first learned about plus sized silent comedian Charles Puffy (Károly Hochstein, 1883-ca. 1943) from Ben Model's excellent book The Silent Film Universe earlier this year. He also wrote …
Today's new Travalanche post for November 2, 2025 is an All Souls' Day message. For real! Earlier Travalanche posts for November 2 (in no particular order) include ones on: Burt Lancaster Bu…
November 2 is, for some of us, All Souls' Day, the day when we remember the Departed, which is to resurrect them, so to speak. Confusingly, it's the third day of Allhallowtide, with All Sain…
Today's new Travalanche post for November 1, 2025 is about about barnstorming Shakespearean Daniel Bandmann. On this day 100 years ago, three significant things happened: 1) Buster Keaton's …
We had occasion to mention 19th century actor Daniel Bandmann (1837-1905) the other day. As it happens, November 1 was his birthday. A German Jew from the Grand Duchy of Hesse, Bandmann firs…
Ah, Worlds within Within Worlds Within War of the Worlds! As it happens, 50 years ago was the broadcast premier of the TV movie The Night That Panicked America (1975)…whereas the actual "n…
Brian Doyle-Murray (b. 1945) turns 80 today. I always find it amusing when someone who has seemed old and crusty and cantankerous for many decades reaches such a benchmark, because what's th…
Happy Halloween! Today's new Travalanche posts for October 31, 2025 are about Brian Doyle-Murray, John Keats, a new documentary about John Candy, the 1975 TV movie The Night That Panicked Am…
John Keats (1795-1821) had a lot of nerve being born on Halloween when it was Byron and Shelley who were were at that Frankenstein party, but on the other hand he was obsessed with death, an…
How fitting for a man named Candy to have been born on Halloween, eh? My original post on John Candy (1950-1994) was written a dozen years ago, and now it's over three decades since he left …
I have very little intel on character actress Jessica James (1929-1990) but man oh man am I intrigued, and only partially because of the attribute so energetically highlighted above. This po…
Ted Shapiro (1899-1980) was a show biz legend, though he was usually mentioned as a sort of footnote to other stars. The son of Jewish immigrants from what is now Lithuania, he came to fame …
Today's new Travalanche post for October 30, 2025 is about Bobby Alto. Earlier Travalanche posts for October 30 (in no particular order) include ones on: Ruth Gordon Ruth Gordon's Darker Veh…
Bobby Alto (Robert Altomare, 1938-2012) was born on October 30, though this post won't strictly be about him, because he often worked with partners. I came across Alto's name when I was writ…
Today's new Travalanche posts for October 29, 2025 are include tributes to the late Prunella Scales, as well as Lew Parker (That Girl), and vaudeville and Broadway comic actress Rose Stahl. …
Thanks to Eve Golden for the sad intel about the passing of Prunella Scales (b. 1932). Natch every obit is foregrounding Fawlty Towers but she's just supporting John Cleese there. For my mon…
The title of this post is to clarify that we are not referring to the ex-wife of troubled actor Nick Stahl, who has acted and done other work in the film business, but was born Rose Murphy. …
That Girl with Marlo Thomas was one of the very first TV shows I ever watched when I was a very small child. A few years ago I reconnected with it and it was a very happy experience. It reaw…
Folks my age recall Dolores "Dody" Goodman (1914-2008) primarily as a comedienne or comic actress. She came off as a kind of dippy, flighty, small town woman, probably Southern, with a squea…
Here's why you'd better pay attention when the ringmaster or emcee tells you "no flash photography". Ormer Locklear (1891-1920) was a barnstorming stunt pilot who perished while in the act o…
