11,696 stories by "Trav S.D."
Today's new Travalanche post for September 9, 2025 is on Richard Webb, star of Captain Midnight. Other Travalanche posts for September 9 include ones on: Adam Sandler Colonel Sanders The Dea…
Actor Richard Webb (1915-1993) was born on September 9. Webb was best known for starring in the serial The Invisible Monster (1950), and for playing the title character in the television ver…
Today's new Travalanche post for September 8, 2025 is a brand new finding aid for my posts related to Sid Caesar. Also today happens to be the centennial of the birth of Peter Sellers! My po…
September 8 being the birthday of comedian Sid Caesar, I thought it would be useful to do this post linking you to the many Travalanche posts relevant to the comedian. Consume responsibly! M…
They're dropping like flies lately over on Eve's Obits so that one can hardly keep up. The saddest news of the last few days has been the passing of Mark Volman of The Turtles, The Mothers o…
Today's new Travalanche posts for September 7, 2025 are on Sir Anthony Quayle and the late Stephen Mendillo. Today is the first day of Suicide Prevention Week " my post on that somber topic …
I acknowledge off the bat that the title of this post is unfortunate. The intention is to suggest the drawing out of an elusive bird, not for the purposes of shooting him but for getting a b…
Today's new Travalanche posts for September 6, 2025 are about Max Schreck (Nosferatu), Warhol superstar Ultra Violet, big band singer and actress Julie Gibson (who lived to be 106), and two …
September 6 was the birthday of Ultra Violet (Isabelle Collin Dufresne, 1935-2014). Dufresne was a French debutante who fell into Salvador Dali's orbit immediately after graduating college. …
I don't know if it's true to a certainty, but it sure sounds correct " of the thousands of public figures I have profiled on Travalanche, the longest-lived was likely Julie Gibson (Gladys Ca…
100 years ago today in New York City, the Universal horror film The Phantom of the Opera was receiving its world premier. In related news, on that same day, 4,000 miles east of New York, Fri…
This post concerns two gentlemen named Daniel Sully, both with theatrical connections, both born in Providence, Rhode Island within a few years of each other. I am going to make a rash specu…
Today's new Travalanche post for September 5, 2025 is about an almost famous vaudeville by the name of Eddie Vogt. Previous Travalanche posts for September 5 include ones on: Bob Newhart Lou…
Some fragments this morning on vaudeville performer and early screen actor Eddie Vogt (1889-1960), a minor figure to be sure, and our telling is not as complete as it might be, but we post h…
September 4 was the birthday of actor Leonard Frey (1938-88). Frey once worried aloud that all anyone would remember him for (if they remembered him for anything) was for creating the role o…
Today's new Travalanche post for September 4, 2025 are about Pete Smith Specialties, radio comedian Charlie Cantor, Waldo and Jennifer Salt, and actor Leonard Frey. Previous Travalanche post…
We love multigenerational show biz stories here on Travalanche, and this one is especially rewarding. It begins with screenwriter Waldo Salt (1914-1987). Having just written about Waldo Pepp…
September 4 was the birthday of radio and television comedian Charlie Cantor (1898-1966). As it happens, Charlie was no relation to Eddie Cantor, whose real name was Itzkowitz. But he did st…
A century ago (1925), a show biz press agent named Pete Smith (Peter Schmidt, 1892-1979) got the plum job of publicity manager for MGM films. Prior to this, this son of a German-American bre…
Today's new Travalanche post for September 3, 2025 are about country singer Hank Thompson (inspiration for Crazy Heart) and Merritt Butrick (Square Pegs, Star Trek movies). Previous Travalan…
The life and career of Merritt Butrick (1959-1989) were both short, but I'm just the right age to have witnessed his time of peak fame, which occurred (most unusually) at the start of his ca…
Born 100 years ago today, country artist Hank Thompson (1925-2007). Not nearly as big a name as Hank Williams or Hank Snow, awareness of Thompson broke through to the mainstream in a big way…
How many can name the director of the first, best, and as far as I'm concerned only version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)? Well, now you can, but how many could do it witho…
Today's new Travalanche post for September 2, 2025 are about Victor Spinetti from the Beatles' movies, and Mel Stuart, director of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Previous Travalanche…
Born of a September 2, Italian-Welsh comic actor Victor Spinetti (1929-2012). Spinetti's paternal grandfather immigrated to Wales from Italy to work in the coal mines. His parents ran a chip…
