11,506 stories by "Trav S.D."
August 19th was the birthday of Robert Bootzin, a.k.a. Boots Bootzin, a.k.a. Gypsy Boots, a.k.a. Nature Boy (1915-2004) (Some sources give 2014, but the birth certificate says 2015). Boots w…
The title of the present post is because my previous one on Ogden Nash (1902-1971) focused on but a single poem. Was Ogden Nash the greatest writer of light verse who ever lived? That's a hi…
America lost the great American realist painter George Bellows (1882-1925) a century ago, and today (August 19) is one of two possible birthdays for him (August 12 is sometimes also given). …
Happy World Photography Day! This is not a photography blog by any means, but there have been a few occasions when our worlds have collided, so we link you to some notable photographers we h…
This one is just for New Yorkers and Long Islanders. Tomorrow (August 19, 2025) the Cinema Arts Center in Huntington, L.I. will be showing the first feature film directed by Frank Capra, sta…
Today's new Travalanche post for August 18, 2025 is on The Great Waldo Pepper. Previous August 18 posts have included ones on: Criswell Shelley Winters Jack Pickford Alan Mowbray Walter O'Ke…
August 18 is Robert Redford's birthday; August 19 is National Aviation Day; and it just so happens that this year marks the 50th anniversary of a motion picture that combines those two eleme…
Today we inaugurate a new pocket of Travalanche dedicated to U.S. States. When I began the series I doubted I would do one on every State in the Union. Now that I have done nearly 20% of the…
Today's new Travalanche posts for August 17, 2025 are on: National Massachusetts Day National Black Cat Day The Writing of Julian Fellowes Barbara Stanwyck's Uncle Buck Previous August 17 ar…
August 17 is the birthday of Julian Alexander Kitchener-Fellowes, Baron Fellowes of West Stafford DL (b. 1949), commonly known as Julian Fellowes by people who don't have time to say all …
We're getting very niche these days! One would think that there was celebration enough of black cats on Halloween, or on National Cat Day (October 29) or International Cat Day (August 8). To…
August 17 was the birthday of Buck Mack (1888-1959), best known to vintage film fans as "Uncle Buck", the somewhat shadowy friend, fixer, butler, bodyguard, and all around caretaker for Barb…
In addition to today's new Travalanche post on The Unholy Three, previous August 16 articles include ones on: Fess Parker, who played Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone Early screen star Mae Cla…
August 16, 1925 was the release date of the Tod Browning's The Unholy Three. Browning had been directing in Hollywood for over a decade when he got a greenlight to direct his second picture …
August 14 was the birthday of Tin Pan Alley lyricist Ned Washington (Edward Michael Washington, 1901-1976). A Scranton native, Washington broke into vaudeville around 1922 both as an emcee a…
The new Travalanche posts for today (August 15, 2025) are ones on: The 80th Anniversary of V-J Day The 60th Anniversary the Beatles at Shea Stadium Hawaiian Statehood Day The 100th Birthday …
I usually strive mightily not to be so basic in my choice of images, both because that's how I roll, and because ya get fewer clicks if the pic you use is everywhere else. But this famous on…
60 years ago today, the historic Beatles' first concert at Shea Stadium (August 15, 1965). Did they intend for it to be scheduled on the 20th anniversary of V-J Day? I can't imagine that the…
The third Friday in August is celebrated annually as Hawaiian Statehood Day. This year it just so happens to fall on the 80th anniversary of V-J Day, reminding us that the war with Japan beg…
For a long time throughout my youth, the entertainer Don Ho (1930-2007) was the unelected, unofficial mascot for Hawaii in American pop culture. The Don Ho phenomenon was not unlike that of …
Well, I obviously learned about this interesting man when researching his near-namesake Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) was so named not as the result of a coinc…
Born 100 years ago today, the great jazz pianist Oscar Peterson (1925-2007), a.k.a. "O.P." There was much to set Peterson apart from his contemporaries in the jazz field of his day. First, h…
Today we announce a new Travalanche feature that will hopefully help you maximize the value of this increasingly unwieldy site. Travalanche is about 17 years old now if my math is correct, w…
August 14 was the birthday of the popular Jazz Age cartoonist, illustrator and caricaturist Ralph Barton (Ralph Waldo Emerson Barton, 1891-1931). Though I'm sure I'd encountered his work in …
I am tardy in appreciating playwright/screenwriter/director Tom Eyen (1940-1991), but am gratified to redress the lapse today. For some reason, Eyen is seldom included in capsule narratives …
